To quote Principal Skinner quoting Bob Dylan, “Children, the times they are a… becoming quite different.”
Strange days indeed.
One week after a gay Mormon-raised kid murdered Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Marjorie Taylor Greene have, quite logically, blamed the Jews. (No one specifically, of course. It’s always a shadowy cabal of Israel, AIPAC, and “disloyal” Jewish Americans. But don’t worry: They’re “just asking questions” and are totally acting in good faith.)
But aside from the conspiracy kooks, the rest of the conservative movement quickly coalesced, honoring Charlie Kirk’s life and mission. As The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh put it:
The entire Right has to band together. Enough of this in-fighting bullshit. We are up against demonic forces from the pit of Hell. They’re killing us in our churches. They tried to kill our president. They killed Charlie, one of our greatest advocates. Put the personal squabbles…
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 10, 2025
And the overwhelming majority of conservatives heeded the call, thank God. It’s an extraordinary tribute to an extraordinary man: I’ve never seen our movement more united.
Or more outraged.
Often in these columns, I write about trajectory — where our country will be if the status quo holds. It’s a critically important topic, because in politics, things don’t move until they’re pushed. Everything else is always in a constant state of motion, and if you don’t know where you are today, it’s impossible to know where you’ll be on Election Day.
But it’s also misleading, because black swan events — those improbable, unpredictable moments in history — probably matter more than trajectory. Just over the last 25 years, we’ve seen it over and over again: 9/11, Fukushima, economic meltdowns, COVID, Oct. 7, Butler, and, most recently, the horrible assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Not too many people had the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on their June 28, 1914, bingo card. But his death directly led to World War I — and without the First World War, there almost certainly wouldn’t have been a World War II.
The butterfly effect of that one black swan altered the entire course of human history.
So, for humility’s sake, we must recognize that we don’t know what we don’t know. (Or, as Dirty Harry put it, “A man’s got to know his limitations.)
What we do know is that the radical left is howling and screaming about the evils of so-called Cancel Culture, and their current trajectory is leading them to a profoundly dark place. It’s a helluva role-reversal, as I noted on Tuesday:
We still remember when mainstream Republicans, run-of-the-mill conservatives, and right-leaning media outlets — including President Donald Trump, Sen. Rand Paul, Dan Bongino, Jordan Peterson, Steve Bannon, James O’Keefe, James Woods, the Babylon Bee, PragerU, and countless others — were all banned, suspended, censored, and/or demonetized from social media sites.
Furthermore, we also remember when Gina Carano was fired from Disney for expressing one set of political opinions, while her liberal Disney coworkers — including Mark Hamill and Pedro Pascal — have freely opined about the “genocide” in Gaza, called J.K. Rowling a “heinous loser,” attacked conservatives with impunity, and even mocked Trump after the Butler assassination attempt.
In today’s clickbait marketplace, liberal writers make money when liberal readers click on liberal stories. That’s why the recent spate of headlines is so illuminating:
Daily Beast: ‘Nazi Karens’ Go Full Cancel Culture on Charlie Kirk Critics
Newsweek: Is the Right Embracing ‘Cancel Culture’ After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination?
Axios: Republicans embrace speech limits after Charlie Kirk
NPR: Sen. Chris Murphy discusses the canceling of critics of Charlie Kirk and free speech
Dan Pfeiffer (Pod Save America): Trump’s MAGA McCarthyism
Wired: Cancel Culture Comes for Artists Who Posted About Charlie Kirk’s Death
The American Prospect: Meet the New Conservative Cancel Culture, This Time With Government Informers
Bulwark: Right-Wing Cancel Culture Explodes After Kirk Assassination
Rolling Stone: People Are Losing Their Jobs for Criticizing Slain ‘Free Speech’ Advocate Charlie Kirk
And that was all BEFORE the smarmy, condescending Jimmy Kimmel was “indefinitely suspended” for misleading viewers about Charlie Kirk’s assassin being part of the MAGA movement and acting like a jackass:
We had 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 score political points from it.
[…]
This [President Trump] is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.
