Changes under Trump 2.0

[Atiba Applebum]

Credit where credits due: Ted Cruz is speaking out against the FCC while a shit ton of house dems vote to honor CK

[TastyBurrito]

Credit where credits due: Ted Cruz is speaking out against the FCC while a shit ton of house dems vote to honor CK

I also hate that I agree with Ted and Tucker Carlson’s stance on the FCC.

WTF timeline is this?!

[Mongo Lloyd]

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Credit where credits due: Ted Cruz is speaking out against the FCC while a shit ton of house dems vote to honor CK

[close]

I also hate that I agree with Ted and Tucker Carlson’s stance on the FCC.

WTF timeline is this?!

Tell me about it, I felt similarly about MTG in regards to the Epstein files.

[prettyeasytoday]

Look at all the resistance to Democratic Socialism that's coming from establishment figures like Hakeem Jeffries even after the party endorsed Zohran Mamdani.

America's persuadable middle seems not to like progressives lately

[Painted Baby]

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Look at all the resistance to Democratic Socialism that's coming from establishment figures like Hakeem Jeffries even after the party endorsed Zohran Mamdani.

[close]

America's persuadable middle seems not to like progressives lately

I think you're missing the point. It's not moderates that don't like progressives. It's the party leadership. They'd rather make up moderate voters in their head like Chuck Schumer's Baileys then engage with honestly anyone let alone persuadable moderates. What they're serving is what was already rejected.

[Atiba Applebum]

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Look at all the resistance to Democratic Socialism that's coming from establishment figures like Hakeem Jeffries even after the party endorsed Zohran Mamdani.

[close]

America's persuadable middle seems not to like progressives lately

[close]

I think you're missing the point. It's not moderates that don't like progressives. It's the party leadership. They'd rather make up moderate voters in their head like Chuck Schumer's Baileys then engage with honestly anyone let alone persuadable moderates. What they're serving is what was already rejected.

dNC is run by a bunch of out of touch fucks who are led by the dick by consultants and focus groups and they won’t ever stretch out of the comfort zone and attempt to attract voters in states that are red even though effective messaging in rural areas the will be decimated by china not buying soy beans, bbb gutting rural amenities and support, and so on.   

[prettyeasytoday]

not trying at all to argue with you guys but neither of those responses make much sense and don't really relate to the point i made. persuadable voters make up their own minds and arent voting for progressive candidates in many major races

[The real veganshawn]

not trying at all to argue with you guys but neither of those responses make much sense and don't really relate to the point i made. persuadable voters make up their own minds and arent voting for progressive candidates in many major races

Next mayor of NYC is really progressive

[PolkaV]

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Did people a favor, Kimmel isn’t funny. Put Jay Mohr or someone that actually knows how to have a conversation with someone and doesn’t just laugh about bs.

[close]

Silencing dissenting speech against the state, and speech in general, is not something to lightly brush aside nor celebrate.

Everyone should be alarmed by this type of behavior. It doesn’t end with people standing on either the right or left, we are all equally impacted by this. The right will be impacted when it’s too late, and they realize the machine turned against them and never really represented them.

[close]

Trump was literally banned on all social media platforms for like 2 years, did you guys have the same feelings about that? Doubt it. Free speech only matters to you guys as long as it aligns with your viewpoints.

[close]

This response tells me you don’t understand censorship and the first amendment without you having to say it.

There’s a BIG difference between language violating terms of service with a private company — which he did and was banned for until Elon bought it and released him from Twitter jail — and the government surpressing your speech.

Free speech in general doesn’t mean freedom from reprecussions. Like if he went on air and said the n-word, then yea, take him off.

But Free Speech in terms of the First Amendment means the government can’t surpress you. Which is the care here because he said something that Trump and MAGA didn’t like (not hate, just observational commentary) and Trump used his power and position to pressure the FCC to basically create a quid-pro-quo — removing Kimmel to approve a merger.

This is attempted control of the media by the government. Which is also out of the Project 2025 playbook.

Much like Trump banning certain media sources from the  White House press room because he deems them “fake” while putting known propaganders like Tim Pool, Newsmax, and Fox right up front.

I think you're defeating your own argument here.

Broadcasting requires a license in the USA, hence it's not a right.  Anytime you need a license to do something, the privilege is bestowed upon you by the body granting you the license.  First amendment rights do not apply on the radio or television.

