Now that we have established a rational perspective, we do need to discuss the political divide in this country – and the violence it can cause – because both are clearly deepening in some circles.

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First, it’s important to remember – and we only bring this up to help us maintain perspective – that political division and violence is not a new thing in our country. The 1960s were defined by events like the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama church by the Ku Klux Klan that killed four young black girls, and the assassinations of Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Senator Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy.

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This continued into the 1970’s with Alabama Governor and presidential nominee George Wallace getting shot and the murders of Harvey Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and the mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone. At the same time, protest bombings became routine, with over a dozen radical underground groups dedicated to overthrowing the government planting hundreds of bombs across America (these groups included the Weather Underground, the New World Liberation Front, and the Symbionese Liberation Army). Bombings became so common that, during an 18-month period during 1971 and 1972, the FBI reported 2,500 domestic bombings – an average of almost five a day.​ Almost twenty-five years later, 168 people, including 19 children, were killed in Oklahoma City because Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which, to this day remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

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In addition to President Kennedy, three other U.S. presidents have been assassinated and a fifth, Ronald Reagan, was severely wounded in the attempt. Before the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life in 2024, there were attempts on the lives of Presidents Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and George W. Bush.

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So, sadly, political division and violence are not new. What is new, however, is that political tribalism (where people feel protective of their chosen group) has turned into political sectarianism (where one group hates the other group even more than they love their own). We have reached a place where many Americans now view their political opponents not as simply wrong or misguided but as an evil, existential threat to them and their very way of life.

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In July 2025, a Wall Street Journal survey found that over 80 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans hold not only an unfavorable view of the opposing party but a “very unfavorable” view. This has shifted significantly from 15 years ago, when only 50 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats held “very negative” views of the opposing party.

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The right and left have moved far beyond believing that elections are just about policy positions. Instead, many see losing an election as losing the very essence of what they believe America should be. In 2022, NBC News asked Americans if the opposing party’s agenda would destroy the United States if it was carried out: 79 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats said yes. < Even still, we stand by our assertion that this looks far worse on paper than it really is. >

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Political sectarianism was on full display after the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk. As I scrolled down my Facebook feed, I felt like I was living on two different planets. The most jarring thing about the people posting polar opposite positions was that none of them recognized that they were doing the exact same things they were accusing the other side of doing. Somehow, both those on the right and the left feel like they are horribly mistreated victims – of each another. The hypocrisy, projection, and lack of self-awareness is just remarkable.

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One of the most unsettling things coming from many conservatives is their inclination to refer to Mr. Kirk’s alleged killer not as one man but as they and them, collectively referring to “The Left”: They killed him; they are the reason he is dead; they must pay. A member of our tribe is dead because they are nasty and violent and wicked.

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Unsurprisingly, this was immediately reenforced by practically every member of the Trump/Vance administration, who all quickly weaponized Mr. Kirk’s death and turned a truly heartbreaking event into yet another way to manipulate the American people.

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Within hours of the shooting – well before anyone had any solid facts – President Trump was already blaming the “radical left:” “violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year in the most hateful and despicable way possible. For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now… radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives,” – he said, without a hint of irony.

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By the next day, he was saying things like, “We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them.” Two days after, he downplayed violent actions by right-wing extremists while at the same time justifying them: “The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime. Worried about the border. They’re saying, ‘We don’t want these people coming in. We don’t want you burning our shopping centers. We don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street.’ The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.”

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Meanwhile, JD Vance and Stephen Miller, the president’s top policy advisor, were doing their part to vilify “the left” as well. “This is not a both sides problem,” Vance said. “If both sides have a problem, then one side has a much bigger and malignant problem and that is the truth that must be told… While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left.”

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He later said, “We are working very hard to ensure that the funding networks for left-wing violence, that the radicalization networks for left-wing violence – that if you encourage or fund your fellow Americans or anybody else to commit acts of violence because you disagree with political speech, you are going to be treated like a terrorist organization and we are going to go after you.”

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For his part, Miller demonized the left’s “organized doxxing campaigns, the organized riots, the organized street violence, the organized campaigns of dehumanization, vilification, posting people’s addresses, combining that with messaging that’s designed to trigger, incite violence and the actual organized cells that carry out and facilitate the violence.” In his grand finale, he called the entire thing “a vast domestic terror movement.” “With God as my witness,” he dramatically said, “We are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name.”

