The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel was about the 2,786th objectionable thing this second Trump administration has done. Many of its attacks on the American way of life have been utterly horrific—some have been direct assaults on the rule of law, others have sent completely innocent human beings to detention camps. So why does an action taken against a late-night host stand out?

It’s a frontal attack on the one element of our social contract that nearly everyone, from left to right, agrees on and values more than anything: freedom of speech. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787 decided against including a Bill of Rights, confident that everyone would understand that the federal government would exercise only the powers enumerated in the document itself. But many critics, mostly those known as the anti-Federalists, insisted that that wasn’t enough. They said: Add a list of specifically enumerated rights, or we’re not ratifying.

And so, James Madison, who had been a strong opponent of such a list in 1787, turned around and, as a member of the first U.S. Congress representing the fifth district of Virginia, drew up the list the critics demanded. His original list included 17 rights. Congress passed 12, and the states ratified 10.

There was never any question as to which right would be enumerated first. The First Amendment concerns both religion and speech, but over the centuries, freedom of worship has grown less contested, and it has been the cause of free speech rights for which people have fought and gone to prison. Historically, most attempts to suppress speech have come from those in power trying to silence various forms of protest or dissent (hence, from the right, generally speaking). Recent years have seen the emergence of a small but vocal anti–free speech left, whose presence is mostly limited to social media and college campuses, and which is about to make Bari Weiss a very rich woman.

But the vast majority of us agree: Free speech is inviolate and applies to all of us, even those with noxious views. A poll last year found that 63 percent of Americans considered free speech “very important.” It was second only to inflation and ahead of crime, health care, immigration, and seven other issues. Not bad for an abstract idea.

But abstract ideas last only as long as those who have power—political and financial power—agree that they should last. James Madison couldn’t have contemplated Donald Trump. And he never would have imagined Perry Sook and Chris Ripley.

As temperatures rise and storms intensify, how can we adapt to an ever-evolving and unpredictable climate while ensuring environmental protection and justice for all?

During NYC Climate Week, The New Republic, The New School, and the Rachel Carson Council are hosting a sit-down with climate thought leaders and activists on bold policy solutions, economic challenges, and innovative strategies for more resilient and equitable cities. Join us for free in person or on the livestream.

Wait, who are Perry Sook and Chris Ripley, you ask? They are the men, Sook in particular, who made this Kimmel cancellation, this direct attack against free speech, happen. Their names don’t appear in many news stories. More people need to know who they are.

Sook is the CEO of Nexstar Media Group. He started the company in the 1990s with one local television station, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Today, Nexstar owns 197 stations. It also operates NewsNation, the cable news channel trying to compete with Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. NewsNation is where disgraced CNN anchor Chris Cuomo landed, and its “talent” is somewhat ideologically mixed. But Sook, 66, has dropped broad hints in past interviews about his own leanings. Last November, he expressed the hope that “fact-based journalism will come back into vogue, as well as eliminating the level of activist journalism out there.” You might think that by “activist journalism,” he means, you know, the cable news network that paid a $787 million settlement to a private company to avoid being forced to admit that it told lies about the 2020 election. But you’d be wrong. On Wednesday, he showed us what and who he means by “activist journalism”: Jimmy Kimmel, over one comment that right-wing social media went to town on.

Chris Ripley is the CEO of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair is better known than Nexstar. It vaulted to public prominence after that chilling 2018 video went viral of dozens of local Sinclair anchors reading from the same Orwellian script about “fake news.” Sinclair is more avowedly right-wing than Nexstar. But they both passionately share and are pursuing one central right-wing goal: the end of media regulation in the United States. Under FCC rules, no single owner can reach more than 39 percent of households.

These kinds of regulations go back to the 1920s, when radio first hit the scene, and they were designed to make sure that Americans heard a range of voices. No one on either end of the political spectrum challenged them for decades. In the late 1960s, a Pennsylvania right-wing radio preacher (why is it always people like this?) went on air to smear a local journalist who had attacked Barry Goldwater. The matter went up to the Supreme Court, which held—unanimously, left to right—that the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine was consistent with the First Amendment: That is, the court said, yes, the exposure to opposing viewpoints was an essential part of democracy.

