Donald Trump is decimating American media that aren't aligned with his politics.
Late in the afternoon on Sept. 17, 2025, ABC announced that they would be pulling ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ 一 which has been airing since 2003 一 from air indefinitely due to comments he made during one of his most recent episodes on Charlie Kirk.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend,” Kimmel said during his Monday night monologue, “with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
This kind of political poking is par the course in the world of late-night as these talk shows, hosted by funnymen, are meant to do exactly that: poke fun and jab at American politics, politicians, and general happenings in the country.
Kimmel also noted in his monologue that there is a large possibility (not certainty) that the 22-year old shooter falls on the conservative side of the aisle, a thought that has been circulating online since he was placed into custody.
ABC pulled the show after an ultimatum was indirectly given to parent company, Walt Disney Co., on the Benny Johnson podcast featuring Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr.
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr said, claiming that Kimmel and ABC are spreading harmful misinformation. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Yet, where was this sentiment and ultimatum when ‘Fox & Friends’ host Brian Kilmeade said to “just kill” all homeless people in America live on air? Where was this when he called for the involuntary lethal injection for the unfortunate without shelter?
The FCC has a duty to prevent and punish speech that egregiously calls for the harm and death of individuals, although such speech is thinly protected by the First Amendment under “Brandenburg v. Ohio.”
As said by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), “Incitement — speech that is both “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action” — is unprotected,” though “Mere advocacy of lawbreaking or violence remains protected speech as long as it is not intended to and likely to provoke immediate unlawful action.”
Descent into fascism can be categorized by many things, though the recent state of television and news media (i.e., Colbert being cancelled, major newspapers being sued, etc.) being targets of selective censorship and propaganda wears giant blinking lights in terms of being a major tell.
Fascist and authoritarian regimes and countries maintain their control over the people through controlling their media. Take Turkey, for example, and President Erdoğan. He has successfully backslided a flawed democracy into a complex neo-fascist parliamentary system disguised as democratic where the media remains under his control and “elections” are predetermined.
Trump and his administration are attempting something eerily similar, and it will only get harder to defend against once he has full control of all media in America. His attacks on late-night talks shows are just a small look at what he will continue to do to the nation to strip Americans of their freedom of speech and ability to criticize the government.
Late-night shows are meant to offer cultural commentary and provide constitutionally protected political criticism where political criticism is due. If they get censored or pulled off air due to network and producer-approved scripts and jokes because they made Big Brother mad or sad, while a daytime anchor or host at their favorite news network can get a slap on the wrist and be protected for blatant hate speech and calls for violence, the people have fully lost control of their government.