Trump goes for jugular against Kimmel with shock update - Another Day - Brian Tyler Cohen

BTC: FCC Chair Brendan Carr tries to trample on our First Amendment rights or maybe this is just one of those hilarious jokes from the Trump administration that we're not getting. This is just another day.

If we've learned one thing from Saturday's attempted attack at the White House Correspondents Center, it's that our nation needs to raise its level of protection from free speech.

[cut to video from CNN]
Anderson Cooper: The FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, has suddenly ordered, years ahead of schedule, a review of licenses for the Disney owned and operated ABC local stations.

[cut to video from C-SPAN]
Reporter: Did you get any Did you get any pressure from the White House to take this action on Disney? Did you speak to President Trump? Did any of the White House direct you to do this?

Brendan Carr: No. This was a decision that we made inside this building based on where we were in the enforcement matter. There was no pressure from the outside. There was no suggestion from the outside. There was no call for agency action from the outside. This was based on our assessment of where we were.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Exactly. This is just a routine review of Disney's broadcast licenses, even though those licenses were not scheduled for renewal until 2028 at the earliest. But Brendan Carr is just one of those guys who likes to get a jump on things. Come on, we all have that friend, right? The one who's worried about all the tickets for a movie being sold out, so they buy them 2 years in advance.

But while Brendan Carr aka Russ Vaught stunt double aka if a thumb was a human refutes claims that there's been any coordination between the FCC and the White House in regards to this sudden Disney/ABC review. Some people are noticing what seems to be at least a smidge of pressure coming from the Executive Branch.

[cut to video from CNN]
Anderson Cooper: Monday morning the First Lady posted on X his monologue about my family isn't comedy. His words are corrosive and they deepen the political sickness within the country. The president later said the joke was a “despicable call to violence and added that Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

[cut to studio]
BTC: Oh, come on. Kimmel should be fired by ABC could mean anything. Trump doesn't even know what those words mean.

[inset video of Trump from The Apprentice]
Trump: You're fired. You're fired. You're fired.

BTC: Moving on. Now, the reason that many are taking issue with again what seems to be pressure from the White House to influence the FCC is that for decades the FCC was seen as an independent agency. But not long ago, Mr. Carr disputed that fact.

[cut to video at Senate hearing from CNN]
Brendan Carr: The FCC is not an independent agency.

Senator Ben Ray Luján: Okay, can I read this to you? The FCC's mission on the homepage of the FCC, man. An independent US government agency overseen by Congress. Is that factual or is that a lie?

Brendan Carr: The FCC is not formally independent.

Senator Luján: Is this true?

[cut to video from CNN]
Correspondent: When that exchange happened, I took a screenshot of the FCC's website right as that he was saying that and the half hour later they had actually scrubbed the word independent from the website. So you can kind of see that they're sort of making up their interpretation.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Sure, why change your anti-American undemocratic policy when it's so much easier to just change your website. Come to think of it, this all would have been so much easier if our Constitution was just written in code. But what is so fascinating about Brendan Carr and Donald Trump's pressure campaign is that it is all motivated by one single joke.

[cut to video from Kimmel Live!]
Jimmy Kimmel: Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Now, that is clearly a joke about the age gap between Trump and Melania and not a call for violence and thankfully, some Republican politicians stood up to defend this piece of humor.

[cut to video]
Mike Johnson: He is using satire to make a point. He is not calling for the murder of his political opponents.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Uh whoops. Sorry. Uh my bad. That was Mike Johnson talking about the satirical video of the president of the United States dumping shit on protesters at the No Kings rally. Here is that politician defending Kimmel.

[cut to video]
Mike Johnson: I I think he has to lighten up when you show that you're upset. I get attacked in memes every single hour of every day. I don't react to it. That's what people are trying to get out of you as a reaction.

[cut to studio]
BTC: My apologies. Okay, that was Mike Johnson talking about another piece of Donald Trump's brilliant satire. This time the meme of Hakeem Jeffries in the sombrero.

Third times a charm.

[cut to video]
JD Vance: Oh, I think it's funny. The president's joking and we're having a good time. You can…

[cut to studio]
BTC: Boy do I have egg on my face. That was JD Vance also defending Trump on his Hakeem meme. Honestly, I'm a little confused on where this administration draws the line when it comes to comedy. What was it again that made Jimmy Kimmel's joke so offensive?

