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"path": "/columnists/2026/05/07/kimmel-comey-trump-melania-freedom-speech-fcc-abc-jacob-sullum",
"publishedAt": "2026-05-07T11:00:00.000Z",
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"textContent": "<p>Last week, President Donald Trump <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116477838570626860\" target=\"_blank\" >said</a> late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel \"should be immediately fired\" for making a \"really shocking\" joke about him. The next day, the Justice Department <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/04/29/the-james-comey-indictment-looks-like-vindictive-prosecution/\" target=\"_blank\" >charged</a> another prominent Trump critic, former FBI Director James Comey, with committing <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1438481/dl\" target=\"_blank\" >two federal felonies</a> by posting a <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://d2eehagpk5cl65.cloudfront.net/img/q60/uploads/2026/04/Comey-Instagram-post-86-47.png\" target=\"_blank\" >photograph</a> of seashells arranged in the sand to form the message \"86 47\" — a <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/05/05/why-the-courts-will-86-the-flagrantly-unconstitutional-charges-against-james-comey/\" target=\"_blank\" >ubiquitous</a> statement of opposition to the current president.</p><p>Those back-to-back expressions of presidential wrath underlined a striking difference between Trump and most of his predecessors. Although presidents have never enjoyed criticism, Trump is unusual in <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://eternallyradicalidea.com/p/kimmel-and-comey-if-it-looks-like\" target=\"_blank\" >routinely and openly</a> using the influence and power of his office to retaliate against people who say things that offend him — a habit that blatantly contradicts his avowed commitment to freedom of speech.</p><p>Trump argued that both <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116477838570626860\" target=\"_blank\" >Kimmel</a> and <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116491559257751897\" target=\"_blank\" >Comey</a> had threatened his life by inciting violence against him. But those claims are hard to take seriously.</p><p>During a <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qdORsLAHF7g\" target=\"_blank\" >sketch</a> on the April 23 broadcast of his ABC show, Kimmel pretended he was hosting the White House Correspondents' Dinner. \"Our first lady, Melania, is here,\" he said. \"So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.\"</p><div class=\"RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement\" data-module data-align-center><a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"module-010000\" name=\"module-010000\"></a> <div class=\"RichTextSidebarModule-title\">Columnists bug</div> <div class=\"RichTextModule-items RichTextBody\"><h2>Columnists</h2><br><i>In-depth political coverage, sports analysis, entertainment reviews and cultural commentary.</i><br></div> </div><p>The joke suggested that Trump is old and that his wife is unhappily married. However you rate the humor or tastefulness of that jab, it indisputably qualifies as constitutionally protected speech.</p><p>Trump implied otherwise, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116477838570626860\" target=\"_blank\" >averring</a> that Kimmel's gag was a \"despicable call to violence.\" That obviously is not true, and the fact that a would-be assassin tried to attack the actual White House Correspondents' Dinner two days later does not change the meaning of Kimmel's words in their original context.</p><p>Given the federal government's power to regulate broadcasters, the president's demand that ABC take Kimmel off the air cannot be lightly ignored. That much was clear last year, when Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2025/09/18/brendan-carr-flagrantly-abused-his-powers-to-cancel-jimmy-kimmel/\" target=\"_blank\" >threatened</a> TV stations with fines and license revocation unless they punished Kimmel for his ill-informed comments about the man who murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk.</p><p>The network and its affiliate stations immediately fell in line by <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/01/18/how-the-fcc-became-the-speech-police/\" target=\"_blank\" >suspending</a> Kimmel's show — precisely the penalty that Carr had recommended. And the day after Trump complained about Kimmel's \"expectant widow\" joke, the FCC <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/04/28/trump-administrations-review-of-abcs-broadcast-licenses-looks-like-illegal-jawboning/\" target=\"_blank\" >reminded</a> ABC about the potential consequences of annoying the president by <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-416A1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" >announcing</a> an early review of the network's broadcast licenses, ostensibly based on concerns about \"unlawful discrimination.