With Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘indefinite’ benching seemingly coming at the behest of the Federal Communications Commission, Donald Trump is fast-tracking into a new stage of his bid for complete control of America’s institutions.
The announcement by ABC Wednesday that Kimmel’s show was being pulled off the air until further notice was seemingly confirmation of the most extreme assumptions of First Amendment advocates: Trump, as president, will not be satisfied until dissenters are completely purged from sight — and he’s willing to pull the levers of federal power to achieve those ends.
It’s an audacious but not necessarily unpredictable move from a president who, on his very first day in office, issued a proclamation vowing the end of “federal censorship” and the restoration of “free speech.”
At the FCC, chair Brendan Carr seems to be moving into a role effectively serving as the president’s censor, utilizing a coercive carrot-and-stick method of persuasion that can largely be described as a mixture of legal threats against media companies who fight back and deference towards those that toe the line.
While Carr denied on Thursday that he was working to target Trump’s political enemies — after the president publicly threatened that NBC’s late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon would be next — he’s made no excuses about using the power of the FCC to enforce the administration’s cultural standards on private companies.
"I've been very clear from the moment that I have become chairman of the FCC, I want to reinvigorate the public interest. And what people don't understand is that the broadcasters ... are entirely different than people that use other forms of communication,” Carr said on a podcast hosted by right-wing commentator Benny Johnson ahead of Kimmel being pulled off the air this week.
“They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest," Carr continued.
"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said, making an un-subtle threat. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."
The clear threats to expand an umbrella of financial incentives against allowing liberal hosts to speak their minds goes beyond even what Carr envisioned in the section of the often-disavowed Project 2025 agenda which he authored concerning his agency. In it, Carr talks about unleashing economic prosperity by cutting broadband regulations and the national security threats posed by TikTok (which the Trump administration continues to allow to operate in the U.S.).
Carr revived or launched FCC enforcement operations or investigations against multiple mainstream media organizations almost immediately upon taking office, while conservative-leaning media companies haven’t felt nearly the same pressure. Then in July, his agency approved the acquisition of CBS by Skydance — that coming after the network both canceled Stephen Colbert’s long-running late night show, which the host used to deride Trump nightly, and that it would pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit against 60 Minutes, its flagship news program.
The FCC chief was pressed on whether he and the president were attempting to impose censorship of liberal views on comedy shows and news programs during an interview with CNBC Thursday, which he denied — at the same time, however, suggesting that Trump’s election had changed or created a “permission structure” for indirectly coercing media companies to adhere to the White House’s whims.
“What does that mean when you say you’re not done yet?” a CNBC host asked Carr. “[W]ill you only be pleased when none of these comedians have a show on broadcast television?”
“It’s not any particular show or any particular person,” claimed Carr. “It’s just we’re in the midst of a very disruptive moment right now, and I just, frankly, expect that we’re going to continue to see changes in the media ecosystem.” He rejected a suggestion from Mad Money’s Jim Cramer that the Trump administration might be considering having broadcast content reviewed by a federal censor before publication.
It’s unclear how long Carr will be able to maintain the position that he is not engaged in a campaign to censor liberal views, either on the president’s orders or of his own volition. In the Senate, GOP leadership was already showing signs of being uncomfortable with questions about the administration’s crusade against late-night talk show hosts on Thursday. And the administration is now facing widespread condemnation by First Amendment watchdog groups and other free expression advocates.
“This week has seen multiple attacks on core values of free expression that are critical to a free society. Both AG Bondi’s calls to prosecute hate speech and FCC Chair Carr’s threats of ABC’s license that are tied to the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s shows,” Cato Institute scholar Jennifer Huddleston told The Independent in a statement on Thursday.
“Such proposals raise significant First Amendment concerns, but even without further action risk a chilling effect on important political discourse and the culture of free speech. While in the past the Trump administration has criticized the growing rise of censorship in Europe and claimed to value free expression, these recent actions erode free expression and lead to government censorship here in the United States undermining fundamental rights and values in a free society,” she continued.
The House, meanwhile, is moving to put pressure on Carr directly. Republicans and Democrats on the Oversight Committee agreed on Thursday to call on Carr to testify after tabling a motion to issue a subpoena for the FCC chair’s testimony.
“The Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into ABC, Sinclair, and the FCC,” wrote ranking Democratic member Robert Garcia on X Thursday. “We will not be intimidated and we will defend the First Amendment.”
Other Democrats are directly calling for his resignation. Former President Barack Obama issued a rare statement on Wednesday after news broke that Kimmel’s show was being pulled off the air: “This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”
However, with the shaky state of the media industry and the broadcast medium still being factors it’s easy to see why more companies could choose to gamble on taking the path of least resistance for the next three years.
