First Draft: Fascists Want Comedian Fired
Donald and Melania are trying to get Jimmy Kimmel fired, again, for mocking Trump's age and health. Plus: Republicans meddle in Democratic primaries, and Californians will vote on a billionaire tax.
On this day in 1967, Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the US Army and was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title. “The real enemies of my people are right here, not in Vietnam,” he said.
Good morning! Andrew here, to talk about Donald Trump’s latest effort to get Jimmy Kimmel fired. The comedian’s response is well worth reading. More on that below.
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ as Stephen Miller once said, only fascists are enraged by the idea of free speech. Plus, Republicans are using super PAC trickery to try to pick the Democrats who run against them, and Ron DeSantis wants to delete four Democratic congressional seats.
‘Scared of Comedy’
In September, President Donald Trump and MAGA managed to get Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air by twisting his words. Now, the president – who once pledged he would “bring back free speech in America” – is again demanding Kimmel be fired, this time for telling a mean joke.
Thanks to public outcry, Kimmel’s previous suspension was only temporary – and ever since Disney and ABC brought him back, he’s been unleashing on Trump with abandon. Last Thursday’s episode was no different, when Kimmel donned a tuxedo and performed a mock version of a roast that a comedian might offer at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, “if our president wasn’t a trembling drama queen who’s scared of comedy.”
Kimmel, as is the case these days, did not hold back. After joking about the president’s age and visibly declining health, and the possibility he “has a medical emergency tonight,” Kimmel turned to the first lady. “Look at Melania Trump, so beautiful,” he said, as video of the first lady sitting in a crowd played on the screen. “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
The comments attracted little controversy at first, until… well… you’ve probably heard by now: An apparent gunman tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, with multiple shots fired after he raced through the security perimeter inside the Washington Hilton – leading the Secret Service to usher Trump, Melania, and top officials out of the gala, attendees to duck down amid the chaos, and the festivities to end early.
The unfortunate turn of events gave Trump and his team an opportunity to again call for Kimmel’s firing.
Melania Trump stepped up first, saying: “A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.”
In a statement she almost certainly didn’t write herself, the first lady claimed that “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” and that “his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America” – as if her husband isn’t the country’s #1, unquestioned, biggest hatemonger. Trump regularly calls his political opponents “terrorists,” “garbage,” and the “enemy from within.” He’s accused Democratic lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.” (Just watch this video we put together!)
Trump – the man who just recently threatened to end a “whole civilization” in Iran, a nation of over 90 million people – wrote a post accusing the late-night comedian of issuing a “despicable call to violence,” adding: “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Never mind the president’s ode to “free speech in our Constitution” during his press briefing Saturday evening, after evacuating the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.