In the last five years, the FBI and CDC were telling social media platforms what to censor.  You do not need a license to host a website (yet).  This example would be far closer to your idea of government interference and censorship.

I'm not taking a political side here one way or another, just trying to be objective.  If you want to be objective, then it comes down to money, as EVERYTHING in this country does.  Kimmel's ratings were dropping to begin with.  If he's gonna say things that affect their viewership and ad revenue, then ABC is gonna have to do something about it.  Furthermore, Disney doesn't want to be associated with that act when they're trying to market their trash to children.

[S.]

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Did people a favor, Kimmel isn’t funny. Put Jay Mohr or someone that actually knows how to have a conversation with someone and doesn’t just laugh about bs.

[close]

Silencing dissenting speech against the state, and speech in general, is not something to lightly brush aside nor celebrate.

Everyone should be alarmed by this type of behavior. It doesn’t end with people standing on either the right or left, we are all equally impacted by this. The right will be impacted when it’s too late, and they realize the machine turned against them and never really represented them.

[close]

Trump was literally banned on all social media platforms for like 2 years, did you guys have the same feelings about that? Doubt it. Free speech only matters to you guys as long as it aligns with your viewpoints.

[close]

This response tells me you don’t understand censorship and the first amendment without you having to say it.

There’s a BIG difference between language violating terms of service with a private company — which he did and was banned for until Elon bought it and released him from Twitter jail — and the government surpressing your speech.

Free speech in general doesn’t mean freedom from reprecussions. Like if he went on air and said the n-word, then yea, take him off.

But Free Speech in terms of the First Amendment means the government can’t surpress you. Which is the care here because he said something that Trump and MAGA didn’t like (not hate, just observational commentary) and Trump used his power and position to pressure the FCC to basically create a quid-pro-quo — removing Kimmel to approve a merger.

This is attempted control of the media by the government. Which is also out of the Project 2025 playbook.

Much like Trump banning certain media sources from the  White House press room because he deems them “fake” while putting known propaganders like Tim Pool, Newsmax, and Fox right up front.

[close]

I think you're defeating your own argument here.

Broadcasting requires a license in the USA, hence it's not a right.  Anytime you need a license to do something, the privilege is bestowed upon you by the body granting you the license.  First amendment rights do not apply on the radio or television.

In the last five years, the FBI and CDC were telling social media platforms what to censor.  You do not need a license to host a website (yet).  This example would be far closer to your idea of government interference and censorship.

I'm not taking a political side here one way or another, just trying to be objective.  If you want to be objective, then it comes down to money, as EVERYTHING in this country does.  Kimmel's ratings were dropping to begin with.  If he's gonna say things that affect their viewership and ad revenue, then ABC is gonna have to do something about it.  Furthermore, Disney doesn't want to be associated with that act when they're trying to market their trash to children.

“ First amendment rights do not apply on the radio or television.“
I am pretty sure this is just factually wrong. So you think the president should be able to dictate what is on the radio and on television? Even when it does not violate any rights?

“In the last five years, the FBI and CDC were telling social media platforms what to censor.  You do not need a license to host a website (yet).“ Social media platforms are not websites. I also don’t think anybody thinks that this kind of thing is OK. And if this has happened under a democratic president this doesn’t mean that Trump now has a right to pressure companies to remove people he doesn’t like. This argument is just a dumb whataboutism.

Also: It is a fucking problem that big companies in the US work so closely with the government. Remember Snowdon? Has Trump pardoned him yet?

[TheLurper]

Bad faith "arguments"

Well, I'm glad we have someone with strong opinions who also tells us they aren't on one side or another.

1. Discussing his ratings is an attempt reframe the narrative around what we all saw happen. Kimmel said something our authoritarian president's administration didn't like and to protect a merger from FCC retaliation Disney fired Kimmel.
2. The president had already tweeted his desire to censor Kimmel after successfully censoring Colbert.
3. First, Kimmel averaging over a million viewers per show. Putting him ahead of that dipshit Fallon and ahead of Myers. And, I imagine as YouTube and other streaming and short form digital services come in official ratings no longer tell the full story. (I haven't watched Bill Maher in a way that would count towards his ratings in years, since he releases pieces on YouTube.)


