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GELFAND’S WORLD - We’re all floundering around, trying to find the right words, but we’re having trouble not because the issue is at all complex, but because it is so extraordinarily simple. The government was attempting to censor Jimmy Kimmel for engaging in political speech. It is the most protected category of speech that there is. Not only that, but the point that Kimmel was making, if not necessarily and demonstrably true, was a particularly mild remark.
Here is the quote that the Republican establishment is clutching its pearls over:
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
So that’s it: A critical remark about the killer and a purely political point made about one wing of current day politics.
The serious point here is that, whatever Trump may actually be thinking, he is patterning his administration after the same kind of behavior that we have seen previously in fascist and Nazi regimes: Go after the mass media and through whatever coercion is available – government terror or economic pressure (either will work) – force a more regime-friendly tone upon the news media and the opinion pages.
And the excuses for such governmental behavior apparently don’t have to have any merit. Kimmel’s remark was, if anything, the sort of debate point that politicians and candidates make every day of the year. What was also obvious is that Donald Trump routinely says much worse things. How many times over the past twelve months have we heard Trump calling someone a Communist or a left-wing extremist?
Apparently, the Trump administration’s definition of a left wing extremist is somebody who still defends freedom of speech and conscience.
Another response to the Trump administration’s attack on Kimmel is so obvious that it almost doesn’t bear saying: The double standard being applied to Kimmel vs. Trump himself is clear, obvious, and (to use the exact word of the FCC chairman), sick.
An aside: After the murder, there were speculations and rumors that Tyler Robinson, the accused in the Kirk murder, was a follower of the group known colloquially as the Groypers. That group is headed by the white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Groyper is apparently the name of a frog-like cartoon character which has been adopted by young racist antisemites as a mascot. There is little evidence to support the assertion that Tyler Robinson was a Groyper, although there is a photograph of him taking a Groyper-like pose – pretty thin stuff, so far, but nevertheless an open question.
Still, Kimmel at least had the barest argument that Kirk’s killer is some sort of right winger, based on the Groyper rumors. The head of the Groyper movement – himself not exactly a reputable guy, denies the link.
Historians have noted the strong relationship between governments and corporations in fascist states. It’s not so much that the owners of corporations are themselves sadists who lust after power. It’s just that they find a way to accommodate their own interests with the real fascists. And so it is with two of the three major networks. We saw how CBS treated Stephen Colbert in order to gain government favor over a proposed merger.
Now, ABC – which is to say, its owner, the Disney Corporation – has caved to pressure from the Trump administration. Trump is not threatening Disney with concentration camps, but one ownership group within the ABC family wants to to buy some television stations, and this will require government approval. The current administration makes clear that it engages in extortion (get rid of Kimmel or else) and makes crystal clear the fact that it is open to bribery (the purchase of the television stations will be approved).
So far, there have been a few protests in the United States, but a wide scale public response to the crypto-fascism now being exhibited by Trump is yet to develop. There is, however, a possible approach that people in other countries can make use of. There are several Disney theme parks overseas. Paris and Tokyo are obvious examples. People in other countries can quietly avoid visiting these parks for a while, and it shouldn’t be difficult for such people to communicate that they are boycotting Disney as a way of boycotting Donald Trump.
A solidly communicated justification for the Disney boycott can be found in Scott Lemieux’s column “Disney’s Collaboration with the Trump Censorship Regime,” published in the blog Lawyers Guns & Money.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])
