Please, Jimmy, don’t back down. Making fun of Trump is your patriotic duty
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
- Kimmel’s return will provide a real-time, late-night look at how successful our president is at forcing us to censor ourselves.
- If Kimmel, with his celebrity, clout and wealth, cannot stand up to this president, what chance do the rest of us have?
So Jimmy Kimmel is coming back, fast enough that there are still folks out there who didn’t know he was gone.
Hallelujah? Praise be to ABC? Free speech triumphs?
It all depends on Tuesday night, when we see if Kimmel returns undaunted, or if he has been subdued. Of all the consequential, crazy, frightening events that have taken place in recent days, Kimmel’s return should be a moment we all watch — a real-time, late-night look at how successful our president is at forcing us to censor ourselves through fear.
Please, Jimmy, don’t back down.
If Kimmel tempers his comedy now, pulls his punches on making fun of power, he sends the message that we should all be afraid, that we should all bend. Maybe he didn’t sign up for this, but here he is — a person in a position of influence being forced to make a risky choice between safety and country.
That sounds terribly dramatic, I know, but self-censorship is the heart of authoritarianism. When people of power are too scared to even crack a joke, what does that mean for the average person?
If Kimmel, with his celebrity, clout and wealth, cannot stand up to this president, what chance do the rest of us have?
San Francisco used to be the MAGA boogeyman, but no more. Trump 2.0 is laser-focused on Los Angeles.
Patriotism used to be a simple thing. A bit of apple pie, a flag on the Fourth of July, maybe even a twinge of pride when the national anthem plays and all the words pop into your mind even though you can’t find your car keys or remember what day it is.
It’s just something there, running in the background — an unspoken acknowledgment that being American is a pretty terrific thing to be.
Now, of course, patriotism is the most loaded of words. It’s been masticated and barfed out by the MAGA movement into a specific gruel — a white, Western-centric dogma that demands a narrow and angry Christianity dominate civic life.
There have been a deluge of examples of this subversion in recent days. The Pentagon is threatening to punish journalists who report information it doesn’t explicitly provide. The president used social media to demand U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi go after his perceived enemies.
The one that put a knot in my stomach was the speech by Stephen Miller, Trump’s immigration czar, speaking, without humor, at the memorial for Charlie Kirk.
“We are the storm,” Miller said, hinting back at a QAnon conspiracy theory about a violent reordering of society.
That’s disturbing, but actually mild compared with what he said next, a now-familiar Christian nationalist rant.
“Our lineage and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello,” Miller said. “Our ancestors built the cities they produced, the art and architecture they built. The industry.”
Who’s going to tell him about Sally Hemings? But he continued with an attack on the “yous” who don’t agree with this worldview, the “yous,” like Kimmel, one presumes (though Kimmel’s name did not come up) who oppose this cruel version of America.
“You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred, you are nothing,” Miller said. “You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing.”
Humor, of course, ain’t nothing, which is why this administration can’t stand it.
Humor builds camaraderie. It produces dopamine and serotonin, the glue of human bonding. It drains away fear, and creates hope.
Which is why autocrats always go after comedians pretty early on. It’s not thin skin, though Trump seems to have that. It’s effective management of dissent.
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels knew it. In 1939, after his party had set up a Chamber of Culture that required all performers to adhere to certain rules, he banned five German comedians — Werner Finck, Peter Sachse, Helmuth Buth, Wilhelm Meissner and Manfred Dlugi — for making political jokes that didn’t support the regime. He basically ended their careers for daring satire against Nazi leaders, claiming people didn’t find it funny.
The move follows conversations between the two sides to figure out how to defuse the situation that began with Kimmel’s comments in the aftermath of the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“(I)n their public appearances they displayed a lack of any positive attitude toward National Socialism and therewith caused grave annoyance in public and especially to party comrades,” the New York Times reported the German government claiming at the time.
Sounds familiar.
Kimmel, of course, is not the only comedian speaking out. Jon Stewart has hit back on “The Daily Show,” pretending to be scared into submission, perhaps a hat tip to Finck, who famously joked, “I am not saying anything. And even that I am not saying.”
Stephen Colbert roasted Disney with a very funny parody video. Political cartoonists are having a field day.
And there are plenty of others pushing back. Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken to all-caps rebuttals. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, whom Trump called “nothing,” is also vocal in his opposition, especially of National Guard troops in Chicago.
The collective power of the powerful is no joke. It means something.
But all the sober talk in the world can’t rival one spot-on dig when it comes to kicking the clay feet of would-be dictators. Mark Twain said it best: Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. Which is what makes Kimmel so relevant in this moment.
Can he come back with a laugh — proving we have nothing to fear but fear itself — or are we seriously in trouble?
Insights
L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.
Viewpoint
Perspectives
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
The author argues that Kimmel should return to television undaunted and refuse to self-censor his comedy, viewing this as a crucial test of whether Americans will bend to authoritarian pressure through fear. The piece positions Kimmel’s potential response as a defining moment that will signal whether people of influence can stand up to presidential intimidation or will succumb to self-censorship.
Making fun of those in power, particularly Trump, is characterized as a patriotic duty rather than mere entertainment, with the author contending that self-censorship represents the heart of authoritarianism. The article suggests that when prominent figures like Kimmel cannot exercise free speech due to fear, it sets a dangerous precedent for ordinary citizens.
The suspension is framed within a broader pattern of concerning authoritarian behavior, including the Pentagon threatening journalists, Trump demanding the Attorney General target perceived enemies, and Stephen Miller’s inflammatory rhetoric at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service. These examples are presented as evidence of a coordinated effort to suppress dissent and establish a narrow, Christian nationalist vision of America.
Humor is presented as a powerful tool of resistance that builds camaraderie, produces human bonding, and drains away fear while creating hope. The author draws historical parallels to Nazi Germany, noting how Joseph Goebbels banned German comedians in 1939 for making political jokes that didn’t support the regime, suggesting that targeting comedians is a standard authoritarian tactic for managing dissent.
Different views on the topic
Disney defended the suspension as necessary to prevent escalating a sensitive situation during an emotional time for the nation, stating that Kimmel’s remarks were “poorly timed and, therefore, insensitive” given the circumstances surrounding Kirk’s death[1]. The company emphasized that meaningful discussions with Kimmel led to the decision to resume the show, suggesting the suspension served its intended purpose of addressing the controversy.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued warnings to ABC, Disney, and Kimmel regarding the late-night host’s comments, stating “This is a very serious situation right now. We can do this the easy way or the hard way”[1]. This perspective frames the comments as crossing appropriate boundaries and warranting regulatory attention.
Critics, including President Trump, celebrated Kimmel’s removal from television, with Trump posting on Truth Social that the suspension was overdue and congratulating ABC “for having the courage to do what had to be done”[1]. This viewpoint sees the suspension as appropriate accountability for inappropriate commentary.
ESPN host Stephen A. Smith criticized Kimmel’s remarks, questioning “Where was the joke?” and arguing that as a late-night host with comedic responsibilities, Kimmel’s comments lacked any humorous element[2]. Smith’s perspective suggests that even comedy programming has limits when addressing sensitive national tragedies, particularly when the remarks don’t serve a clear comedic purpose.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
In this episode, we bring you the update on how an Altadena resident and her neighborhood are coming along, plus a re-run of the two-part series we did on the Poppyfields people back in June.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Lorely Rodriguez –aka Empress Of– indie pop singer, songwriter, and producer, for a conversation about identity, resilience, and her new album Dream House, made while simultaneously rebuilding an actual house in Altadena alongside her mom.