4. Aside from asking social media companies, "Please take down posts telling people to eat horse medications" what consequences did the state directly impose? Did they threaten to block mergers out of spite? Did they threaten to take away the licenses of all the AM radio stations that spent 80% complaining about Biden and liberals? Did Biden file a 15 billion dollar lawsuit against the NYTimes or ABC because he didn't like the way they discussed him?

5. Re-read the first amendment and re-read the FCC's documentation
https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting#:~:text=Reasonable%20Access.,in%20state%20and%20local%20elections.

Your disingenuous attempt to reframe the obvious is weak. If you are going to be objective, be useful bring information that is relevant. If you could find a comparable Biden tweet to this one that might be interesting, but you won't. Just like you won't find Biden suing for things that hurt his feelings.

[TheLurper]

Unreal. Bribes are just fine as long as you are in Trump's good graces.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/us/politics/tom-homan-fbi-trump.html

But not being in his good graces is a crime.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/us/politics/trump-justice-department-us-attorneys.html

[Atiba Applebum]

It’s so funny when he goes after Fallon as if Fallon has ever said anything except for a little bit when he tried to get tough after he tousled Trumps hair

Also, remember if comedians are going to start being held to the standards of truthfulness - Joe Rogan still exists in Texas as apart of the only group allowed to smoke weed in the state

[TastyBurrito]

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Did people a favor, Kimmel isn’t funny. Put Jay Mohr or someone that actually knows how to have a conversation with someone and doesn’t just laugh about bs.

[close]

Silencing dissenting speech against the state, and speech in general, is not something to lightly brush aside nor celebrate.

Everyone should be alarmed by this type of behavior. It doesn’t end with people standing on either the right or left, we are all equally impacted by this. The right will be impacted when it’s too late, and they realize the machine turned against them and never really represented them.

[close]

Trump was literally banned on all social media platforms for like 2 years, did you guys have the same feelings about that? Doubt it. Free speech only matters to you guys as long as it aligns with your viewpoints.

[close]

This response tells me you don’t understand censorship and the first amendment without you having to say it.

There’s a BIG difference between language violating terms of service with a private company — which he did and was banned for until Elon bought it and released him from Twitter jail — and the government surpressing your speech.

Free speech in general doesn’t mean freedom from reprecussions. Like if he went on air and said the n-word, then yea, take him off.

But Free Speech in terms of the First Amendment means the government can’t surpress you. Which is the care here because he said something that Trump and MAGA didn’t like (not hate, just observational commentary) and Trump used his power and position to pressure the FCC to basically create a quid-pro-quo — removing Kimmel to approve a merger.

This is attempted control of the media by the government. Which is also out of the Project 2025 playbook.

Much like Trump banning certain media sources from the  White House press room because he deems them “fake” while putting known propaganders like Tim Pool, Newsmax, and Fox right up front.

[close]

I think you're defeating your own argument here.

Broadcasting requires a license in the USA, hence it's not a right.  Anytime you need a license to do something, the privilege is bestowed upon you by the body granting you the license.  First amendment rights do not apply on the radio or television.

In the last five years, the FBI and CDC were telling social media platforms what to censor.  You do not need a license to host a website (yet).  This example would be far closer to your idea of government interference and censorship.

I'm not taking a political side here one way or another, just trying to be objective.  If you want to be objective, then it comes down to money, as EVERYTHING in this country does.  Kimmel's ratings were dropping to begin with.  If he's gonna say things that affect their viewership and ad revenue, then ABC is gonna have to do something about it.  Furthermore, Disney doesn't want to be associated with that act when they're trying to market their trash to children.

Reading your responses, I really teeter between “you are dumb as shit” and “no way can someone be this fucking dumb.”

[Rusty Shackleford]

[Atiba Applebum]

Kimmel’s ratings aren’t dropping in a vacuum - it’s network tv minus live sports.   

The difference between Kimmel and Colbert is that Kimmel has lik 20M+ YouTube subscribers and connects with younger viewers on that app (Colbert has always skewed older and was weak in that regard).   Plus, he’s seen as the face of the network and was trotted out for years to host award shows like the Oscars that are hosted on ABC and when there’s premieres of big Disney properties across the street - they come over right after and have their promotional interviews at his show.   Fallon likewise does a lot of promotional material for NBc Universal and gameshows for them, while Colbert did his show and was never integrated into a struggling studio bc the Redstones were very bad with Paramount. 

