New Albany resident Philip Derrow is a retired business owner.
Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel almost lost his job and few outside of his declining viewership would have noticed if President Donald Trump and members of his administration hadn’t stepped in — or rather stepped in it — to save him.
Days after the alleged political assassination of Charlie Kirk, Kimmel dishonestly claimed that a member of the “MAGA gang” was responsible for the shooting, despite the accused killer’s own words belying that assertion.
That tasteless falsehood, combined with his $15 million salary, ratings slip and loss of advertisers, should have been enough for Kimmel to go.
Or so it seemed until the president and Brendan Carr, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, waded into the matter. By doing so, they turned Kimmel into a free speech martyr rather than a partisan hack whose ratings were falling flatter than his punch lines.
The free speech martyr
Napoléon Bonaparte is often credited with the strategic wisdom that one should “never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” The president should have taken note.
Some of our friends on the left have been doing a fine job making a mockery of Americans’ First Amendment rights for years and voters were taking notice, making them pay for it at the polls.
The proliferation of laws and regulations that seek to limit “hate speech” effectively punishes thoughtcrimes just as George Orwell described in his dystopian novel “1984,” and progressive speech codes at schools and universities stifle free inquiry and debate.
The Biden administration even attempted to establish their version of an Orwellian Ministry of Truth during the Covid pandemic, engaging in widespread — and largely successful — pressure on social media companies to censor Americans who dared to disagree — correctly —with the government narrative on things like mask mandates, school closures, and the arbitrary 6-foot social distancing rule.
Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee found so much evidence of government coercion (even beyond the admission of such behavior by platforms like Facebook and Twitter) that the committee recently forced Google to admit to it and reinstate YouTube accounts censored during the pandemic.
Donald Trump’s eggshell ego
Charlie Kirk was a free speech champion unlike any we’ve seen in generations.
His voice and choice of venue were desperately needed. A recent survey found that nearly four in ten college students believe that “physical violence can be justified” to prevent a speaker from “espousing their hateful views.”
Kirk pioneered a unique and successful series of “Prove Me Wrong” free speech events on campuses, engaging the very group that has been indoctrinated to reject the premise of one of our most important rights.
The man charged with murdering Kirk allegedly texted that he “had enough of (Kirk’s) hatred.”
That he apparently saw Kirk’s “hate” directed at his transgender identifying partner is as clear an example as any that decades of progressive claims that words are violence can lead weak-minded believers to use violence to stop words.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration seems intent on interrupting progressives’ free speech mistakes with some of its own. His veiled threat to ABC regarding Kimmel only served to create enough backlash to put the host back on the air days later.
Amid such foolishness, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi decided that now would be a good time to “absolutely target” and “go after” those who engage in so-called hate speech.
That she later walked it back is little consolation.
The real free speech champion
Trump has kept more of his campaign promises than any president in my lifetime. But his childish impulses for revenge against a comedian’s bad jokes mars his many other accomplishments.
Charlie Kirk correctly recognized the importance of our globally unique First Amendment rights.
That his modeling of those rights cost him his life should frighten all of us.
Yet, 22% of Americans under 30 believe Kirk’s assassination was justified, according to a CloudResearch national survey.
My opposition to progressivism and support for Trump was based largely on defeating wokeism’s Orwellian rejection of free speech and the Biden Administration’s wholesale embrace of censorship.
But even as some on the left reject speech they find “offensive,” President Trump’s eggshell ego and resultant revenge-driven First Amendment mistakes risk smothering it.
Either way, we lose the freedom Kirk died defending.
New Albany resident Philip Derrow is a retired business owner. He was a two-term member of the New Albany-Plain Local Board of Education. He is a regular Columbus Dispatch contributor. Reach him at philderrowdispatch@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: I support Donald Trump’s election. His eggshell ego threatens First Amendment | Opinion
Reporting by Philip Derrow / The Columbus Dispatch
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