Trump’s Eggshell Ego Saves Kimmel, Threatens First Amendment, and Sullies Charlie Kirk’s Legacy
Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel almost lost his job and few outside of his consistently declining viewership would have noticed if President Trump and members of his administration hadn’t stepped in — or rather stepped in it — to save him.
Just a week after the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, Kimmel dishonestly claimed that a member of the “MAGA gang” was responsible for the shooting, despite the killer’s own words belying that assertion. That tasteless falsehood, combined with his $15 million salary, falling ratings, loss of advertisers, and mutiny of as many as one third of the broadcast stations carrying his show should have been enough for Kimmel to go.
Or so it seemed until Mr. Trump and Brendan Carr, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, waded intothe matter. By doing so, they turned Kimmel into a free speech martyr rather than a partisan hack whose ratings were falling flatter than his punch lines.
Napoléon Bonaparte is often credited with the strategic wisdom that one should “never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” The president should have taken note.
Our friends on the left have been doing a fine job making a mockery of Americans’ First Amendment rights for years and voters were taking notice, making them pay for it at the polls. The proliferation of laws and regulations that seek to limit “hate speech” effectively punishes “thoughtcrimes” just as George Orwell described in his dystopian novel 1984, and “progressive” speech codes at schools and universities stifle free inquiry and debate.
The Biden administration even attempted to establish their version of an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth” during the Covid pandemic, engaging in widespread — and largely successful — pressure on social media companies to censorAmericans who dared to disagree — correctly —with the government narrative on things like mask mandates, school closures, and the arbitrary 6 foot social distancing rule.
Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee found so much evidence of government coercion (even beyond the admission of such behavior by platforms like Facebook and Twitter) that the committee recently forced Google to admit to it and reinstate YouTube accounts censored during the pandemic.
Charlie Kirk was a free speech champion unlike any we’ve seen in generations. His voice and choice of venue were desperately needed. A recent survey found that nearly four in ten college students believe that “physical violence can be justified” to prevent a speaker from “espousing their hateful views.”
Soon after Kirk’s assassination, left-wing commentators went into overdrive to claim that political violence is a predominantly right-wing phenomenon. Don’t believe it. They had to reach back to 1975, cherry-pick datasets, and ignore the more recent trends.
Kirk pioneered a unique and successful series of “Prove Me Wrong” free speech events on campuses, engaging the very group that has been indoctrinated to reject the premise of one of our most important rights.
Kirk’s alleged killer is on record saying he acted because he “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred,” hatred he apparently saw as directed at his transgender identifying boyfriend. It is as clear an example as any that decades of progressive claims that words are violence can lead weak-minded believers to use violence to stop words.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration seems intent on interrupting progressives’ free speech mistakes with some of its own. His veiled threat to ABC regarding Kimmel only served to create enough backlash to put the host back on the air days later.
Amid such foolishness, Pam Bondi, Trump’s Attorney General, decided that now would be a good time to “absolutely target” and “go after” those who engage in so-called hate speech. That she later walked it back is little consolation.
Mr. Trump has kept more of his campaign promises than any president in my lifetime. But his childish impulses for revenge against a comedian’s bad jokes mars his many other accomplishments.
Charlie Kirk correctly recognized the importance of our globally unique First Amendment rights. That his modeling of those rights cost him his life — with millions of Americans believing that to be a fitting outcome — should frighten all of us.
My opposition to progressivism and support for Mr. Trump was based largely on defeating wokeism’s Orwellian rejection of free speech and the Biden Administration’s wholesale embrace of censorship.
But even as the left rejects speech they find “offensive,” President Trump’s eggshell ego and resultant revenge-driven First Amendment mistakes risk smothering it. Either way, we lose the freedom Kirk died defending.