Name: 'All of this... is about money': How CEOs try to cash in as Trump attacks free speech
Uploaded: 2025-11-17T16:55:41.000Z
Duration: 10 min 2 s
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Adverbs of manner

He's no longer only targeting comedians that he doesn't like.

Adverbs of degree

He said it on his way back from London on Air Force One and he repeated it just now in the Oval Office.

They'll take a great story and they'll make it bad.

See, I think that's really illegal personally when somebody is given 97% of the stories are bad about a person that's no longer free speech, that's no longer anything, that's just cheating.

So he called network newscasts illegal and it's not free speech and it's cheating.

And this is in addition to what he said on Air Force One yesterday.

I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me.

I got 97% negative and yet I won it easily.

They give me only bad publicity or press.

I mean if they're getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away.

The President there saying about TV news networks because he doesn't like what they report, maybe their license should be taken away.

Now we should note first that this 97% figure is wrong.

And that figure comes from a non scientific, frankly non credible analysis done by a far right pro Trump group looking at the NBC, CBS and ABC evening news broadcast.

So to be crystal clear, just to reiterate the point here, this is the President of the United States threatening to use the power of the presidency, the Federal Communications Commission or FCC to remove or change news in news networks, removing it from the airwaves theoretically because their coverage is not pro Trump enough.

It's just factually what he is saying now.

And these threats frankly can no longer just be discounted as mere talk because it has been only two days now since President Trump's hand picked chair of the fcc, Brendan Carr went on a far right wing podcast and told local TV channels out there very clearly that they should stop airing the show of Jimmy Kimmel, a late night comedian with a show on ABC and a critic of President Trump.

They have a license granted by us at the FCC and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.

We can do this the easy way or the hard way.

Well, they say it has to do with comments he made on Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel.

We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to, to score political points from it.

In between the finger pointing, there was grieving.

On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism.

But on a human level, you can see how hard the President is taking this.

My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk.

May I ask, sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir?

And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks?

They've just started construction of the new border room for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years.

Yes, he's at the fourth stage of grief construction.

There have been a lot of interpretations and frankly, some downright fabrications about what Kimmel specifically said in terms of his characterization of the shooter, the assassin.

But let us assume for the purpose of argument, the absolute purity of, of his critics.

The question is, are they upset that this comedian invoked a horrific act of violence to make jokes?

Because I don't recall any of these voices expressing any dismay after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was brutally attacked by a home intruder with a hammer, resulting in Paul Pelosi's lifelong debilitating injuries.

The President's son joked about it, posting a Paul Pelosi Halloween costume.

And others mined this vicious attack for fun.

We'll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi who ruined San Francisco.

So are they upset because they say Kimmel was misrepresenting, lying, lying about the shooter's political views?

Now, Kimmel's defenders say he was not saying that this was a MAGA person, but

even if he had been saying it, here's the question.

Are lies consistently problematic for the Trump administration and its allies?

If you count the legal votes, I easily win in Springfield, they're eating the dogs.

The people that came in, they're eating the cats.

Or is what's going on with Kimmel's show right now all because, as President Trump said on Air Force One yesterday, all these TV networks do is, quote, hit Trump, therefore they should have their licenses taken away.

We should note it is an American right to mock any president.

In fact, during the Biden years, then FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said political satire is One of the oldest and most important forms of free speech.

It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into discussion.

In January, Carr, who is now the chairman of the fcc, said, quote, free speech is the bedrock here, here to both of those sentiments.

But then this week, Carr went on that right wing podcast and said it was time for local TV stations to, quote, step up and declare that this, quote, garbage, meaning the Kimmel show, is not something they want on their airwaves.

Moments ago, Trump, Trump called Ren Nikar a, quote, courageous person.

Nexstar is the largest owner of local TV stations in the entire United States.

Nexstar is also trying to purchase its largest rival, Tegna, for $6.2 billion.

If the FCC were to approve the sale, well, then nexstar would be violating an FCC rule of about owning too many more than 39% of local TV households.

So Nexstar not only needs Carr's approval for this acquisition, they need Carr to change the FCC rule.

So it's perhaps not surprising that literally within hours of Brendan Carr announcing all this, telling local TV stations to jump, nextstar said, how high?

Disney owns abc and Disney pulled Kimmel from the airwaves for now.

Now we should also note that Iger, as he decides what to do with Jimmy Kimmel and his show, Iger also needs the Trump administration to approve ways for Iger to make even more money for Iger and for his stockholders.

Iger's trying to close in on a megadeal between Disney and Fubo.

Critics say that that merger would create a mega sports streaming monopoly.

Right now, this merger is under a Justice Department antitrust review, and Iger needs Trump to approve it.

All of this at the end of it, is about money.

It's about rich men and women who need the Trump administration's approval to make even more money.

And it's about a president and his minions openly using the powers of the presidency to silence speech and speakers that President Trump does not like.

Critics of his coming for the comedians, now coming for the journalists.

We should note this is the exact opposite of what President Trump claims to have stood for when he was running for office and when he took office.

It's the exact opposite of what he and his administration promised that they would do when it came to free speech.

I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.

Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents and under Donald Trump's leadership.

we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square.

Now, at least one prominent Republican is sounding the alarm today.

If the government gets in the business of saying we don't say what you, the media have said, we're going to ban you from the airwaves.

If you don't say what we like, that will end up bad for conservatives.

This is all contrary to the spirit of the First Amendment.

If a journalist cannot cover the president, if a comedian cannot make a joke about the president, an offensive joke even without fear for his job because the president will use the powers of his administration to lean on his rich bosses who want to make even more money, well, is that a country you want to live in?

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'All of this... is about money': How CEOs try to cash in as Trump attacks free speech

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