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This hardcore rhetoric didn’t start with Mr. Kirk’s death. Weeks before, Miller had declared that the Democratic Party was “a domestic extremist organization” and then posted ominously on X that: “In recent days we have learned just how many Americans in positions of authority – child services, law clerks, hospital nurses, teachers, gov’t workers, even DOD employees – have been deeply and violently radicalized.”

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… and just like that, you have the president of the United States, the vice president of the United States, and their top policy adviser calling their political opponents terrorists.

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Those on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures weighed in as well. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) posted on social media: “The left and their policies are leading America into a civil war. And they want it. Just like the democrat party wanted our 1st civil war. The gloves are off.” Then another post: “May the mighty wrath of vengeance fall upon the Brown Shirts who are responsible for this.” < the Brownshirts were the Nazi Party’s paramilitary militia that used intimidation and violence to help Adolf Hitler gain power > Then this one: “The democratic Party has been fostering a 21st century Civil War. I would encourage them if you look at the results of the last one that they started.”

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Nick Freitas, a Republican Virginia state delegate, said: “I don’t think they realize it yet, but murdering Charlie is going to be remembered as the day where we finally woke up to what this fight really is. It’s not a civil dispute among fellow countrymen. It’s a war between diametrically opposed worldviews which cannot peacefully coexist with one another. One side will win, and one side will lose.”

Meanwhile, things were also heating up throughout conservative media/social media. Fox News prime-time personality Jesse Watters said things like: “We’re sick, we’re sad, we’re angry, and we’re resolute, and we’re going to avenge Charlie’s death in the way Charlie would want it to be avenged… Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us. And what are we going to do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate?”

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Matt Walsh, a podcaster at the conservative media company The Daily Wire, made clear where he stood: “Charlie tried to have conversations with you on the Left, and you killed him for it. You’re killing us in our churches. You tried to kill our President. You celebrate Charlie’s death. It’s time for good to fight back against evil.” He continued, “It’s too late to turn the temperature down. This is not a time to hold hands. It’s a time for justice. This is a time for good to fight back against evil. It is time for the righteous to prevail.” He then went full DEFCON 1: “The entire Right has to band together… We are up against demonic forces from the pit of Hell… this is existential. A fight for our own existence and the existence of our country.”

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Steve Bannon – the former chief strategist to Donald Trump turned self-appointed MAGA overseer, strategist, and propagandist – declared, “We have to have steely resolve. Charlie Kirk is a casualty of war. We are at war in this country. We are.” Elon Musk posted “the Left is the party of murder” and “if they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is to fight or die.” Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and close ally of Donald Trump, said, “The best way President Trump can reinforce Charlie’s legacy is by cracking down on the Left with the full force of the government… We must shut these lunatic leftists down. Once and for all. The Left is a national security threat.” Right-wing commentator and influencer Joey Mannarino posted, “Trump has to go full Bukele. < the president of El Salvador > Now. Fill the jails up with these terrorists.” On Patriots.win, a website for “serious supporters of President Trump,” posts went something like this: “Start the Democrat extinction event.”​ Conservative writer and activist Christopher Rufo posted: “The last time the radical Left orchestrated a wave of violence and terror, J Edgar Hoover shut it all down within a few years. It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.” 

John Daniel Davidson, a senior editor at the conservative online magazine The Federalist, wrote, “The left is a violent revolutionary movement that wants all those who oppose it dead. It’s incompatible with American constitutionalism. Charlie Kirk’s assassination should confirm what we already should have known: we cannot share a country with the left.” Right-wing journalist and influencer Matt Forney called Mr. Kirk’s murder “the American Reichstag fire,” referring to the fire at the German Parliament building in 1933 that the Nazi party used as an excuse to suspend constitutional protections and arrest political enemies. He didn’t stop there: “It is time for a complete crackdown on the left. Every Democratic politician must be arrested and the party banned RICO. Every libtard commentator must be shut down. Stochastic terrorism. They caused this.” He followed up with: “The left must pay. Ban the Democratic Party. Shut down CNN and MSNBC. Military tribunals. If you are to the left of Lindsay Graham, you belong in prison. YOU CAUSED THIS.” William Wolfe, the executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership who was a senior official in the first Trump administration, posted, “The. Left. Must. Be. Destroyed.” He added in another post, “The Democrats and the Left must be crushed. The goal for Republicans in the next ten years shouldn’t just be to win elections, but to destroy the Democrat Party entirely and salt the earth underneath it.”

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What happened next was predictable. The intensity of the right’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death gave the Trump/Vance administration the perfect excuse/cover to go into censorship overdrive, vowing to put the weight of the entire federal government behind a tyrannical crackdown on any communication they consider objectionable.

