ABC’s Panic Button
How a Late-Night Suspension, a Presidential Menace, and a Federal Threat Turned Free Speech into a Hostage Situation
America just watched the oldest trick in the strongman playbook: make a show of power, blame the press, and dare the networks to blink. ABC blinked. Hard.
I know I keep harping on Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press; these are guaranteed in our Constitution, the First Amendment. And I feel I am watching the death of our, your Constitutional Rights and the death of Democracy as we know it.
On September 17, Disney/ABC pulled the plug on Jimmy Kimmel Live! after Kimmel’s monologue riffed on the political frenzy around the assassination of Charlie Kirk, then the FCC’s Trump-appointed chair Brendan Carr rattled his saber about broadcast licenses. Disney says, “just business.” Anyone with a pulse calls it what it looks like: power, applied. Reuters framed it bluntly: the suspension “under pressure from the FCC” spotlights Trump’s tightening grip on media, with regulators and aligned corporate titans turning “free speech” into a cudgel for silence.
Carr’s line? That Kimmel’s bit might violate “public interest” obligations—language that was designed for decency rules, not for kneecapping political satire (the free-speech group FIRE blasted Carr’s posture and the license-revocation talk as an alarming overreach). Station groups scrambled: Nexstar insisted it wasn’t following orders from Washington, just “preempting” the show—while industry trades chronicled the blow-by-blow. According to Variety, Nexstar denied the FCC forced its hand even as affiliates yanked Kimmel “for the foreseeable future.” Bill Maher, who remembers his own ABC axing, called the network’s move “Always Be Caving,” pointing at the same triangle of pressure: regulators, advertisers, and political heat (Entertainment Weekly recap).
Let’s not kid ourselves: the chill is the point. The White House megaphone is already blasting reporters. On the White House lawn, Trump snapped at ABC’s Jonathan Karl, sneering that AG Pam Bondi would “probably go after people like you,” a slashing threat caught and reported by Deadline and boosted across right-leaning media that same day. Within 48 hours, he escalated, publicly urging Bondi to prosecute named enemies (Letitia James, Adam Schiff, James Comey) in a Truth Social broadside, according to Politico and the New York Post.
This is the climate in which Disney suspended a late-night comic. And it’s not just ABC’s problem; it’s the blueprint: intimidate, threaten licenses, and let corporate lawyers do the censorship. The Washington Post (syndicated) reports the administration is seeking to “punish speech they dislike,” ditching years of GOP rhetoric against “hate speech” policing when the target is their critics.
“You don’t need to outlaw speech when you can make billion-dollar companies terrified to air it.”
The Two-Minute Timeline of a Chilling Effect
Kimmel quips. Right-wing outrage machine surges.
FCC chair hints at license trouble; FIRE rings the First Amendment alarm.
ABC “suspends” the show; station owners “preempt” it indefinitely; everyone swears it’s not political.
The President taunts ABC’s Karl to his face and publicly leans on his AG to prosecute rivals.
Meanwhile, the President’s War on Reporters Goes Global
Trump didn’t only menace an American reporter. He also berated Australian ABC’s John Lyons, accusing him of “hurting Australia”, on camera on the South Lawn after questions about Trump’s business entanglements. That video exists; The Guardian published it. Twice. Watch the clip, hear the threat. This is how you telegraph consequences.
“But Is This Really Authoritarian?” Ask Belarus.
If you’re wondering where this trajectory points, look east. In Belarus, five years after the rigged 2020 election, nearly all independent media have been eradicated: 39 journalists jailed, outlets branded “extremist,” and even a social-media “like” can be criminalized, according to Reporters Without Borders, ARTICLE 19, and legal monitors. Western governments are issuing formal condemnations at the OSCE—because that’s what it looks like when a state turns the regulatory screws until the public square goes silent.
No, the U.S. isn’t Belarus. However, the method employs law, licensing, and fear to shape speech. When a sitting president publicly eggs on prosecutions of named enemies, and his regulator toys with broadcasters’ oxygen licenses, while a media conglomerate folds? That’s the direction. And control over social media may come sooner than you think. Social Media posts and comments are already being used to deny applicants for asylum or migration into the United States and to fire government employees.
Winners & Losers
Winners
The Bully Pulpit: Every network lawyer now has a “Kimmel memo” on their desk. Mission accomplished.
Censors by Proxy: Politicians posture; corporations enforce. FIRE’s warning is the tell.
Losers
Viewers & Voters: You don’t get sharper satire or tougher questions when the price tag is a broadcast license.
Reporters on the Lawn: From Karl to Lyons, the message is “ask, and we’ll make you pay,” documented on camera and in national coverage.
What You Can Do, Right Now
If you can spook Disney, you can spook anybody. This week was a stress test, and a lot of brand-name “guardians” of the First Amendment failed it. The fix isn’t quite acquiescence; it’s loud refusal. Call. Write. Cancel what deserves canceling: cowardice.
This isn’t the moment to just fume on your couch. It’s the moment to act.
Defend Free Speech Publicly. Share the Kimmel story, the Karl threat, the Lyons clip. Make sure your friends, family, and followers see the pattern. Authoritarians thrive in silence—shine a floodlight on it.
Support Independent Journalism. Subscribe to reporters and outlets under pressure. Donate to watchdog groups like FIRE, RSF, and PEN America, because they’re the ones fighting the legal battles when corporations fold.
Jam the FCC’s Inbox. Public comments matter. Demand the Commission reject political intimidation disguised as “public interest” enforcement. The legal record they build today is tomorrow’s precedent.
Online: FCC Public Comment Portal
Phone: 1-888-225-5322 (1-888-CALL-FCC)
Mail: Federal Communications Commission, 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554
Call Your Representatives. Push them to pass explicit guardrails preventing presidents and regulators from weaponizing broadcast licenses against critics. Make them say on the record whether they stand with the First Amendment or with fear. You can use this tool.
Join Citizen Movements. Attend rallies, town halls, and yes, organize your own soapbox moments. History is written by the loud, not the meek. For a protest near you, search Indivisible and mark October 18th on your calendar.
“The First Amendment isn’t self-executing, it only survives if we defend it, loudly, relentlessly, and together.”
This is our line in the sand. If we don’t draw it now, we may never get the chance again.
— Citizen Ben