A big blow for Trump’s fascist agenda
| DEAN OBEIDALLAH SEP 23, 2025 |
There is only one way to look at ABC/Disney reinstating Jimmy Kimmel–and that is as big win for us and huge f**king loss for Trump and MAGA. ABC—due to the massive backlash from we, the people—is now defying Trump and his anti-free speech thugs who wanted to silence Kimmel.
History tell us this: Fascists hate comedy—especially when directed them. That is why Trump had literally demanded in July– after Stephen Colbert was canceled by CBS–that Kimmel be the next one fired. Kimmel had long brutally gutted Trump with jokes and now Trump wanted to end that.
And we saw Trump’s regime move quickly to silence Kimmel when they saw an opportunity. As a reminder, Kimmel’s suspension announced last Wednesday was in response to Trump’s FCC chair Brendan Carr literally calling for ABC to suspend Kimmel over a joke that mocked Trump and MAGA. Carr-who apparently views himself as Trump’s enforcer when it comes to silencing criticism of Trump-appeared on a pro-MAGA podcast where he warned ABC that they must “suspend” Kimmel. To ensure the message was clear, Carr stated, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” saying ABC must take “action on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
It was just a few hours later ABC announced that Kimmel would be suspended for his joke. Within minutes, Trump took a victory lap writing on social media, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED.” He continued by expressing joy that Stephen Colbert was also cancelled and then demanded NBC cancel Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, writing in all caps: “Do it NBC!!!”
What kind of President cheers for the firing of a comedian and demands the other well-known comedian be silenced as well?! A fascist one, because again, fascists hate comedy at their expense. Trump like all aspiring tyrants wants people to fear him–not laugh at him.
Soon Trump’s irredeemable VP JD Vance cheered the suspension as well as did many other Republicans and Fox News hosts like faux comedian Greg Gutfeld. This is the fascist feedback loop in action.
But apparently neither Team Trump nor ABC expected what would happen next. That is when we saw an immediate backlash to ABC/Disney with a tsunami of people publicly cancelling their Disney Plus and Hulu subscriptions, vowing to boycott Disney theme parks, etc. Free speech and even right leaning libertarian groups began to slam Disney as the coalition grew of those opposing the company’s submission to Trump to silence a comedian for mocking him. We even saw some of the “bro podcasters” who helped elect Trump turn on him publicly over this saying they voted for him because he had vowed to stop “cancel culture.”
Then came Thursday night, when all the late-night comedians in one voice used their comedy to slam Trump’s attack on free speech. One of the best was Jon Stewart who kicked off with a new “Daily Show” open that was a salute to Trump with the voiceover declaring, “From Comedy Central, it’s the all-new, government-approved Daily Show, with your patriotically-obedient host Jon Stewart!” That is when Stewart began with the line, “We have another fun, hilarious, administration-compliant show.” Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers all used their platforms to do the same.
The importance of this can’t be overstated. First, the comedians reach massive audiences not just on air but online of people who may not follow politics. For example, Stewart’s episode slamming Disney was seen by more than 11 million people online alone which more than doubled the highest rated Fox News show. Well, all those watching learned about Trump using the government to silence a comedian over a joke Trump didn’t approve of.
This very visible show of support for Kimmel and defiance of Trump is actually important in the fight against tyranny. Liz Yates –who is an expert on threats to democracy–explained to me that these well-known late night hosts jokes and comments about Trump’s attack on free speech are actually “critical” in the fight against autocracy. Yates noted that this united front is showing the nation that there is broad based opposition to what Trump did to Kimmel. Yates added, “We know that the best way to combat authoritarianism is to build a really broad coalition.”
But there was also something else. Many Democrats in Congress started saying the right thing as they vocally slammed ABC. In fact, California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced Thursday he is launching an investigation into ABC’s suspension of Kimmel. Garcia made clear, “We will not be silent as our freedoms are threatened by corrupt schemes and threats. Anyone who is complicit will need to answer to us.”
All of this came at a price for Disney. The company’s stock price tanked losing more than $3.8 billion in market value in just the two days after the announcement. The message was clear: “Consumers were exercising their own First Amendment rights and ending their subscriptions to the company’s streaming services,” as Susan Campbell, a media studies professor at the University of New Haven in Connecticut told Reuters.
Yep, it was ultimately our power as consumers that forced Disney to reverse course. But this is bigger than just Kimmel. Now companies that rely on consumers beyond the MAGA base get that if they submit to Trump, it will come at a cost.
Up and until now, the corporate executives felt that if they did what Trump wanted, it made their lives easier with no downside. Well now they know it does come with very real consequences. If you bend a knee to Trump to help him achieve his fascist dreams, we are coming for you.
On Tuesday night Kimmel will return to the air. We all want to know how he will address the incident. But one thing we know already is that the reason Kimmel is back on air is because of all of us. We have the power–and we used it. And that is why Kimmel’s return is a big win for us–and huge f’ing loss for the fascist agenda of Trump.
