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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) highlighted the apparent hypocrisy of President Donald Trump and his conservative administration, once again trolling him with a Trumpian all-caps post about the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel at ABC.
Newsom’s press office shared a clip of Trump falsely stating Thursday on Fox News that the 2020 election was rigged. They argued that if Kimmel can get suspended for commenting on the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, Trump should be similarly punished for lying.
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The post on X, formerly Twitter, read: “DOZY DON WHO LOOKS AWFUL RECENTLY (‘THE HANDS’) IS LYING ON LIVE TELEVISION! HIS SO CALLED ‘FCC CHAIR’ BRENDAN CARR MUST IMMEDIATELY APPLY THE MADE UP ‘JIMMY KIMMEL’ RULE AND KICK TRUMP OFF TV!!!”
The social media post continued, “LET’S GO BRENDAN!”
That latter statement is a reference to the “Let’s go, Brandon” chant conservatives used to insult then-President Joe Biden that took off after the crowd at a NASCAR race several years ago chanted, “Fuck Joe Biden.” A confused NBC Sports reporter thought they were cheering for driver Brandon Brown.
Newsom’s comment about “the hands” was a dig at Trump’s personal appearance as of late, as he has been suspected of using makeup to hide some bruising. His remark about Carr was a reminder of the Trump administration’s apparent overreach.
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“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was suspended Wednesday by ABC after Kimmel criticized the right-wing response to Kirk’s death. The move came after Nexstar Media Group said it would pull the show from its more than 200 local channels.
Nexstar is pursuing a major merger with media company Tegna that requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, chaired by Carr.
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Carr defended the decision during a CNBC interview Thursday on “Squawk on The Street.”
“Our goal and our obligation here is to make sure that broadcasters are serving the public interest,” he said. “And if there’s local TV stations that don’t think that running that programming does it, then they have every right under the law in their contracts to preempt it.”
Critics argue that Kimmel’s ousting is a clear-cut sign of public-private overreach, as the companies in question are allowed to suspend whatever programs they want but appear to be doing so over political pressure.
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“It’s not the appropriate job of the FCC chairman to become the censor-in-chief,” Tom Wheeler, an ex-FCC chair appointed by former President Barack Obama, told The Guardian on Thursday, adding that Carr is “exploiting the vagaries in the term ‘the public interest.’”