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Right out of the gate – and making it all about himself, of course – President Trump threatened to revoke the licenses of broadcast television networks that are “against” him: “They give me only bad publicity, press. I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

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Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr – backing his boss up, saying that broadcasters are “entirely different than people that use other forms of communication” – claimed that “(broadcasters) have a license granted by us at the FCC that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.” He then said, “We at the FCC are going to enforce the public interest obligation. There are broadcasters out there that don’t like it, they can turn in their license to the FCC. But that’s our job. Again, we’re making some progress now.”

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At this point, practically everyone in the Trump/Vance orbit – including Cabinet members and some members of Congress – piled on the anti-free speech/hunt down the traitors train.

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U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech” – revealing that the chief law enforcement officer in the United States didn’t understand that, in America, there is no delineation between “free” speech and “hate” speech. She also claimed she has the authority to investigate businesses that refused to print memorial vigil posters for Mr. Kirk. Political journalist Jonathan Karl asked Trump what his reaction to Bondi’s statement was. Trump replied, “She’ll probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly. You have a lot of hate in your heart.”

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Not long after, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Defense Department would now demand a “pledge” from Pentagon reporters to not publish any information – even unclassified and non-sensitive information – unless it is “approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official.” If they refuse, they will lose their access to the Pentagon and all U.S. military facilities. This provoked harsh responses even from Republicans. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who is a former Air Force brigadier general, posted: “This is so dumb that I have a hard time believing it is true. We don’t want a bunch of Pravda newspapers only touting the Government’s official position,” referencing the Russian broadsheet newspaper that was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. “A free press makes our country better. This sounds like more amateur hour.”

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Over on Capitol Hill, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) said he would use “Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk. If they ran their mouth with their smartass hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man who dedicated his whole life to delivering respectful conservative truth into the hearts of liberal enclave universities, armed only with a Bible and a microphone and a Constitution… those profiles must come down.” “So, I’m going to lean forward in this fight, demanding that big tech have zero tolerance for violent political hate content, the user to be banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER. I’m also going after their business licenses and permitting, their businesses will be blacklisted aggressively, they should be kicked from every school, and their drivers licenses should be revoked. I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I’m starting that today.”

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And, of course, JD Vance had to make sure his puppeteer knew he was doing his part. Even though, early on, Vance scolded our European allies for allowing free speech to “retreat” across Europe – while, at the same time, assuring them that “under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree” – he said on Charlie Kirk’s podcast, which he hosted days after his death, that while “the First Amendment protects a lot of very ugly speech, “if you celebrate … Charlie Kirk’s death, you should not be protected from being fired for being a disgusting person. If you are a university professor who benefits from American tax dollars, you should not be celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death and if you are, maybe you should lose your job or your university should, should face a loss of funding.” (This became yet another theme after Mr. Kirk’s death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed his staff to identify any members of the military who mocked, condoned or celebrated the assassination so that they could be punished, adding “We are tracking all these very closely – and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable.”

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Vance also announced that the Trump/Vance administration would be going “after the NGO (non-governmental organization) network that foments, facilitates and engages in violence,” suggesting the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, the nonprofit run by the billionaire investor and Democratic megadonor George Soros, would be great places to start.

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This poor guy. We don’t know where the conspiracy crazies got hold of his name, but for years George Soros – who was born in Hungary and lived through the Nazi occupation – has been one of their favorite villains. Sid Miller, the agriculture commissioner of the great state of Texas, seemed to speak for all of them when he said during the protests after George Floyd’s death – with zero proof – “I have no doubt in my mind that George Soros is funding these so-called ‘spontaneous’ protests. Soros is pure evil and is hell-bent on destroying our country!”

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The truth is that the Open Society Foundations is a network of several philanthropic entities, operating in offices in over a dozen countries, that has spent over $24 billion worldwide. In the early years, Soros funded scholarships in South Africa during apartheid, along with several democratization efforts in post-Soviet Europe. His early work in America focused on drug decriminalization and other criminal justice issues. The current president of the foundation is a former Human Rights Watch lawyer who researched sexual violence during the genocide in Rwanda. In 2024, the Open Society Foundations spent $242 million on various causes in the United States, focusing on what they characterize as “democracy-building efforts.”

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Many of the accusations against Mr. Soros from the far-right have been vile and unfounded. If you are wondering why they target him, the one and only Steve Bannon has your answer: “Soros is vilified because he is effective. I only hope one day I’m as effective as he has been – and as vilified.” He finished his statement by saying that the pipe bomb that was delivered to Soro’s New York home in October 2018 was “the admission ticket for playing in this arena.”

