Outside the Beltway

Source: The White House

Meanwhile, in North Korea, Dear Leader Want Critics to be Quiet

Escalations of threats against the press.

Steven L. Taylor
32

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Source: The White House

Given the rather obvious and blatant way that the Trump administration manipulated ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel, not to mention the general weaponization of speech in the wake of the Kirk assassination, this is a bold and chilling statement from Trump (via The Hill):

“I read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me. Again, 97 percent negative, and yet I won and easily won all seven swing states. The popular vote, won everything,” Trump told reporters.

“They’re 97 percent against; they give me only bad press. I mean, they’re getting a license,” he continued. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

Trump said that decision would ultimately be left up to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr, whom Trump praised as a “patriot” and a “tough guy.”

Given thet Carr made mafia-boss-like threats on a podcast prior to Kimmel being suspended, this is not just some idle threat.

This is not the kind of thing that we should find acceptable for a President to be saying, and yet here we are. Just another day in the Trump administration.

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32 responses to “Meanwhile, in North Korea, Dear Leader Want Critics to be Quiet”

  1. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    Within the law there’s little El Taco can do to take over the media. If there were no pending merger requiring FCC approval involving ABC/Disney affiliates, Kimmel would still be doing his show.

    The real problem begins when the Project 1939 people begin to act outside the law, or under bogus interpretations of the law along with kangaroo court judges and juries.

    FCC licenses concern the use of the electromagnetic spectrum for over the air broadcasts. This is necessary since the spectrum is limited in the number of discrete frequencies, and two broadcasters cannot use the same one at the same time in the same area. There’s also the parts of the spectrum reserved for cell phones, civil band radio, air traffic radio, etc.

    So no one can pull ABC’s FCC license because there isn’t one to pull in the first place. But they can bring charges or lawsuits against ABC and Disney and force a breakup, with the network under Taco friendly management, for example. Or declare some emergency and outright take over Disney as a whole.

    6
  2. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    I have not been a late-night consumer for decades, though I do catch some clips from social media. But is there any push back when Trump takes away comedy in general from the marketplace? As a smaller example, the Kennedy Center fan club is a pretty small demographic, but they clearly see that he has ruined their fun because its not fun for him. Late night is a larger demographic.

    3
  3. Sleeping Dog Avatar
    Sleeping Dog

    The felon will act through the FCC, the networks will go court and the district and appellate courts will rule in their favor, but what will the supremes do???

    1
  4. steve222 Avatar
    steve222

    @Sleeping Dog: Sure, we dont know what the supremes will do but the whole process will cost the networks millions in legal fees and even more in time lost. The taxpayers will pay the govt legal costs. It wont cost Trump a dime or when he does sue he is going to selectively choose those who have issues for which they need govt approval, guaranteeing victory.

    Steve

    5
  5. Eusebio Avatar
    Eusebio

    @Joe:

    But is there any push back when Trump takes away comedy in general from the marketplace?

    There’s some, and we’ll see how broad and how durable the pushback will be. On his show this morning, Howard Stern said that he’s canceling his Disney+ subscription. From USA Today:

    Stern slammed Kimmel’s suspension as “horrible” and “outrageous” and revealed he is canceling his subscription to Disney+ to boycott ABC’s parent company. Stern’s cohost Robin Quivers said she also plans to cancel her subscription.

    And it’s not so much comedy in general that’s being targeted as it is satire directed at the president and his associates. Someone said this about satire on May 2, 2022:

    Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.

    That was from current FCC Chair Brendan Carr.

    5
  6. PepperPrepper Avatar
    PepperPrepper

    We’re talking about a media that spent years promoting a garbage conspiracy theory about Trump and Russia and years more conspiring to cover up Joe Biden’s mental decline.

    It’s impossible to have a serious, good faith discussion about Trump’s behavior when you consistently ignore or lie about the behavior of his opponents.

  7. Bobert Avatar
    Bobert

    @Kathy:
    FCC licenses cable tv’s satellite partners. If the FCC throws a snit (or Trump demands that FCC pull the license of the satellite operator that carries (say CNN or MSNBC), couldn’t the FCC disrupt the transmission of “cable” programming?

  8. Bobert Avatar
    Bobert

    @PepperPrepper:
    Ambiguous references to “a media that”…
    Since you seems to know what/who media is “promoting … etc” how about you name names?

    7
  9. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Bobert:

    While cable is a shadow of what it was just ten years ago, millions still subscribe, and not a few use it to watch sports. How many other channels are carried by the satellite operators who also carry CNN and MSNBC?

  10. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.

    And therein lies, IM not so HO, a lesson for Dems. Humor is, indeed, a powerful political weapon, and we have the advantage that conservatives aren’t very good at it, for which see Dennis Miller.

    We shouldn’t say, “OMG, Trump is behaving like a Putin puppet.” Say, “Trump is a Manchurian Candidate president, brainwashed by Putin, But don’t worry, he’s so dumb he’s probably forgotten the trigger phrase.*” Don’t say, “Trump is wasting tax money on a grandiose ballroom at the White House.”, say, “Trump’s spending a ton of public money on an ugly ballroom because there isn’t room around the White House for something like the Nuremberg Rally Grounds.”

