U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari led a movement to officially condemn President Donald Trump’s escalating efforts to shut down speech critical of him and his allies, and credited it as one of the factors in reversing the suspension of comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show.
The Arizona Democrat introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives last week denouncing Trump’s use of the Federal Communications Commission, threats of lawsuits and other intimidation practices to silence comedians, commentators and news organizations who say things he doesn’t like.
“This is terrifying, and it’s not a partisan issue,” Ansari said in a video posted to her social media accounts Sept. 20. “Every single American should stand up against this, and I hope that Republicans and Democrats sign on to this resolution to make sure we make our stances clear.”
More than 115 Democratic members of Congress co-sponsored the resolution, which warns of the similarities between Trump’s efforts to muzzle free speech and those of authoritarian regimes.
“The firing or forced removal of media personalities under political pressure can have a chilling effect on dissent and signal a dangerous slide toward authoritarian practices rather than democratic accountability,” Ansari wrote.
Ansari proposed the resolution after comedian and Trump critic Jimmy Kimmel was suspended indefinitely from his late night show on ABC following threats from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr. The threats came in response to Kimmel joking about how Republicans feared the man who allegedly shot and killed conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk would be proven to be a Trump supporter and not a liberal.
Kimmel didn’t record an episode planned for last week, but Disney, which owns ABC, announced Monday — following subscription cancellations and backlash from celebrities — that his show would be back this week. However, it’s unclear whether ABC affiliates owned by Nexstar and Sinclair will air his show after Sinclair announced last week would only do so if Kimmel apologized and donated to the far-right organization that Kirk founded, Turning Point USA.
Just before the show was suspended “indefinitely” last week, both Nexstar and Sinclair announced they would refuse to air it.
Nexstar, the largest owner of local TV stations in the nation, is attempting to purchase Tegna, which owns or partners in 46 TV stations that collectively reach roughly one-third of all TV households nationwide. The Trump administration must sign off on the purchase.
Ansari on Monday celebrated Kimmel’s return.
“This is a big moment, because millions of you also stood up in defence of free speech and it worked,” Ansari said in a video posted to her social media accounts. “I just want everyone to be super proud of that. What this shows us is that, even when you have a wannabe-dictator in the White House like Donald Trump, and a regime that is hellbent on silencing critics and silencing dissent, it is possible to win.”
Trump and many of his allies have called for people, including Kimmel, to lose their jobs over their comments about or reactions to Kirk’s Sept. 10 shooting death during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Kirk was a right-wing activist who is credited with encouraging young people, especially young men, to vote, helping get Trump elected to a second term.
The suspected shooter, Utah native Tyler Robinson, 22, is charged with aggravated murder in Kirk’s death, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. While his specific motivations are unclear, authorities said Robinson sent texts that mentioned “hatred” to his roommate following the shooting. Robinson’s parents said their son had recently become interested in LGBTQ rights and started to “lean more to the left,” according to charging documents.
But before Robinson was even identified as the shooter, Republicans were blaming liberals and Democrats for Kirk’s killing, accusing them of demonizing their political opponents.
Some of those same people called for Kimmel to be fired after he said last week that MAGA was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Since the start of his second term as president in January, Trump has put unprecedented legal pressure on media organizations that he said covered him unfairly and on universities that have diversity, equity and inclusion practices he doesn’t like.
But Trump has increased that pressure even more since the 31-year-old Kirk was killed.
On Sept. 19, Trump suggested to reporters that broadcast media organizations like CBS, ABC and NBC — which use public airwaves — should have their federal broadcasting licenses revoked if they publish reporting unflattering to him.
“They give me only bad publicity, press,” he said. “I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
While in the United Kingdom last week, Trump claimed that Kimmel was fired for poor ratings, not because of pressure from the FCC, and Carr claimed during media interviews that it was local affiliates that led the push to stop carrying Kimmel’s show.
Republican lawmakers and commentators repeated those claims, even though the show was suspended just hours after Carr went on a conservative podcast and threatened to take action against those affiliates if they didn’t self-censor.
“When we see stuff like this, I mean, look — we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s gonna be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr suggested several ways for the network to handle the Kimmel situation, including firing or suspending Kimmel.
He went on to boast of the changes to the television media landscape since he took over at the FCC including the cancellations of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” another frequent Trump critic.
CBS announced in June that Colbert’s show would end the following May, and claimed it was purely a financial decision. Trump celebrated the cancellation of Colbert’s show and warned Kimmel that he “was next.”
In response to Kimmel’s suspension and Trump’s and Carr’s seeming dedication to continued censorship, “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, another late night host who is highly critical of the president and his administration, last week aired an episode marked by over-the-top satiric fealty to the president. The episode was marked by “patriotically obedient” Stewart’s excessive praise for Trump and feigned fear of saying something that might anger the president.
During Kirk’s memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sunday, Kirk’s widow, Erika, said she forgave Robinson “because it was what Christ did. It is what Charlie would do, the answer to hate is not hate.”
But Trump and Stephen Miller, Trump’s chief deputy of staff, took a different tone than most of the other speakers during the five-hour event that Glendale police estimate drew 100,000 people.
Trump said that Kirk “did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with him. I hate my opponents and don’t want the best for them.”
The president also promised a crackdown on what he described as “radical” left-wing groups and the media, which he claimed stoked violence against conservatives.
“The radicals and their allies in the media — sometimes referred to, as my son said, the fake news media — tried to silence Charlie for a simple reason: because he was winning, and he was winning big,” Trump said during the memorial.
During the memorial service, Miller conflated Robinson’s actions with Democrats and the left, accusing them of “trying to foment hatred against us.”
Last week, Miller characterized liberal political organizations as terrorist groups and promised to “use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people.”
NBC reported Saturday that law enforcement officials have not found any link between Kirk’s shooting and liberal groups.
In the resolution, Ansari pointed to similar efforts by authoritarian regimes throughout history to “control or co-opt media, silence dissent, and weaponize regulatory agencies to punish critics, eroding civil liberties and undermining democracy from within.”
The resolution calls for:
- The condemnation of “using regulatory agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, and the threat or filing of lawsuits as tools to suppress, intimidate, or punish lawful speech critical of any political party or the President of the United States”
- The U.S. House of Representatives to reaffirm its commitment to upholding the First Amendment and protecting freedom of the press and freedom of expression for everyone, regardless of their views
- Public officials to “refrain from using their positions of power to pressure media organizations or individuals into censoring or silencing speech protected by the Constitution.”
Joining Ansari in support of the resolution is The Writers Guild of America West, a labor union representing creators who write series, features and news programs.
“As the daughter of immigrants who fled an authoritarian regime, I know all too well that it’s comedians who are silenced first,” Ansari said in a Monday statement. “This was never just about one person. This is about whether government officials can weaponize their power to intimidate and silence voices they don’t like. Our democracy depends on the ability of journalists, comedians, and everyday Americans to speak truth to power without fear. I will not stop fighting to make sure that freedom is never taken away.”
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