Traditional news and speech values, imperfect though they were, held for about six decades. Then merger mania hit in the 1980s, and we began to understand that media companies were companies—were interested in profit more than civic ideas such as truth and free speech. At the same time, the Reagan administration started going after the Fairness Doctrine. Later came Rupert Murdoch and Fox. Then came merger after merger after merger. Sad to say, it was Barack Obama’s FCC, under Chair Julius Genachowski, that finally killed off the Fairness Doctrine officially, but it had been long since functionally dead anyway.

Right now, Sook awaits FCC approval of a merger that will allow Nexstar to be in more than 39 percent of American homes. And Sinclair wants to grow and grow. And that is what happened Wednesday night. Sook announced that his 32 ABC stations would not broadcast Kimmel’s show. Sinclair, with its 30 ABC affiliates, made a similar announcement shortly thereafter. And ABC—or really, Disney—caved.

Even so, this might not have been quite the crisis it is with someone else in the White House. Under President Kamala Harris, for example, would Sook and Nexstar even be petitioning a Democratic FCC for this merger? Probably not. The current Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, has clearly stated her opposition (to TNR’s Greg Sargent, among others) to what Chairman Brendan Carr did in threatening ABC and Kimmel. Recent Democratic FCC Chairs Jessica Rosenworcel (Biden) and Tom Wheeler (Obama) have been strong voices for media diversity. It seems to me a safe bet that under President Harris, none of this would be happening.

But she is not in the White House. Donald Trump is. And a right-wing hero was just assassinated. Trump and his movement will use Charlie Kirk’s murder to justify any number of unconstitutional and illegal actions. And it filters down from them. Clemson University has fired five faculty and administrators. Teachers are losing their jobs over their social media posts about Kirk. And it sure isn’t Trump firing them. He has created an atmosphere of fear that many, many others on down the right-wing food chain, from Sook and Ripley to local school administrators, will zealously enforce.

And that’s why this week is different. It pitted a near-universally cherished American value against a combination of corporate power and authoritarian contempt for that value—and the value was smashed to pieces.

If you’re terrified of where all this may end, you are right to be. Stephen Colbert is gone; Kimmel, possibly gone for good (I hope not). CBS is becoming conservative. Skydance, the company handing CBS to Bari Weiss, may be about to take over CNN. The Washington Post is cracking up. The New York Times faces another one of Trump’s $15 billion lawsuits. In this next year or two, we may well be counting on the Times to do what CBS and ABC have refused to do and fight this battle to the bitter end.

The text of the First Amendment was edited down from Madison’s original language. His first-draft passage on speech and the press said: “The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.”

I wish that language had remained—it’s clearer and more emphatic, especially that “inviolable” part. It might have stiffened the backs of the people we’re going to be counting on to preserve free speech in this country and made it harder for right-wing federal judges to chip away at these rights. It would not, alas, make any difference to tyrants, and as of Wednesday night, it’s clearer than it ever was before that tyranny is where we’re headed.

Last week’s quiz: True colors: A quiz on the color schemes (and more) of sports uniforms. 

1. What was the first team to wear standardized, matching uniforms, and in what year?

A. The New York Giants, 1888

B. The Philadelphia Independents, 1885

C. The Boston Braves, 1890

D. The Chicago White Stockings, 1876

Answer: D, Chicago. At least, that was the answer based on some things I read last week. This week, however, it appears that the real answer is the New York Knickerbockers baseball club, way back in 1849. So, my apologies.

2. In what year did the New York Yankees permanently add pinstripes?

A. 1915

B. 1924

C. 1930

D. 1938

Answer: A, 1915. They apparently first wore them in 1912 and then made them permanent in 1915. A tale has arisen over the years that they introduced them in the ’20s to make Babe Ruth look skinnier, but that is evidently a canard.

