Chris Hayes had a bleak assessment of the national situation after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel “indefinitely” in response to conservative outrage over comments he made about the man who murdered Charlie Kirk.
Donald Trump, with the help of wealthy oligarchs, is repeating the steps made in other authoritarian countries “to essentially roll up all the country’s media into a friendly propaganda arm of the regime,” Hayes said.
“When Stephen Colbert announced that his late night show was being canceled back in July, the president United States, Donald Trump, had a chilling reaction,” Hayes began. He then played a clip of Trump crowing about the decision and vowing that Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon would probably be next.
Hayes then recapped the situation for viewers, explaining how during his monologue on Monday, Kimmel said that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old man who killed Kirk a week ago, was being used to stoke anger against the left. But, in saying it, he said that Robinson was a supporter of MAGA.
Kimmel’s assumption that Robinson was part of the political right was based on indications from all available evidence that was public at the time. But on Tuesday, more details were made public that establish clearly that Robinson wasn’t motivated by right wing politics, held what might be left-political beliefs and seems to have been motivated by personal concerns. Many questions remain unanswered, however.
But that context has largely been ignored by critics, including FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who while appearing on a conservative podcast threatened ABC parent company Disney and demanded Kimmel be suspended or fired. Hours later, Nexstar and Sinclair, two of the largest network affiliate owners in the country, both said they would stop airing “Kimmel” indefinitely. Which led to ABC suspending Kimmel.
“If that were the whole story — he said something, it was not correct, the affiliates pushed back — Well, then that would be one story. But that, of course, is not the whole story. Okay? Because crucially, just hours before that statement, Trump’s hand picked FCC Chairman went on a podcast and suggested ABCs broadcast license or affiliates could be at risk if they did not suspend or fire Kimmel essentially issuing an order saying, and I quote him here, ‘we can do this the easy way or the hard way,’” Hayes explained.
“This is just the latest chapter in Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign to crack down on free speech, dominate the media and essentially render the First Amendment meaningless, an extreme campaign that has been on overdrive the past week,” Hayes continued. “I mean, just yesterday, you had the Deputy Attorney General of these United States, the number two… and the former criminal lawyer for the President, suggesting using criminal anti racketeering laws, the kind of things used for mobsters, Rico statutes, to go after and prosecute protesters who heckled Donald Trump at a restaurant.”
Hayes also noted reports that the Trump administration intends to persecute groups affiliated with Democrats, which he said was “all part of a larger and more dangerous effort” that ” follows a playbook we have seen successfully run in recent years by authoritarian strongmen in places like Hungary and Turkey and Russia.”
“Because in those places, they didn’t just criminalize speech they didn’t like, though some of them did,” Hayes explained. “Crucially, they made it virtually impossible to see and hear examples of that speech, by taking de facto control the media landscape.” He then noted how this happened in Hungary, where Victor Orban “has used media buyouts by government-connected oligarchs to build a true media empire subject to his party’s orders.”
Hayes noted how the situation is similar in Turkey. “And of course, there’s Russia, where pligarchs friendly to President Vladimir Putin control much of the media, and wartime restrictions have shut down the rest.”
“In each of these three countries, they didn’t just arrest protesters or dissident journalists, or show up knocking on the door of magazines. They used government power, and sometimes through legal mechanisms, to essentially roll up all the country’s media into a friendly propaganda arm of the regime,” Hayes continued. “So given that context, I want you to look around the US right now and see what’s been happening here right in front of our eyes.”
Hayes then explained a series of recent media moves, culminating in this assessment of the situation: If, Hayes said, all the recently reported media deals are approved, “that would mean the Murdoch family controlling Fox News, the [Wall Street] Journal, New York Post, its other properties. Twitter, Tiktok, CBS, CNN and more, owned by Elon Musk and the Ellison family. The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos.”
“The Trump administration is threatening to bring the government down on free speech and use it against dissent. It is also facilitating the sale of some of our biggest private media outlets to Trump allies, and is a very obvious attempt to consolidate power over free expression,” He added. Watch the whole segment below:
