Dem
47
GOP
53
We are not sure how this Jimmy Kimmel situation could have gone worse for the Trump administration. Abusing the powers of the FCC made Trump & Co. simultaneously look small, authoritarian and hypocritical (the latter since MAGA constantly harped about censorship during the Biden presidency, including the now-infamous tweet from FCC Chair Brendan Carr observing that "censorship is the authoritarian's dream").
Perhaps even worse, at least in Trump's way of looking at the world, is that Kimmel has been turned into a combination of martyr, champion of free speech, and leader of the resistance. Everyone knows that the thing Trump cares most about is ratings and "records." Well, Kimmel's first monologue back after his suspension has been viewed well over 20 million times on YouTube—a record for a Kimmel monologue on that platform. His second monologue back has been viewed 6 million times, the largest total for any late-night monologue this year, excepting his monologue from the previous night. That first episode back drew at least 6.3 million viewers (and the total will likely pass 7 million once streaming is figured in). That despite the fact that the show is not available to roughly 15% of American viewers due to the Sinclair/Nexstar boycott. For comparison purposes, the average episode of The Apprentice, in its last season, drew 4.2 million viewers. And that show had 100% clearance (available to all American viewers), and was on in primetime.
So, Trump gave Kimmel vast amounts of prestige, and a vast number of viewers, that the late-night host otherwise would not have had. On top of that, Kimmel is dangerously close to un-fireable, at least for the foreseeable future, and is going to be coming after Trump with all he's got. For example, Kimmel shared Trump's "truth" in which the President said Kimmel should "rot" in his crappy ratings. The host then observed that the Donald's approval ratings are approaching historic lows, and added "Welcome to the crappy ratings club, Mr. President." Ouch.
And finally, and more broadly, the whole thing made Trump look weak. Kimmel was off the air for what, 3 (business) days? That's all Trump could squeeze out of the strong-arm routine? And if the administration tries a similar trick again, then Disney—perhaps having concluded that the emperor has no clothes—is likely to tell him to shove it. The Mouse's spine may be strengthened by having learned that a lot of their customers disagree with Trump, and will back that with their money (or, more precisely, with taking their money elsewhere). On top of that, Disney is now facing a lawsuit from shareholders over the whole fiasco. Other companies, media and otherwise, might also look at what happened with Disney, and take it as a cautionary tale/lesson in Trumpy toothlessness.
Did Trump get anything out of this? Maybe a little bit of red meat for the base, red meat that has already been consumed. But beyond that, as Inigo Montoya might put it, it was "humiliations galore." As often as this happens, we are still amazed at this administration's total lack of interest in thinking through its choices, and gaming out how things might unfold. (Z)