Free speech for me but not for thee
Trump Derangement Syndrome is real. Liberal media bias is real. And despite what his critics scream on social media, Donald Trump is not Hitler, and he’s not a Nazi.
But let’s also acknowledge something else that’s true: Donald Trump believes in free speech — for himself. Not for you. Not for me. And certainly not for Jimmy Kimmel or anyone else who dares to disagree with him.
He’s filed lawsuits against news organizations whose coverage he doesn’t like. He’s threatened to yank broadcast licenses from networks that air content he finds offensive. And his handpicked FCC commissioner, Brendan Carr, didn’t just dip his toes into authoritarian waters — he did a cannonball.
Carr, speaking about ABC and Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes aimed at Trump, seemed to channel a mob boss. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said. It was such a parody of gangster politics that even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — no stranger to partisan trench warfare — had to call it out. “That’s right out of ‘Goodfellas,’” Cruz said on his podcast. “It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.”
Credit where it’s due. While Cruz wasn’t the only conservative to stand up for Kimmel’s right to tell jokes the president doesn’t like — he was a rare, lonely voice. Most Republicans these days have become profiles in cowardice — too scared to whisper a word of criticism, no matter how outrageous Trump gets. They’ve swapped principles for polling.
And when Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late night show this week, after a brief suspension, he said what too many Trump allies are afraid to say. “[The Trump Administration] tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air,” Kimmel said. “That’s not legal, that’s not American, that is un-American. And it’s so dangerous. … The president of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.”
So now, the courts stand between Trump’s thirst for vengeance and the rights of Americans to say what they want — even when it stings. Because make no mistake: Trump doesn’t just want to win. He wants to crush his adversaries. And if silencing dissent is what it takes, well, so be it.
“What we’re seeing is an unprecedented attempt to silence disfavored speech by the government,” said Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth. “Donald Trump is trying to dictate what Americans can say.”
And I’m not sure Trump would even disagree with that.
At that memorial service for conservative activist Charlie Kirk — a moment that might have called for dignity, humility, or God forbid, leadership — the president laid his cards on the table. After describing Kirk as someone who wanted to reach people and “did not hate his opponents” and wished the best for them. Trump said that this was the difference between them. “I hate my opponents,” the president said, “and I don’t want the best for them.”
That’s the quote. That’s who he is. And this wasn’t at a rally, or a roast, or one of his infamous Truth Social rants. This was at a memorial. A time for unity — and he still couldn’t help himself.
And again, silence. Silence from most of the Republican Party, a party that once stood for moral clarity and constitutional principles. Silence from MAGA evangelicals who preach about loving thy neighbor while practically worshipping a man who boasts about his hatred.
And nothing from Trump’s pals in the media — the ones who make a living on cable TV agreeing with just about everything he says and does — and the others who see no problem becoming advisors to a president whose policies they’re supposed to objectively analyze.
Trump has turned them all — politicians, pastors, pundits — into cheerleaders. All that’s missing are the pom-poms and the short skirts.
And here’s the question we should be asking: What are they cheering for?
Not the sacred right to speak your mind without fear of government reprisal. They’re cheering for a man who sees the presidency not as a service but as a tool to reward the loyal, punish the disloyal, and silence the inconvenient.
Let me end with this apology to the Gospels and to Sir Thomas More: It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world — but for Donald Trump?
Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him @BernardGoldberg.