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The recent suspension of \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d<\/a> is an attack on democracy. Though not necessarily the democracy one might think.<\/p>\n Free speech is protected by the 1st Amendment. This grants the late-night host the freedom to say whatever he thinks without fear of arrest or state-sanctioned violence. It does not necessarily guarantee that he will not be censured, or fired, if his remarks violate his employer\u2019s rules or standards.<\/p>\n President Trump discovered this in 2015 when, citing inflammatory remarks the then-presidential candidate made about undocumented Mexican immigrants, NBC \u2014 the network that aired \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d and Trump\u2019s Miss Universe pageant \u2014 cut ties with him.<\/p>\n This is the most obvious explanation for Trump declaring war on television, despite it being the industry that, via “The Apprentice” and a deluge of coverage during his first presidential campaign, helped propel him to the presidency. Paybacks are a b\u2014 and this particular president thrives on them.<\/p>\n And it is definitely war. Trump has a long history of attacking various TV networks and personalities, including Kimmel. The regularity, name-checking and vitriol of these attacks far outstrip the anger many presidents have expressed toward the media, but they are in keeping with Trump\u2019s general brand of \u201cwhataboutism\u201d and victimization.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> Commentary: After Kimmel and Colbert, who’s next in the war against free speech? Not Gutfeld<\/a><\/p>\n A brand that last year a majority of voters decided, in a free and fair election, represented their best interests.<\/p>\n What they did not vote for, because it was not part of Trump\u2019s platform or promises, was the weaponization of his office in general, and the FCC in particular, to destroy the democracy of broadcast television.<\/p>\n First by a spurious suit against \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d which many believe was settled to allow the sale of Paramount Global to Skydance Media to go forward, then with CBS (owned by Paramount) canceling \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u201d and now with the suspension of \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d<\/p>\n Television is an industry that relies on a continual public voting system \u2014 people watch or they don\u2019t watch, and the networks renew, cancel and tweak their programming accordingly. This is an oversimplification of a byzantine and often mysterious system that often involves the personal preferences of network executives and, increasingly, algorithms, but essentially the viewers are in charge \u2014 with their eyeballs and, occasionally, their outrage.<\/p>\n If, as the president claims, \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d had been canceled due to its low ratings or suspended after Kimmel\u2019s recent remarks caused longtime viewers to inundate ABC or the show’s sponsors with messages of outrage, fans would have been upset, but it would have been a mere blip in the news cycle.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> ABC’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s show has echoes and contrasts of Roseanne Barr firing<\/a><\/p>\n But that is not what happened. Instead, a handful of conservative pundits who have made it their business to punish anyone who mentions slain influencer Charlie Kirk with anything but near-sanctification used a few ill-chosen but innocuous lines regarding the crime in Kimmel\u2019s opening monologue Monday to call for swift and terrible retribution.<\/p>\n FCC Chairman Brendan Carr answered the call. On the podcast \u201cThe Benny Show,\u201d hosted by right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson, he threatened television affiliates with regulatory action if they did not take action against Kimmel.<\/p>\n He did so knowing that Nexstar, which owns many of those affiliates, was attempting to buy Tegna, in order to gain control of stations covering over 80% of U.S. television households. That merger would require not just FCC approval but Carr\u2019s willingness to eliminate the rule that prevents any media company from owning more than 39% of television stations.<\/p>\n Nexstar appeared to do precisely what Carr demanded of them. As did ABC\/Disney, which decided that the loss of revenue from these affiliates, and the animosity of Trump and his supporters, posed a bigger threat than the potential fallout from pulling \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d off the air. (And good luck getting the four-time Oscars host to emcee this ceremony again in the future.)<\/p>\n Perhaps it did. But given that \u201cseize the media\u201d and \u201csilence comedians\u201d are historical hallmarks of totalitarianism, the resulting three-day-and-counting news cycle, in which Carr, Trump and Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger have been regularly accused of dismantling democracy, has given anti-MAGA forces a new and legitimate rallying cry.<\/p>\n All while pushing broadcast television just a bit closer to the edge of extinction.<\/p>\n Nexstar denied that it benched Kimmel due to pressure from Carr.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision to preempt \u2018Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u2019 was made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision,\u201d Gary Weitman, Nexstar\u2019s chief communications officer, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> Behind the decision to bench Jimmy Kimmel: Trump FCC threats and charges of corporate cowardice<\/a><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s obsession with broadcast networks and late-night hosts is perilous, and not just because it underlines his desire to attack culture with every means at his disposal (including those that may not be legal).<\/p>\n Certainly, it exposes his authoritarian bent, but it also reveals his anachronistic view of the world.<\/p>\n First, in these divisive times, having critics allows your supporters to coalesce around hating them. And second, broadcast television, including and especially late night, has been in its death throes for more than a decade.<\/p>\n As alarming, unacceptable and authoritarian as the attacks on \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d Colbert and Kimmel are, media freedom is not going to die on this particular hill for the simple reason that it is no longer the free media’s main residence.<\/p>\n Carr ordered his hit on Kimmel not from the comforts of \u201cFox & Friends\u201d but on a podcast. <\/i>Trump still delivers televised speeches, but most of his communications and policy decisions are delivered via social media.<\/p>\n The tsunami of corporate mergers involving television networks and streaming services have occurred not because these things are profitable tools of power but because, at least separately, they are not. YouTube is the most popular media platform in the country.<\/p>\n As Trump points out, Kimmel\u2019s television ratings are very low \u2014 less than 2 million on average. Kimmel himself has said that he and other late-night shows get far more viewers from clips on social media than on television. If he and Colbert decide to take their voices straight to social media, well, good luck controlling that.<\/p>\n There is certainly much to fear in Trump\u2019s brazen attacks on venerable institutions like \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and late-night television (though with conservatives like Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson siding, at least in principle, with Kimmel, things may not be going quite the way Carr or Trump planned), but as Kirk knew, one doesn\u2019t need a television show to be an effective, influential voice.<\/p>\n Seen from one angle, Trump is most certainly attempting to quash what we have come to know as democracy. But from another, it\u2019s a grudge-holding president kicking the industry that helped him achieve power when it\u2019s already struggling for breath.<\/p>\n