I’ve been shouting it from the rooftops for weeks: the legacy media is crumbling before our very eyes.
I was tragically proven correct when ABC announced that it removed “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the air indefinitely.
While this is a scary moment for our country, it’s also a call to action to stay in this fight and I’m a veteran soldier in the battle against Donald Trump.
In 2022, Trump sued me for racketeering in federal court in Florida. I did not compromise. I did not appease. I did not settle. I fought and won.
Trump is still appealing that case. I assume he and his lawyers think that if they can ratchet up the inconvenience, cost and threat of continuing the fight, I — and the others who were sued — might just bend a knee. They are wrong.
This was neither the first nor the last time I was targeted by Trump, his cronies, allies and administration. He has attacked me on social media, called me names in speeches and issued presidential orders — all to intimidate me from fighting him in court and criticizing him in public.
I started Democracy Docket in 2020 to provide news, information and analysis about the attacks on free and fair elections and democracy. The following year, I founded a law firm aimed at helping Democrats win, citizens vote and progressive organizations make change.
I am not a billionaire. Democracy Docket is a small news outlet with 20 employees. My law firm is a fraction of the size of a Big Law firm.
Yet, we stand tall, and we fight.
Tragically for our democracy, major institutions can’t say the same. Not a single week passes without some large institution making the opposite decision. Big Law firms whose partners each make millions per year capitulated. Individual business leaders who have more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime, have bowed down and heaped false praise on Trump.
To say that the media is bending a knee, falsely assumes there are still hardened bones and a joint in place in their operations.
The same large media companies that told us that they were important defenders of democracy are now enablers of its destruction. The news outlets that told us to trust them to hold power to account have abandoned us in favor of a few extra dollars.
To say that the media is bending a knee, falsely assumes there are still hardened bones and a joint in place in their operations. Their mission now is to report the news fearfully and to seek Trump’s favor.
This Kimmel story is rapidly unfolding, and there is a lot going, but here’s what is clear so far.
Like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel is a vocal critic of Donald Trump who hasn’t shied away from condemning the president. Like Paramount/CBS, Disney/ABC capitulated to Trump and agreed to a $16 million settlement of bogus legal claims.
Empowered by Trump’s directive to target and threaten left-wing thought and organizations, FCC Chair and Trump sycophant Brendan Carr called for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to be pulled off the air after Kimmel made a comment referencing Charlie Kirk’s assassin.
“I think, you could certainly see a path forward for a suspension over this. You know, the FCC is going to have remedies,” Carr said, referring to Kimmel. “So I think again, Disney needs to see some change here.”
In response, one of the largest station ownership groups, Nexstar, announced it would stop airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for the foreseeable future. Another ownership company, Sinclair, went further — announcing it would replace the Friday timeslot of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with a Charlie Kirk tribute special on its ABC affiliate stations and asking Kimmel to “make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.”
It’s worth noting that both Nexstar and Sinclair are currently asking the Trump administration for merger approval.
By the end of last night, ABC had suspended production of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
By 1:00 a.m., Trump was doing a victory lap and identifying his next targets on Truth Social. First came the Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon drive-by. He suggested that their talk shows, too, should be cancelled and challenged NBC to pull the plug:
Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT
All of this, while on a state visit with our closest ally. It’s both absurd and horrifying.
Political conservatives used to lecture us about the importance of freedom of speech. It attacked anyone that it claimed censored criticism of powerful figures. Now, they have embraced censorship with McCarthy-like zeal. The Trump administration is quickly and not-so-quietly ridding our media landscape of anyone who dares disagree with it.
And the media is just beginning. Undeterred, Trump will come for all of us. He will bar organizations that criticize him. Intimidate critics for speaking negatively about the administration in public. He will turn the power of the Department of Justice to investigate any organization or person who opposes him and his administration. All of this, as he subverts free and fair elections.
None of us will be spared in the next phase of this attack on our country. We must brave this storm together. We simply have no other choice.
The Trump administration is quickly and not-so-quietly ridding our media landscape of anyone who dares disagree with it.
Those in the entertainment industry must rally around Jimmy Kimmel as they did Stephen Colbert. Fans of Kimmel must speak out and hold strong — because otherwise, they will be targeted for the simple act of watching media that opposes Trump’s viewpoint. Every single one of us who believes in the grand project of democracy must stand firm in our beliefs.
The large institutions that promised they would protect democracy are failing. The legacy media will not save us. The Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn observed that he had been jailed because “the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.” But he also told us how to act. “The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. “One word of truth outweighs the world.”