"Minutes after news broke that ABC had bowed to the Trump administration's threats and indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel, Ari Fleischer, the former Bush-administration press secretary, tried to explain why the thing that just happened was not actually what happened. "Liberals want to make this firing about 'free speech,'" he wrote on X, "Did it ever occur to them the issue might be accuracy? Kimmel told his viewers that Charlie Kirk was murdered by MAGA.""
"Nothing to see here, just a network imposing a zero-tolerance standard for factual accuracy upon its comedians and implementing it without warning. (Despite his fanatical belief in the importance of factual accuracy, Fleischer's own tweet substantially misconstrues the facts: Kimmel's joke implied that it was possible Kirk's murderer was a MAGA supporter, but did not say so outright. Fleischer's self-punishment for this error will no doubt be merciless.)"
"These are glorious, heady days for the Republican Party's unselfconsciously authoritarian wing. Every day President Donald Trump tramples on the rights of their enemies, and the natcons rejoice, This is what I voted for. David Sims: An escalation in every way But we should spare a thought for the party's more conflicted wing, the anti-anti-Trump conservatives such as Fleischer. They profess support for free speech, democracy, and the rule of law while attempting to remain Republicans in good standing."
ABC indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel after pressure linked to the Trump administration, prompting debate over factual accuracy versus free speech. Ari Fleischer defended the suspension as enforcement of accuracy, misrepresenting Kimmel's joke by claiming Kimmel said Charlie Kirk was murdered by MAGA when the joke only suggested the possibility. The Republican Party displays stark factional divides: the authoritarian wing celebrates restrictions on opponents, while anti-anti-Trump conservatives profess commitment to free speech and the rule of law yet minimize presidential transgressions to remain aligned politically. The suspension exposed survival-driven rationalizations and deepening authoritarian tendencies.
Read at The Atlantic
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