The past few weeks have been nothing short of tragic. The assassination of Charlie Kirk shocked the nation, not just for its violence, but for what it represented. Kirk, whatever one thought of his politics, was exercising his right to free speech. Silencing him was an attack not only on his family, but on democracy itself.

What came after his death was nearly as disturbing. A small number on the left posted gleeful reactions celebrating his passing, while the right retaliated with digital mobs, doxxing critics and working to get them fired. It was cancel culture in reverse, a purge campaign waged by those who usually rail against it.

And then Jimmy Kimmel told a joke.

The Joke That Wasn’t the Joke

When I heard ABC had indefinitely pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! after his monologue about Kirk, I expected the worst. Maybe Kimmel had crossed a clear line. But when I finally watched it, my reaction was simple: is that it?

The butt of the joke wasn’t Kirk. It was Donald Trump. At the White House, after a reporter offered condolences and asked, “How are you holding up?” Trump replied, “I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get for about 150 years. And it’s going to be a beauty. It’ll be an absolutely magnificent structure.” Kimmel aired the clip and then delivered his punchline — highlighting Trump’s buffoonish insensitivity in the face of tragedy.

Kimmel’s timing was questionable, sure. But the target was clear: Trump’s response, not Kirk’s death.

The Real Reason: State Power Meets Corporate Fear

Full disclosure: I once worked for Jimmy Kimmel. I know firsthand how late-night comedy is shaped, how carefully jokes are debated, and how networks weigh what goes on air. That background makes one thing clear to me: ABC didn’t bench Kimmel because of taste or ratings.

The truth is harsher. Disney executives acted under extraordinary pressure: from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who threatened “serious consequences”; from Nexstar, the Texas-based affiliate giant that yanked Kimmel’s show off local stations; and from advertisers nervous about blowback. Add in a climate of online threats against Disney employees, and the company caved.

This wasn’t about one off-color monologue. It was about silencing a critic. On CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip, Republican strategist Scott Jennings snapped during a debate with a journalism professor: “[Jimmy Kimmel] does not have a right to have a television show where he lies his a– off to the American people and attacks half this country on a nightly basis.” The message was blunt: the goal was to cancel Kimmel, not because of the Kirk segment, but because his satire consistently ridicules the right.

The president himself has been escalating the attacks. Earlier this week, on the White House lawn, Trump turned on ABC’s Jonathan Karl after Karl asked about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s proposal to crack down on hate speech. “She’ll probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly. You have a lot of hate in your heart,” Trump shot back. “Your company paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech. So maybe they will have to go after you.”

And aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters: “They’re giving me all this bad press, and they’re getting a license,” when asked if FCC Chairman Brendan Carr should go after other talk show hosts after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

The Authoritarian Playbook

If this all feels familiar, it should. It’s the same playbook Hungary’s Viktor Orbán used to hollow out democracy: weaponize state agencies, bully corporations into compliance, and cow the press into silence.

Even Elon Musk’s Grok, a tool hardly known for progressive bias, sees the parallels clearly:

• Media Control: Orbán taxed and regulated independent outlets into submission while funneling resources to loyal networks. Trump has likewise proposed slashing $1.1 billion in federal funding from public media, threatened broadcast licenses for networks critical of him, and leaned on lawsuits and regulatory pressure to punish coverage he dislikes.
• Attacks on Academia: Orbán forced out Central European University. Trump’s administration is imposing financial penalties on universities over protests and allegations of bias, demanding admissions and diversity data, heightening cash monitoring (as with Harvard), freezing or threatening to withdraw federal research and grant funding, and revoking student visas in some cases tied to activism.
• Judiciary / Legal Pressure: Orbán filled courts with loyalists. Trump is leveraging legal and administrative tools to pressure institutions associated with his critics — targeting funding, launching civil rights investigations, and applying oversight.
• Press Restrictions: Just this week, the Pentagon imposed new rules forcing journalists to pledge not to publish or even possess unauthorized information — even if unclassified — or risk losing credentials. That’s not national security. That’s gatekeeping.

As Grok put it: “Yes, there are striking similarities suggesting Trump is emulating elements of Orbán’s model… the endgame—silencing dissent through regulatory, financial, and legal pressure—is comparable.”

Why It Matters

Trump has repeatedly called the press “the enemy of the people.” Now, back in power, he’s turning that rhetoric into action. If we shrug off the FCC’s intimidation of ABC and the campaigns to silence late-night satire, we invite the same authoritarian slide we’ve seen abroad.

Free speech means protecting voices we despise as well as those we admire. Charlie Kirk deserved it. Jimmy Kimmel deserves it. And so do the journalists being told what they can and cannot report.

Because once we accept government intimidation of the press as normal, democracy itself becomes the punchline.

Matt Ford is the host of The Good Trouble Show, a political talk program focused on democracy, transparency, and government accountability. His writing has appeared in the Daily Mail, Crooks and Liars, The Liberation Times, and The Debrief.