    The creatives are mostly on our side, use them. Along with Jimmy Kimmel, there should be some newly unemployed gag writers. They’d be more valuable than a hundred centrist consultants.

    * Adopted from British comedian Alex Kealy.

    3
  11. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @PepperPrepper:
    I think the most boring form of “DEBATE ME!” culture is the type that refuses to ever debate and just complains that you’re not meeting their made-up ground rules for a debate.

    It’s impossible to have a serious, good faith discussion about Trump’s behavior when you consistently ignore or lie about the behavior of his opponents.

    Funny, there seems to be some of that going on in your first paragraph. Or rather, you’re setting up positions that are taken as fact in the right wing media sphere and not so much outside of it. Or are at least treated with a bit more nuance.

    “Before we can have this discussion you need to accept as fact all the stuff I’ve read on The Daily Wire, Red State, Fox News, Hot Air, and Zero Hedge doesn’t really suggest that you’re really interested in debating or even having a discussion.”

    It main just sounds like you are desperate for someone to validate your point of view.

    20
  12. Neil Hudelson Avatar
    Neil Hudelson

    @Matt Bernius:

    It main just sounds like you are desperate for someone to validate your point of view.

    This is Drew’s, what, 10th or so sock puppet? I can’t think of anything that screams “desperate need for validation” than coming back a dozen odd times to a commentariot which thinks you are a numbskull, in the hopes that this time, this sockpuppet’s ideas will be respected.

    15
  13. reid Avatar
    reid

    @Matt Bernius: Well said. Perhaps our troll is just this site’s assigned handler, part of the army whose goal is to rewrite history by flooding the internet and media with BS. Nah, hes’ probably doing it for free, which is even sadder.

    2
  14. Gregory Lawrence Brown Avatar
    Gregory Lawrence Brown

    Sure hope Salt and Pepper doesn’t hurt their back following the Obey Me posture that their Supreme Leader Trump has decreed for all the Orange worshiping minions.

    2
  15. DK Avatar
    DK

    @PepperPrepper:

    It’s impossible to have a serious, good faith discussion about Trump’s behavior when you consistently ignore or lie about the behavior of his opponents.

    It’s fully possible when one is not a habitual liar with zero integrity. You are desperate to change the subject, because you’ve run out of defenses for your unethical, amoral support of economy-destroying Epstein-bestie rapist Trump, including his ugly attacks on the 1st and 5th Amendments.

    You are childish, dishonest, and unserious:

    Paul Manafort admits he passed Trump campaign data to a suspected Russian asset (Bloomberg)

    President Tariff Trumpflation publicly called for Russia to steal Hillary’s emails (which they did the next day), his scampaign met with Russian operatives in Trump Tower do discuss sanctions reductions in exchange for campaign assistance (after which Trumpers changed the GOP platform accordingly), and his campaign chair Manafort gave data to Russians to help them in their cyberwar (which he publicly admitted).

    Grow up.

    18
  16. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    Oh, and keep in mind some of the bad press El Taco whines about is simply a truthful description of his policies and actions.

    For example, when tariffs are referred to as taxes, when it’s pointed out US importers and not foreign countries pay them, when it’s claimed they will increase inflation, etc.

    and that’s just one policy.

    It’s like the use St. Krik against free speech. Some of those attacked as “celebrating” his murder, simply gave opinions on the man, or cited his own words.

    7
  17. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Kathy: Like legacy media in general, the late night shows’ value is not in their audience numbers, especially compared to rising alt media. Por ejemplo, Kimmel reached about 1 million viewers nightly, I think. Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack alone has a reader list of 2+ million.

    But legacy media/entertainment does have enormous cultural impact and the ability to drive conversation, in a way that most alt media does not yet.

    Candy Crush Saga is more financially important than any movie ever made: it has grossed ~$23 billion dollars in less than 15 years. History’s most successful movie, GWTW, has grossed an inflation adjusted ~$4.5 billion over the past 85 years.

    Still, there are hundreds of movies and TV shows more culturally important than Candy Crush. Even movies that flopped financially.

    Incidentally, this disparity is why the megacorps that own our media don’t care nearly as much about making artistically-important, or even financially-viable movies and TV as culturally literate liberals do. The old school cinema-TV model is not a money maker for them. People give away their age having debates about movies losing money because they’re too woke or whatever. Winning the box office, Emmys, and Golden Globes is mainly for bragging rights and status when executives are hanging out at Martha’s Vineyard and Saint Tropez. They make way more money from throwaway smartphone games like Angry Birds and video games people ages 35+ haven’t heard of. Financially, execs don’t give two craps about Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert going bye-bye.

    11
  18. becca Avatar
    becca

    Kimmel is back

    4
  19. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @becca:

    Here’s the Guardian’s note on it.

    If he is back tomorrow, and he doesn’t have to do a coerced apology, I may un-cancel Disney+.