Kimmel means/meant a lot to the brand and “struggling ratings” don’t matter as much as you or Trump think because other factors keep him on air.   The entire late night landscape struggles because we don’t watch tv the same way.   

[TastyBurrito]

I would say “isn’t there something in the bible about worshipping false idols made of gold?” but we all know they don’t read and/or follow the bible. They just weaponize it.

[Allen.]

 So uh we’re fucked

[Atiba Applebum]

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I would say “isn’t there something in the bible about worshipping false idols made of gold?” but we all know they don’t read and/or follow the bible. They just weaponize it.

Not to mention he also fits a lot of descriptions of the antichrist if you believe the left behind/dispensational eschatological version of revelation

[WashingtonNECKTIE]

So, uh... what do you guys make of the newly designated "terror" group in the US? Seems to be a major point we missed.
Can we predict the state wants to criminalize anyone who isn't a fascist?

Point B: any one with a brain should have seen nothing good would have come from the CK shooting

[TastyBurrito]

So, uh... what do you guys make of the newly designated "terror" group in the US? Seems to be a major point we missed.
Can we predict the state wants to criminalize anyone who isn't a fascist?

Point B: any one with a brain should have seen nothing good would have come from the CK shooting

Labeling ANTIFA as a terror group allows him and Pam Bondi to label anyone who protests him as a terrorist. FBI and CIA already proclaimed that ANTIFA is movement rather an organization like the Proud Boys and the KKK.

[TastyBurrito]

Trump using his platform to attack Biden and tell people not to feel bad for his cancer diagnosis. Love how the right says Trump doesn’t say anything hateful.

Well, if it weren’t for double standards, they’d have no standards at all.

https://youtu.be/JjIM6V7k1HU?si=0OXiQ38EM3l7gjJq

[ToySanta]

He’s got a statue too.. they’re bending over backwards to explain how this isn’t an idol:

[Atiba Applebum]

He’a got a statue too.. they’re bending over backwards to explain how this isn’t an idol:

I didn’t get at first this was meant to be a positive thing

[TastyBurrito]

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He’a got a statue too.. they’re bending over backwards to explain how this isn’t an idol:

[close]

I didn’t get at first this was meant to be a positive thing

Is…is…is that real? Feels AI generated. Also, I doubt Trump would allow a statue to be made of him that doesn’t look as if he had a Rambo-esque physique.

[Plan9Customs]

So uh we’re fucked

We’ve been fucked for a few decades but we’re going to be really fucking screwed when the new axis powers decide to attack us and we’ve got these imbeciles and inexperienced derps at the helm when they do. Unless we’re just sold outright, which with this administration is quite possible.

Divided we fall.

[ToySanta]

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He’a got a statue too.. they’re bending over backwards to explain how this isn’t an idol:

[close]

I didn’t get at first this was meant to be a positive thing

[close]

Is…is…is that real? Feels AI generated. Also, I doubt Trump would allow a statue to be made of him that doesn’t look as if he had a Rambo-esque physique.

Yeah, it’s real. However the president didn’t commission it, some cryptobros popped it up. Twelve feet tall, yeesh.

[h00man]

Jimmy Kimmel is back on ABC after Disney lost $4billion

[TheLurper]

Jimmy Kimmel is back on ABC after Disney lost $4billion

Let's see what the local stations do. I wonder how far they are willing to go.

This is going to be a nightmare:
https://jacobin.com/2025/09/trump-ellison-tiktok-media-consolidation

Our kleptocracy future has already begun. We are giving TikTok to Larry Ellison what a huge financial boon to a Trump supporter.

[Painted Baby]

ABC blinked because they're a publicly traded company and their stock price shit the bed over the weekend. Russia didn't have a centralized stock exchange until 2011 and I wonder if that didn't help Putin to consolidate his power. I love Alex Gibney's work so I need to watch that doc. I feel like this isn't the first time a corporation that, above all, must make the number go up has stepped in and curbed the fanaticism. Smartmatic for example.

NBC was fuckin scary yesterday. All red chyrons for the CK memorial and the network hosts were uncritical of some genuinely threatening rhetoric. Do people know that Comcast is the owner? CBS News is for sure cooked under Ellison and Bari Weiss.