[cut to video from Forbes Breaking News]
Karoline Leavitt: ABC's late night host Jimmy Kimmel disgustingly called First Lady Melania Trump an expectant widow. Who in their right minds says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?

[cut to studio]
BTC: You know what? Now that I'm hearing Karoline, I can see where she's coming from. I mean, making a joke about violence at the expense of an elected official spouse, that is pretty despicable.

[cut to video from MSNBC]
Trump: We'll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi who ruined San Francisco. How's her husband doing, by the way? Anybody know? And she's against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house, which obviously didn't do a very good job.

[cut to studio]
BTC: I guess Karoline would be okay with that joke because it came after the attack.

Don't they see that by going after Jimmy Kimmel's nonviolent joke that all they're doing is undermining all of those actual instances of people calling for violence, which is a real thing that we should all be concerned about. I mean, once you start going after comedians, what's next? Bringing charges against a guy for posting a picture of some seashells that he saw buried in the sand because that would be ridiculous.

[inset photo of “86 47” seashells by James Comey]

BTC: Say what now. I have to say it is pretty nuts that Donald Trump, or frankly anyone in his orbit, is getting offended by a joke because these people know comedy. That's why they brought in a mentalist for Saturday night's dinner. The man is practically Seinfeld, but instead of punchlines, he tells you what your future child's name will be. I'm laughing already. The point is, everyone knows that these folks are Washington DC's biggest comedy nerds.

[cut to video at White House lawn]
Trump: China should start an investigation into the Biden.

[cut to video]
Reporter: But today, Florida's Marco Rubio claiming that was some sort of joke.

[cut to video from Fox News]
JD Vance: But I think the president was posting a joke and of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren't understanding uh his his humor in that case.

[cut to video]
Karoline Leavitt: The president was was simply joking.

[cut to video]
Reporter: He said um that he argued that diet soda is good for him because it kills grass and if you pour it onto the grass, it it the grass is killed and it therefore must kill cancer cells. I'm wondering if you can was this sort of an accurate description of how the president sees.

Karoline Leavitt: Look, as we all know in this room, I think you know the president has a very good sense of humor.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Hell yeah, he does. I mean, not about his wife being much younger than him, but he was joking about Diet Coke killing cancer cells. Medical based comedy bits are kind of his thing.

[cut to video from C-SPAN]
Trump: I'm making him strongly not to take Tylenol. Not to take it. Just don't take it.

[cut to video on Air Force Onefrom C-SPAN]
Reporter: What part of your body was the MRI looking at?

Trump: I have no idea.

[cut to video at White House]
Trump: And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute and is there a way we can do something like that uh by injection?

[cut to studio]
BTC: Classic. Of course, all those gems are from Trump's hit comedy special, My Jokes Will Kill You. The point is, Trump is always joking, except when he's not, but even then, he might be. And isn't that the thrill of having such a hilarious Commander-in-Chief, not knowing when he's being funny or being real, you know, like that time Trump joked about running for a third term?

[cut to video]
Mike Johnson: The president and I have uh talked about this, joked about it. He's joked about it with me on stage before. Um, you know, we take him at his word. I understand why so many Americans do wish that he could run for a third term because he's accomplishing so much in this first 100 days that they wish it could go on for much longer. Um but I I think he recognizes the um constitutional limitations.

[cut to studio]
BTC: See, even Mike Johnson knew that Trump was just joking when he said that.

[cut to video from PBS NewsHour]
Reporter: When asked about the details, the president said, "I'm not joking and there are methods which you could do it."

[cut to studio]
BTC: Ah man, we were all laughing at your upending the Constitution bit, but now it just feels less funny for some reason.

The reality is these people are more than happy to lean on the it was just a joke excuse when the President of the United States seems to cross a line, but when a literal comedian tells a joke, suddenly it's all very serious and that person deserves to lose their job. And the reason is they don't love comedy. They love power. And you get that power by silencing your critics and taking away the freedoms from anybody who disagrees with you.

And if you don't believe me, just look at those other havens of humor like Putin's Russia, Erdogan's Turkey, Orban's Hungary, and Xi's China. Comedy is not supposed to be for everyone, but presidents are, and that's what makes this blatant act of suppression so evil. Everyone likes to have a good laugh, but there's just something about the President of the United States using the full force of the federal government to trample on our First Amendment in an effort to silence his critics and maintain power that lacks humor.

[inset video]
JD Vance: Oh, I think it's funny.

BTC: Yes, we're all having a good laugh.