3. The “winged helmet” design, distinguished by the sharp outward curves over the front part of the helmet that form matching wing-like shapes and the three stripes that run over the crown and meet at the helmet’s rear base, is most famously associated with the Michigan Wolverines. They adopted the design in 1938. But another college team wore it first. Who?

A. Fordham Rams

B. Navy Midshipmen

C. Princeton Tigers

D. Delaware Blue Hens

Answer: C, Princeton. That’s because the design was the brainchild of the famous coach Fritz Crisler. He’s best known for his legendary career at Michigan starting in 1940, but he was at Princeton first, where he originally came up with the design, taking it to Ann Arbor with him. He is not to be confused with concert violinist Fritz Kreisler, who was famous at the same time! Would have been even more confusing if Google had been around.

4. Three of these teams have a blue and orange color scheme. Which one does not?

A. New York Mets

B. Edmonton Oilers

C. Phoenix Suns

D. Boise State Broncos

Answer: C, Phoenix. They’re purple and orange. It works!

5. What baseball team actually wore a uniform in 1976 for three games that featured a collar—and short pants!?

A. Chicago White Sox

B. Chicago Cubs

C. Pittsburgh Pirates

D. Oakland Athletics

Answer: A, the White Sox. Have a gander. Pretty ridiculous.

6. One of the rare ways in which England has managed to out-garish the United States is that Premier League clubs’ jerseys are prominently emblazoned with the teams’ sponsors on the front. Match the team to the sponsor featured on its home “strip”:

Answer: Liverpool = Standard Chartered, Man City = Etihad, Spurs = AIA, Arsenal = Emirates. Here’s the full list, home and away.

This week’s quiz: “Heeeeere’s Johnny!” A quiz—for all-too-obvious reasons—on the history of American late-night television.

1. The first American late-night talk show, interestingly, was hosted by a woman: actress Faye Emerson. She was quite political and had been married to a member of a very prominent political family. Who was her ex-husband?

A. Elliott Roosevelt (FDR’s son)

B. Francis Kennedy (Joe’s brother)

C. Edgar Eisenhower (Dwight’s brother)

D. Declan McCarthy (Joe’s brother)

2. The Tonight Show debuted in 1954. Who was its first host?

A. Jack Paar

B. Art Linkletter

C. Steve Allen

D. Ernie Kovacs

3. The Tonight Show theme song during the Johnny Carson era (“Johnny’s Theme”) became universally recognizable and famous. Who wrote it? 

A. Doc Severinsen

B. Al Hirt

C. Herb Alpert

D. Paul Anka

4. John Lennon and Paul McCartney made a much-anticipated appearance on The Tonight Show in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Records. They learned at the last minute that Johnny Carson wasn’t hosting. Who, to their annoyance, was the improbable guest host that night?

A. Robert Goulet

B. Wilt Chamberlain

C. Phyllis Diller

D. Joe Garagiola

5. Who was the first African American late-night host, and what year did the show debut?

A. Steve Harvey, 1994

B. Arsenio Hall, 1989

C. Armstrong Williams, 1990

D. Diahann Carroll, 1977

6. On a Reddit thread from three years ago, what was the all-time favorite David Letterman Stupid Pet Trick?

A. Duck eating cottage cheese out of woman’s mouth

B. Dog flipping biscuit to another dog

C. Horse drinking from a baby bottle

D. Dog jumping rope with two young sisters

I wanted to make 6 about Larry “Bud” Melman, but I couldn’t think up the right question. I loved him. Answers next week. Feedback to fightingwords@tnr.com. 

—Michael Tomasky, editor 

 Update your personal preferences for _t.e.s.t_@example.com by clicking here. 

Our mailing address is:

The New Republic, 1 Union Sq W Fl 6 , NY , New York, NY 10003-3303, United States

Do you want to stop receiving all emails from ? 

Unsubscribe from this list. If you stopped getting TNR emails, update your profile to resume receiving them.