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Kimmel, it must be said, did himself no favours with an inaccurate and pretty tasteless remark on Monday night suggesting the murderer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was 鈥渙ne of them,鈥� i.e. linked to what he called 鈥渢he MAGA gang.鈥� He went on to accuse MAGA of 鈥渄oing everything they can to score political points鈥� from Kirk鈥檚 death and mock Trump鈥檚 claim to be mourning it.

It would be completely predictable if the right had whipped up anger against Kimmel for all this, maybe even staged a boycott of his show. That would be pretty much par for the course in the supercharged atmosphere following Kirk鈥檚 shooting last week. You could even call it the American way 鈥� free speech followed by more free speech.

But that鈥檚 not what happened. Instead, the Trump administration took it to another level. It mobilized the power of the state to essentially order the companies that aired Kimmel鈥檚 show to axe it. The pressure came through Trump鈥檚 appointee as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which has enormous leverage over major media companies through its powers to grant broadcast licenses and rule on major deals.

鈥淲e can do this the easy way, or these companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there鈥檚 going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,鈥� said . In other words: dump his show or we鈥檒l give you a very hard time.

Disney, which owns ABC, got the message and suspended 鈥淛immy Kimmel Live鈥� 鈥渋ndefinitely.鈥� A company called Nexstar, which owns many ABC-affiliate stations, had already dumped the show. Nexstar, it turns out, wants Trump鈥檚 FCC to approve a $6.2-billion merger with one of its rivals.

There鈥檚 a lot of this going around. CBS cancelled 鈥淭he Late Show鈥� with Stephen Colbert in July after the comedian mocked a $16-million payment that the network鈥檚 owner, Paramount Global, paid to settle a lawsuit with Trump as a 鈥渂ig fat bribe.鈥� Within a couple of weeks, the administration approved an $8.4-billion merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. Skydance, in turn, promised to 鈥渆liminate DEI鈥� in its operations, one of Trump鈥檚 pet causes.

That鈥檚 the pattern. Big media companies pay off Trump and . At the same time, annoying critics of the president employed by those big companies fall silent. America鈥檚 media moguls, it鈥檚 clear, can鈥檛 wait to throw themselves at Trump鈥檚 feet.

You鈥檇 think Trump鈥檚 henchmen might pretend this is all a coincidence. Not at all; they boast about it. Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman who all but ordered Disney to dump Kimmel, that 鈥淧resident Trump is fundamentally reshaping the media landscape, and the way he鈥檚 doing that is, when he ran for election, he ran directly at these legacy broadcast media outlets, ABC, NBC, CBS.鈥�

It鈥檚 not just broadcasters. Trump is for more than $10 billion and this week launched a $15-billion lawsuit against the New York Times for critical reporting he says amounts to defamation. Regardless of the outcome, defending such a suit is enormously expensive.

The media, of course, is particularly sensitive about attacks on the media. But Trump and the MAGA movement more broadly are clearly using Charlie Kirk鈥檚 death as on critics and the 鈥渓eft,鈥� defined as including everything from fringe activists to vaguely liberal-leaning foundations that may have once funded something MAGA doesn鈥檛 like.

What鈥檚 going on here? On a fairly banal level it鈥檚 no great surprise to find out the MAGA right doesn鈥檛 much like the 鈥渇ree speech鈥� it allegedly valued so much as practiced by the likes of Kirk, when that same free speech is turned against it.

More seriously, it鈥檚 become apparent that Kirk鈥檚 death was an inflection point in American political life in more ways than we knew. Trump and his allies are using it to fundamentally alter the balance of forces in their favour, and some of the most powerful actors in U.S. media seem eager to smooth their way.

Correction — Sept. 22, 2025

This article has been updated. A previous version incorrectly referred to the Trump administration approving a merger between Paramount and Sundance Media. The approved merger was between Paramount and Skydance.