Trump pushed Kimmel into going full resistance lib for the biggest audience he will ever have. Another masterclass from the president.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 23, 2025 at 9:54 PM
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Tonight, the American people - in defense of free speech - returned a political satirist to the airwaves after a burgeoning fascist regime tried to silence him. It’s an historic night. I won’t forget it.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.com) September 23, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Nothing like watching free speech give censorship the middle finger.
— Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 11:31 PM
By the way, it turns out the UN escalator stopped because Trump's own videographer jammed it at the top, and the UN teleprompter didn't work because Trump's people messed up there too.This may have been the most insane and incoherent four days of his presidency. Tylenol, the U.N., I hate my opponents, other countries are going to hell, this escalator's broken, I'm mad at a TV comedian, I like Ukraine now. It really feels as if some minimal tether to reality has snapped.
— Mark Harris (@markharris.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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I have seen at least three pieces today on how Trump is increasingly irrelevant to America:
The Big Picture and Jay Kuo
Is the Tide Turning?Kuo then recounts a lengthy list of Trump's failures across the board over the last eight months. He continues
On multiple fronts, Trump has been pushed back or forced to dig in and defend.
For eight long months, we’ve been collectively traumatized by the Trump regime. From mass layoffs of federal workers to mass incarceration and deportation of immigrants; from the illegal impoundment of billions in funds to the illegal cancellation of foreign aid; from the deployment of federal troops to U.S. cities to unlawful military attacks on civilian vessels in international waters; from the abandonment of our allies to the empowerment of dangerous war criminals; from chaotic tariff announcements to the firing of the experts tracking critical economic data; from assailing the First Amendment to using the White House itself to spread dangerous health misinformation—it has been a nonstop nightmare....
...These examples demonstrate the many ways the Trump regime has overreached, walked back its threats, chickened out and hidden the evidence. They also show that even in places where traditionally the president ought to have the widest latitude, whether it’s use of the military, regulatory authority or immigration, Trump is badly fumbling.Robert Reich
We shouldn’t naively assume that Trump has played his last cards, or that he won’t find ways to make things worse as his term drags on. At the same time, however, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that he has lost and retreated in nearly every major confrontation lately, and that his own people simply don’t know how to make things happen the way he wants.
...So while things have not been going well for the U.S., they also have not been going very well for Donald Trump. The political tide may in fact be turning, and we may well gain a reprieve from his full-out assault upon democracy as we play the White House to a draw on every front.
Take heart, rest and prepare. It may soon be time to go on the offensive.
The sleeping giant is awakeningReich then recounts everything that went wrong for Trump in the last week. He continues:
After a week of authoritarian excess, the nation is turning on Trump
...after sixty years in and around politics I’ve developed a sixth sense, and my sixth sense tells me the tide is now turning on Trump.
This past week did it....
...On Sunday, at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, [Trump] said that he disagreed with Kirk’s supposed leniency toward his ideological foes, adding: “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.”
You could almost feel the great sleeping giant of America open an eye and frown, then blink both eyes and sit up and stretch, and then roar “what the hell is going on here?” Immediately after Kimmel’s suspension, Disney viewers and customers began to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu and threaten a broader consumer boycott. According to Strength in Numbers, the Disney boycott quickly became four times as large as any boycott over the last five years. Disney’s stock dipped about 3.5 percent and continued to trade lower in subsequent days — a loss in market value amounting to some $4 billion. Even Ted Cruz — Ted Cruz! — began issuing grave warnings about censorship. By then the giant was roaring and stomping....
Kimmel’s comeback and the heat of public angerTrump isn’t nearly as strong as he seems....Perhaps that’s the most important takeaway from Kimmel’s comeback: that the people still have power, that the enemies of democracy aim to convince the people otherwise, and that tinfoil dictators like Trump are only as strong as the greed and ambition of those around them.
And here's a point to remember:This should be the moment where Republicans take stock. Trump is deeply unwell. His health is declining. He embarrassed the country today. He’s not capable of doing the job. We are here now. No bullshit.
— Simon Rosenberg (@simonwdc.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 6:36 PM
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the bargain of, let’s say, fairly stable, small-d democratic capitalism is that the average person gets better living standards and wages and doesn’t have to think very much about politics, and i think everyone involved in politics will come to regret the choice to change the terms of the agreement
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) September 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
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1 comment:
"In case your ABC station didn't carry it..." Chances are good they didn't. If you live in DC or Seattle, for example, your ABC station didn't air Kimmel's show. The ABC channel in those markets and many others is owned by Sinclair or Nexstar, and both media companies are MAGA aligned. Without revenue from those markets, Kimmel's show becomes less financially viable to Disney.
The fight for free speech is far from over, and I expect Trump to use the FCC to reign in all three major networks. There are illiberal elements on both sides of the political divide who want to stifle dissent. On the left, radicals shout “No debate!” and cheer on deplatforming people who disagree with them, such as comedians Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais who made fun of gender ideology. On the right, Trump gloats about cancelling comedians such as Colbert and Kimmel who made fun of him.
It turns out the right is more ruthless at using illiberal weapons than the left, after all, the cancelling of Chappelle and Gervais failed. Progressives ought to remember that calling people bigots for not keeping up with liberal orthodoxies doesn’t shame them into compliance. It loses elections by making them go to the other, more effective side. The liberal side accepts a plurality of views. The illiberal side cheers on censorship. That's where the real divide lies.
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