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Indeed, the only basis VP Vance offered for going after the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations was an article in The Nation magazine titled “Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning” that Vance thought tried to justify Kirk’s death and incite violence against conservatives (his point was that, because these foundations financially support The Nation, they should be targeted). Problem is, the president of The Nation said unequivocally that the magazine had never received funds from the Open Society Foundations and both the Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation said they do not currently fund The Nation (the Ford Foundation provided a single grant in 2019 for the Nation’s internship program).

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This proclamation from Vance was an obvious nod to Donald Trump’s earlier assertion that his administration would “find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials and everyone else who brings order to our country.” The President of the United States even threatened to target George Soros under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO): “We’re going to look into Soros because I think it’s a RICO case against him and other people because this is more than protests. This is real agitation; this is riots on the street – and we’re going to look into that.”

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As a result of the right’s George Soros fever dream, Open Society Foundations has had to repeatedly deny outlandish accusations for years, like this one in August 2025: “We do not pay people to protest or directly train or coordinate protestors. All Open Society grantees are required to comply with the law, and we expect our grantees to uphold our shared commitment to human rights, dignity, and nonviolence. The Open Society Foundations oppose all forms of violence, including violent protests.”

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In September 2025, over 100 philanthropies and institutions – including the Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations – issued a letter condemning “acts of political violence” and denounced the recent murders of Kirk and of Melissa Hortman in Minnesota, saying such acts “have no place in our democracy.” The letter also said, “Organizations should not be attacked for carrying out their missions or expressing their values in support of the communities they serve. We reject attempts to exploit political violence to mischaracterize our good work or restrict our fundamental freedoms, like freedom of speech and the freedom to give. Attempts to silence speech, criminalize opposing viewpoints, and misrepresent and limit charitable giving undermine our democracy and harm all Americans.”

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Even though President Trump promised to “immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America” during his second inaugural address – plus signed an Executive Order banning the government from “any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen” – he and his administration have trampled all over the First Amendment and done everything under the sun to silence political rivals, quash any and all dissent, interfere and bully private enterprise into submission, and punish those they perceive to have slighted them in any way.

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No one is safe when you have a leader of the free world that has – literally – the thinnest skin of anyone in American history. Seriously, we have never seen anyone who can dish it out but not be able to take it like this guy. It is truly a psychological case study.

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President Trump suggested that Attorney General Pam Bondi think about “bringing RICO cases” against protestors who dared shout “Free D.C.” and “Trump is the Hitler of our time” outside a restaurant in Washington. He dismantled the blue tent that has stood for decades as a peace vigil across from the White House in Lafayette Park (this was America’s longest continuous political protest, set up by anti-nuclear arms activist William Thomas on June 3, 1981 and maintained by other activists ever since).

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He issued multiple Executive Orders – from the Oval Office, no less – against private law firms to punish them for representing clients in cases that were on the opposite side of his first administration and/or for having employed lawyers who were involved in investigations of him. His administration has – or has threatened to – cut off funding from U.S. universities that they deem are antisemitic or have engaged in ideological indoctrination. One of these, the University of California Berkeley, sent an email to around 160 students, staff and faculty in September 2025 alerting them that their names and other pertinent information had been given to the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights to comply with a federal investigation into alleged campus antisemitism. The email said that to comply with the investigation, Berkeley sent “comprehensive documents, including files and reports related to alleged antisemitic incidents.” UCSF, UCLA, UC Davis and UC San Diego have also been targeted in Department of Education antisemitism inquiries.

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In a September 20, 2025 post on Truth Social, President Trump reminded AG Bondi that she had failed to bring criminal charges against his political adversaries – and he was not pleased: “Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action.’ Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done… We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

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… and then suddenly… voilà! Five days later former FBI Director James Comey was indicted on two counts: for making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding (the charges stem from testimony he gave during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 30, 2020). President Trump was ecstatic! “JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey.” … before saying that, although he didn’t have a list of targets per se, he thinks “there will be others. I hope there will be others.”

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For his part, Mr. Comey seemed unsurprised and unfazed: “My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either. My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system. I’m innocent, so let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”

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We guess interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan decided she better get busy after what happened to career prosecutors Michele Beckwith and Erik Siebert. Ms. Beckwith – who, over a 15-year career has prosecuted transnational terrorists, sex traffickers and the Aryan brotherhood – ticked off the Trump/Vance administration when, in her role as the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento, she reminded Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief in charge of the Southern California raids, that a court order prevented him from arresting people without probable cause. Imagine her nerve!

