The Trump administration’s pressure campaign against ABC and Jimmy Kimmel, which saw the Federal Communications Commission chief turn up the heat on broadcasters, is intensifying fears over the policing of speech — which were already rising before this week’s late night television uproar.
Kimmel’s fate was up in the air Friday evening after he was indefinitely suspended Wednesday night. It is unclear whether he’ll return to the airwaves or exit ABC.
The Trump administration and its allies have offered no apologies for their actions, arguing Kimmel was facing justifiable consequences for ill-thought-out remarks about the political background of the suspect in conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death.
“Welcome to Consequence Culture,” deputy White House chief of staff Taylor Budowich posted Thursday on the social platform X. “Normal, common sense Americans are no longer taking the bulls‑‑‑ and companies like ABC are finally willing to do the right and reasonable thing.”
But even on the right, there were some signs of concern about whether the reaction to Kimmel’s comedy routine, and specifically the FCC’s involvement, was appropriate.
Kimmel has long been a figure of ire with conservatives as he has talked more about politics on his show, but some influential voices suggested they were worried the government was getting into the censorship business.
“I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Friday on his podcast. “But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying ‘we don’t like what you the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves, if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence suggested he had no issue with Kimmel facing consequences but expressed reluctance about the FCC’s involvement.
“Private employers have every right to dismiss employees, whether they’re television talk show hosts or otherwise, if they violate the standards of that company,” Pence said at an event hosted by The Atlantic. “Now, I would have preferred that the chairman of the FCC had not weighed in.”
Trump has argued Kimmel was canceled because of bad ratings and shrugged off questions about free speech implications. Carr has argued licensed networks have a responsibility to act in the public interest.
But Trump and Carr have also shown why there is a wider fear about the government cracking down on what their critics are saying on the airwaves.
During a flight home from the United Kingdom, Trump raised the prospect of revoking network licenses over negative coverage.
“They’re 97 percent against; they give me only bad press. I mean, they’re getting a license,” he said. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
Carr told conservative commentator Scott Jennings on the pundit’s podcast that ABC daytime talk program “The View,” whose liberal hosts are relentlessly critical of Trump,” could be subject to scrutiny over whether it should be required to give equal time to both sides of an issue.
“This is not a role for the federal government or the chairman of the FCC to be playing,” said Tom Wheeler, who was FCC chair under former President Obama, during a CNN appearance on Friday. “The danger here is authoritarian control of the media. The FCC for 90 years has promoted diversity of thought and now the Trump, Carr FCC is coming in and saying they’ll be the judge of what those views should be.”
The Kimmel saga unfolded in the same week that multiple Trump administration officials indicated they would use Kirk’s killing as a basis to target certain left-wing groups or types of speech.
Attorney General Pam Bondi landed in hot water after she said the Justice Department would target those who used hate speech. Bondi and other top DOJ officials were quick to clarify her comments after numerous prominent conservatives noted that hate speech is largely protected by the First Amendment and warned that policing rhetoric could boomerang back around and hurt conservatives under a future Democratic administration.
Vice President Vance earlier in the week vowed to target left-wing groups he claimed were fomenting violence, indicating the administration would go after their funding or tax-exempt status.
The administration has for months taken steps that have alarmed free speech and press advocates.
The White House earlier this year barred The Associated Press from the pool of reporters that travel with the president and cover in-person events over the outlet’s refusal to use the term “Gulf of America.” The restriction was later upheld by a federal judge.
Foreign students coming to the U.S. must go through a new social media check when applying for a visa, with any controversial content potentially blocking their path.
Trump has hit multiple news outlets with massive lawsuits over coverage that is unflattering or that he does not like, the latest instance being a $15 billion suit accusing The New York Times and four of its reporters of defamation and libel. A judge struck the lawsuit on Friday, saying his court was not a venue for Trump to “rage against an adversary.”
Critics have also cited the words of Trump and other top officials to argue the administration is being hypocritical after portraying themselves as protectors of free speech.
On his first day in office, Trump vowed to “stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America,” signing an executive order to that effect.
Vance stunned European leaders with a speech in February at the Munich Security Conference in which he accused some in Europe of censoring free speech and dissent.
But Kimmel’s suspension and the government’s role in it could serve as a flashpoint that appears to unite Democrats, free speech advocates and even some Republicans in their concerns about a slippery slope.
Sen. Mark Warner (R-Va.) shared a clip from Cruz’s podcast in which the Texas Republican said Carr’s threats against ABC were “right out of ‘Goodfellas.’”
“I don’t often agree with Ted Cruz, but when he’s right, he’s right,” Warner said.
