Transcript: Trump Accidentally Wrecks MAGA’s Dumb New Jimmy Kimmel Lie

And this goes to the heart of our system. I have begun, Greg, to have some doubts about whether our civil society has the strength to push back. Because the antibodies that used to be there, that were there when I was growing up, for example, at any suggestion of inhibiting free speech in any way—there was always a huge pushback from left, right, and center. Everybody agreed these were certain just foundational American beliefs about what it meant to be an American—that it’s a free country. You can say what you want. You can go out in front of the White House and say, The president is a fascist, and not worry about getting arrested and or have any other punishment visited upon you—like losing your job. The fact that we are at a moment where that is blatantly happening and there isn’t—I mean, there was an outcry, and that’s good. I mean, it is really, really good news. I don’t want to downplay it. It was great news that Disney-ABC brought Kimmel back. That is great news. Shows there’s life in the old system yet. But the threat could not be more serious.

Sargent: Yes, I think that’s what we should take away from Trump’s latest tweet, as well. I want to say that I think I’m a little more optimistic than you are about what we just learned about civil society, but I’d love to close on that. For now, what I think it’s worth observing is that Trump’s threat badly undermines what Fox News and MAGA have been saying lately. One figure after another has tried to argue that Kimmel’s reinstatement proves the government never actually corruptly pressured Disney and ABC. I’ll read a few examples. Sean Hannity scoffed that this showed that Kimmel’s original ouster was a “decision by ABC Disney, not the government.” Jesse Watters said this was “a showbiz decision.” Scott Jennings tweeted, “So we don’t live in an authoritarian regime? Got it.” Now that’s just preposterous. Brendan Carr just did explicitly threaten Disney and ABC. And the mere fact that it didn’t work doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But that aside—

Charen: Well, wait, let’s not put that aside. Can we drill down on that for just a second? Because all these folks at Fox, all these little factotums who are saying the party line, they have very short memories. Just a few days ago, I recall Senator Ted Cruz saying about the Carr statement that it sounded like a mafioso. Nice network you’ve got there. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it. That was Ted Cruz. So the fact that it didn’t work in the end and that there was more pressure coming from the other side is great. Doesn’t negate the fact that the pressure was applied in the most ham-handed and obvious and public way. I mean, if this had been done behind closed doors, you know, and then it had leaked, you know, that this had been done, maybe people would have been more receptive to the idea that it was corrupt and awful. But I guess, you know, one of the Trump geniuses is that when you do the horrible things very openly, people think there must not be anything wrong with it.