    1
  20. becca Avatar
    becca

    @Kathy: we cancelled and upped our PBS contribution.
    Now let’s do Colbert!

    1
  21. Eusebio Avatar
    Eusebio

    @Kathy:
    Not ready to go back to ABC/ESPN yet, so no Monday Night Football for me this week. I’ll watch Kimmel tomorrow and see how it goes. If he doesn’t seem to be muted or shackled by a crooked bargain as terms for his return, then I’ll still have to see how it goes. Disney’s heel-click obedience last week still stings, and now we’ll see how the administration responds to Kimmel’s return and how Disney responds to the response.

    4
  22. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @becca:
    @Eusebio:

    On, I’m not un-cancelling for a while, yet. I’d been thinking I need to drop a subscription for a few months anyway, so it maya s well be this one.

    In the meantime, as a fool once advised, trust but verify (which really means: don’t trust, verify instead).

    4
  23. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Kathy: I hope this leads to a right wing boycott of Disney.

    When you play with fascists, you get burned, and that burn should keep on burning. There is no way to get onto their good side, they don’t have a good side.

    Let it be a warning to others to just quietly ignore the administration’s threats rather than give into them.

    3
  24. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @PepperPrepper:

    It’s impossible to have a serious, good faith discussion about Trump’s behavior when you consistently ignore or lie about the behavior of his opponents.

    Actually, it is absolutely possible to talk about a specific person’s behavior without talking about other people.

    Or even a group. I could go on at length about how bad the Dallas defense is as a collective whole without talking, like at all, about the other 31 teams. I could critique Jerry Jones’ time as GM without saying one word about how other teams function.

    Indeed, I could dissect your poor rhetorical skills without referencing anyone else.

    Do you see how that can be the case?

    15
  25. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Gustopher:

    Kind of a win-win?

    For all their very carefully crafted image, Disney is just another share value maximizing corporation. Darth Vader with Mickey Mouse ears, almost literally. I like much of what they produce, but I don’t like Disney as such (and lately they’ve massively enshitified their parks, if I can trust what I’ve read about it).

    2
  26. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    Disney was faced with either pissing off MAGAs who are already raging at Disney because Snow White wasn’t white enough, and pissing off Sinclair Media, a MAGA megaphone on the one hand, or pissing off Democrats and more importantly, creatives. That Hollywood letter from Tom Hanks and every other important person in Hollywood, is what broke Disney. No creatives no shows, no cash flow.

    Disney, I hope, has learned that there no longer is a safe middle ground.

    Jesus comes thru with the quote:

    These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither [k]cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. . Revelation 3:15-16

    Disney was at the inflection point. Iger was about to be vomited out of our mouths. So, contra @DK upstream, all those Disney-hating trolls did us a service. They left the Mouse only one way out.

    2
  27. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Steven L. Taylor:
    In order to ‘debate’ without whattaboutism you’d have to first have actual beliefs beyond me-me-me and stranger-danger. If MAGAts actually had beliefs other than subservience they’d long since have abandoned Trump.

    3
  28. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Michael Reynolds: I think this is a craven money-grubbing win-win for Disney. By trampling all over Kimmel’s 1st Amendment rights, they got their MAGA brownie points for their merger. Then by bringing Kimmel back while the controversy is still raging, they’ve increased the profile, relevance, and probably the ratings of Jimmy Kimmel Live! It’s heads– Disney always wins, tails– Disney never loses. It’s like they’re too big to lose.

    4
  29. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    Someone here wrote – and I apologize for not remembering who – that MAGAs were having a hard time not stepping on their own dicks. One minute they had a MAGA martyr for hate speech, and amazingly they managed to turn the conversation around to Jimmy Kimmel, martyr for free speech. And the cherry on the cake was that orange fuckwit explicitly admitting he did it, leaving no room for anyone to deny that they were bending the knee.

    May the overreach continue. You know the problem with Hitler and Mussolini comparisons is that they were both fairly smart. Mussolini was a writer, and of course all writers are geniuses. Trump is much more Bolsonaro, Milei, banana republic caudillo, level. Even as a wanna-be tyrant he’s second rate.

    5
  30. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Michael Reynolds:

    Mussolini was a writer, and of course all writers are geniuses.

    I see what you did there, sir.

    6
  31. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @DK:
    Nope. I follow these guys pretty closely, I’ve been watching this develop for a while. There is a corner of YouTube that is people whose entire income stream rests on Disney-hating. They can’t stop hating Disney. Iger would have to burn Kathleen Kennedy alive on Disney+ to earn a grudging hat tip. MAGA is dead for Disney, all they will see is that their Dear Leader got outplayed by Jimmy Kimmel and Bob Iger.

    Breathe deep and smell the frustration and rage.

    ETA: What I did? Do you mean write the clear and indisputable truth?

    2
  32. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    I wonder if Trump and Carr have ever heard of the ‘Fairness Doctrine’, or know which party’s appointees on the FCC ended it, or which presidents vetoed attempts to reinstate it, or which party has zealously opposed its revival ever since. How dare the FCC have purported to limit Rush Limbaugh’s 1st amendment rights!

    3

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