—Jimmy Kimmel
For a “comedy show,” his comments were curiously unfunny. But more importantly, does anyone else remember when Democrats were vehemently AGAINST political disinformation? Just three years ago, President Obama declared, “Disinformation is a threat to our democracy.”
Weird, huh? Haven’t heard anyone on the left make that argument over the past 24 hours in their support of Kimmel.
Either way, Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t fired; he was suspended — presumably with pay. But he won’t be coming back to ABC/Disney, because he committed the one cardinal sin in the TV biz: He pissed off his affiliates.
Sinclair, America’s largest ABC affiliate group, was furious:
“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” said Vice Chairman Jason Smith. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities. We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”
[…]
Regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.
Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliates, wasn’t any happier:
“Nexstar’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show,” said the company in a statement Wednesday. “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
This wasn’t “government censorship.” This is how the TV biz works! ABC/Disney would be violating its fiduciary obligation to shareholders if it continued to air (and spend millions to produce) a TV program its two biggest affiliates no longer wanted.
But that’s not how the liberal media sees it:
BBC: ‘Ultimate in cancel culture’: Fans outside Jimmy Kimmel studio react to show’s axing
LA Times: The right now embraces cancel culture
Politico: The cancel culture comeback
Al Jazeera: Firings over reactions to Kirk killing spark free speech debate in the US
New Republic: Jimmy Kimmel Suspension: A Huge Step Down the Authoritarian Road
Newsbusters: ‘Cancel Culture’; CNN’s Tapper, Stelter Defend, Mourn Jimmy Kimmel After ABC Suspension
Poynter: Free speech worries mount as ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel’s show
The Atlantic: Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension Is an Escalation in Every Way
The Bulwark: First, They Came for Jimmy Kimmel
San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom blasts ‘spineless’ ABC for pulling Jimmy Kimmel over Charlie Kirk remarks
Axios: Jimmy Kimmel suspension spurs House Democratic leaders to demand FCC chair resign
Related: And Just Like That, the Party of Cancel Culture Suddenly Gives a Damn About Free Speech
Much of the liberal hullabaloo stems from F.C.C. chair Brandan Carr strongly hinting at future action if Kimmel’s actions were excused or repeated. The uproar isn’t over anything Carr actually did; it’s all about what he said.
Which means, to defend Jimmy Kimmel’s “freedom of speech,” the leftwing mob is attacking Brandan Carr’s “freedom of speech.” (Holy circular logic, Batman!)
Full disclosure: I’ve never been a fan of the F.C.C. To me, the whole premise of the government — that because the airwaves are “public” and signal space is limited, radio and television are therefore the only two forms of speech that fall outside the traditional purview of First Amendment — is simply a legal fiction. In most towns, there are significantly MORE radio and TV options than daily newspapers, so it didn’t really make sense before — and in today’s world of unlimited digital content, podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, and globally-connected smartphones, it makes even less sense.
Other than preventing nitwits from jamming signals and/or claiming the same frequency, the F.C.C. should quit regulating content altogether.
But I also understand the world we’re living in. The F.C.C. isn’t going anywhere, and President Trump was elected (in part) to level the playing field, dismantle the Deep State, and free our nation from radical overreach — i.e. lawfare, one-sided regulations, and the rampant abuse of agency power.
And you can’t fight back without — fighting back.
Still, one day, the Democrats will be back in power, perhaps on the heels of another black swan event. Not unlike Charlie Sheen, the political pendulum doesn’t only swing one way.
And when they are back in power, they’ll be chomping at the bit for vengeance. We all know it’s coming.
So I think I have a solution:
President Trump was elected to be a fighter. The fight isn’t over. (Not even close!) And I’m not interested in making him fight with one arm tied behind his back. Instead, he should have full, unfettered access to the same arsenal of weapons as President Obama and President Biden.
But somewhere in the second half of his second term — maybe towards the end of 2028 — it might be wise for the GOP to pass a comprehensive Civil Rights Bill for the Internet Age that limits the next president(s) from “creatively interpreting” federal law.
Fight the good fight. Do what you’ve gotta do.
And then, pull up the ladder on your way out.
It’d be the most glorious microphone drop in history.
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