This is why you can’t give the fascists so much as an inch…
“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!” he added.
Not surprisingly, Trump provided no evidence for the so-called “strong word” that Kimmel will soon be fired, and this post seems more like him making his wishes publicly known. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs on ABC, which is owned by Disney. There is no pending merger for Trump to exploit like in the case of CBS and Paramount.
That said, this outburst shows that Trump is emboldened by Colbert’s firing. He sees that his efforts to tamp down on criticisms of his regime are working and wants to spread the chilling effect even further. This man has never believed in free speech and he will keep driving nails into the coffin of the First Amendment until we collectively stand up against him.
Last Monday, Colbert attacked Paramount Global for paying Trump $16 million to settle a sham lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris in 2024. The suit has been widely interpreted as presidential extortion on Trump’s part, because Paramount is simultaneously trying to obtain permission from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission for a merger with Skydance Media. The merger is estimated to be worth $8 billion.
“I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: it’s a big, fat bribe,” said Colbert.
On Thursday, CBS announced the surprise decision to cancel Colbert’s show, calling it “purely a financial decision.” They claimed that it was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” Paramount Global is CBS’s parent company.
Kimmel and Fallon have both been outspoken in their mockery of Trump, with Kimmel in particular proving to be a fearsome critic of this failed administration. If Trump gets his way and these two are fired, he won’t stop there. He’ll find new critics to target, work to get them fired, and then move on to someone else. He won’t be satisfied until every single one of us is forced into the MAGA cult.