\"</p><p>In Comey's case, the Justice Department is trying to imprison someone for reiterating a phrase that appears on <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.amazon.com/s?k=86+47+t-shirt&crid=3E2PU46AUP2XW&sprefix=86+47+t-shirt%2Caps%2C142&ref=nb_sb_noss_1&tag=reasonmagazinea-20\" target=\"_blank\" >T-shirts</a> and <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.etsy.com/market/political_bumper_stickers_86_47\" target=\"_blank\" >bumper stickers</a> available from major online retailers — a slogan that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/transcripts/meet-press-may-3-2026-rcna343322\" target=\"_blank\" >concedes</a> \"is posted constantly\" without triggering federal charges. The case, which hinges on the claim that 86 means kill, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/05/05/why-the-courts-will-86-the-flagrantly-unconstitutional-charges-against-james-comey/\" target=\"_blank\" >defies</a> the typical slang usage of that term and nearly 60 years of Supreme Court rulings on the \"true threat\" exception to the First Amendment.</p><p>Trump's reactions to Kimmel and Comey are part of a pattern. Whether he is <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/02/10/an-immigration-judge-finds-no-legal-basis-to-deport-a-student-arrested-for-an-op-ed/\" target=\"_blank\" >trying</a> to deport a foreign student for writing an op-ed piece, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/01/18/how-the-fcc-became-the-speech-police/\" target=\"_blank\" >threatening</a> to yank the broadcast licenses of news outlets he views as biased against him, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2025/02/24/trump-tries-to-carve-out-a-first-amendment-exception-for-fake-news/\" target=\"_blank\" >claiming</a> that journalism he does not like qualifies as actionable consumer fraud, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/volokh/2025/11/18/eleventh-circuit-rejects-trumps-defamation-lawsuit-over-cnn-2022-big-lie-statement/\" target=\"_blank\" >suing</a> CNN for calling his stolen-election fantasy \"the Big Lie,\" <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2025/05/28/a-federal-judge-lists-8-ways-that-trump-violated-the-constitution-by-punishing-a-disfavored-law-firm/\" target=\"_blank\" >retaliating</a> against law firms that represent clients and causes he deplores, or <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2026/02/11/a-grand-jury-rejects-trumps-attempt-to-prosecute-6-legislators-for-saying-something-he-did-not-like/\" target=\"_blank\" >attempting</a> to imprison legislators for reminding military personnel of their well-established duty to resist unlawful orders, Trump is <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://reason.com/2025/04/23/trumps-actions-contradict-his-avowed-commitment-to-first-amendment-rights/\" target=\"_blank\" >not shy</a> about using government power to punish speech that irks him.</p><p>On the first day of his second term, Trump issued an <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-freedom-of-speech-and-ending-federal-censorship/\" target=\"_blank\" >executive order</a> aimed at \"restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship.\" The following month, Vice President JD Vance reiterated that commitment. \"Under Donald Trump's leadership,\" Vance <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://securityconference.org/assets/user_upload/MSC_Speeches_2025_Vol2_Ansicht.pdf#page=11\" target=\"_blank\" >declared</a>, \"we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer them in the public square.\"</p><p>Those words sure sound nice. It would be even nicer if Trump's actions matched them.</p><p><i>Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine.</i></p><div class=\"RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement\" data-module data-align-center><a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"module-900000\" name=\"module-900000\"></a> <div class=\"RichTextModule-items RichTextBody\">Send letters to <a class=\"Link\" href=\"mailto:letters@suntimes.com\" target=\"_blank\" >letters@suntimes.com</a>. More about <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/submitting-opinion-and-letters\" >how to submit here</a>.</div> </div><p></p>",
"title": "Trump's attacks against Kimmel, Comey show disdain for freedom of speech",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-07T11:00:20.578Z"
}