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Siebert, who had been the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was fired after he declined to bring charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of Donald Trump’s leading political nemesis. “I want him out,” were the exact words the president used. After Siebert resigned – just in case there was any confusion – Trump clarified, “He didn’t quit, I fired him!” < Not for nothing, but Lindsey Halligan is a Florida insurance lawyer who has ZERO prosecutorial experience. She did, however, once compete in a Trump-owned beauty pageant. >

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In January 2025, Meta (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp) agreed to pay Donald Trump $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit he filed over the suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts after the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. As if the money weren’t enough, CEO Mark Zuckerberg threw in next-level boot licking, praising the Trump/Vance administration for its support of U.S. tech companies and “defending our values.” The following month, X agreed to pay Donald Trump about $10 million to settle similar litigation and, in September 2025, Google-owned YouTube agreed to pay $24.5 million.

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In December 2024, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Donald Trump’s future presidential library and $1 million in legal fees to his attorneys to settle a defamation lawsuit The Donald brought against the network and its anchor George Stephanopoulos (in an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Stephanopoulos claimed Trump had been “found liable for rape” and “defaming the victim of that rape” in the two civil lawsuits brought against him by E. Jean Carroll, even though neither verdict resulted in a finding of rape as defined under New York law).

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Next up, in July 2025, CBS revealed it was ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for “economic reasons” (Colbert has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump & Co. for years). This came after CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit with The Donald over a 60 Minutes interview that veteran correspondent Bill Whitaker conducted with former Vice President and then presidential nominee Kamala Harris (The Donald accused the show of deceptive editing and election interference).

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The willingness of CBS to spend millions and millions of dollars to settle this likely winnable lawsuit seems strange… until you find out that, after Paramount settled its lawsuit with Donald Trump, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the sale of Paramount Global to Skydance Media – a deal worth about $8 billion.

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Then, Disney pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show from the ABC lineup after he made comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk that many conservatives found offensive.

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Without delay, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested Kimmel should be suspended and said ominously, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way” – stoking the intensifying narrative that many corporations were shamelessly bowing to an administration that was hell-bent on censuring anyone who ran afoul of them in any way.

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The Chairman of the FCC publicly putting his hand on the scale like this – which many people, including us, took as a threat – put Disney in a terribly tenuous position because they are in the business of business.

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It’s one thing if you are Bill Maher or Howard Stern and have provocative shows on HBO or SiriusXM, because those are paid subscription services. But ABC, CBS, Disney and Paramount depend on advertisers and local affiliate stations, and those advertisers and local affiliate stations are also in the business of business. In fact, Nexstar, the single largest owner of ABC-affiliated stations, was in the middle of a proposed $6.2 billion purchase of the media company Tegna that required FCC approval during this time – giving them 6.2 billion reasons to bend the knee to the Trump/Vance administration. It’s not their fault – and they are not sell-outs – there are just realities Corporate America simply can’t ignore.

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… especially when the Chairman of the FCC publicly remarks (wink wink, nudge nudge) on how much power affiliates have over ABC’s national programming, saying things like “it’s time for them to step up” and “these companies can find ways to change conduct to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” With these words hanging over their heads like a noose, Nexstar unsurprisingly said it would no longer carry Jimmy Kimmel’s show, as did Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates roughly 30 ABC stations. This, in turn, forced Disney’s hand.

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The United States federal government putting these companies in this position is outrageous, Communist China-level stuff… and those in the Trump/Vance administration and their cronies aren’t even trying to hide their strategy. Hard-right podcaster Benny Johnson, whose show Chairman Carr made his (in my opinion) threats on, couldn’t hide his delight after ABC pulled Jimmy’s show: “This is what got Kimmel fired. Right here. It’s called soft power. The Left uses it all the time. Thanks to President Trump, the Right has learned how to wield power as well.”

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As for our esteemed FCC Chairman, he made clear that he was just beginning: “We’re not done yet,” he said one day after ABC announced Kimmel’s suspension, calling ABC’s decision a “market correction.” Unfortunately for him, Kimmel’s suspension didn’t last long. Six days after it was announced, Disney brought Jimmy back to the ABC late-night lineup (initially, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group continued their boycott against the show but, days later, announced they too would resume airing it).

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Donald Trump was FURIOUS! “(Kimmel) puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers!”

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To which Kimmel responded: “There’s the threat again, this time straight from FCC-biscuit’s mouth. Only Donald Trump would try to prove he wasn’t threatening ABC by threatening ABC.”

KEEP READING!