As President Trump and his allies continue to celebrate the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel at ABC, Jake Tapper is a bit confused. According to the CNN host, they aren’t seeing the big picture and that, eventually, they’ll be targeted themselves by a Democratic president.
Appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Thursday night, Tapper explained that the decision to bench Kimmel is “a direct violation” of the First Amendment, because it allegedly came as the result of Trump’s FCC pressuring local affiliates to drop Kimmel’s show. Tapper then noted that the decision will almost certainly have long-term effects.
“I’ve been in D.C. now since ’92 and once the standard is eroded, it doesn’t come back,” Tapper explained. “Once a president finds a new toy, a shiny new toy, the next president likes to use it, maybe even more so. And I’ve seen it with Democrats, and I’ve seen it with Republicans.”
In this case, Tapper argued, the new toy is being able to use the FCC to silence any personality who says anything you don’t like. So, for him, it’s “alarming” to see conservatives — specifically ones who tout themselves as free speech absolutists — celebrating Kimmel’s suspension and Colbert’s cancellation.
“They don’t seem to understand, the next Democratic president is going to take out the shiny new FCC toy and use it against them!” Tapper said. “Which will also be horrible, because presidents are not supposed to do this!”
He also noted that the suppression of late night hosts isn’t solely the result of Trump being upset by what they’re saying.
“This is, in so many ways, because of corporate chieftains who have $900 million but want $950 million, or have a billion and want $2 billion,” Tapper said. “They are acquiescing to this, because the power that President Trump and his team have is the power of the FCC or the power of the Justice Department.”
You can watch part of Tapper’s appearance on “The Late Show” in the video above.
