The Jimmy Kimmel Problem Is Worse Than You Think
PDS Published 09/18/2025
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Jimmy Kimmel is canceled, antifa is a terrorist organization, and anyone not singing Charlie Kirk’s praises needs to be punished.
This seems to be the American we’re living in and we need to keep talking about it.
And starting with Kimmel, this all goes back to his show Monday night.
In his opening monologue, as he often does, he expressed criticism of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement – this time in response to the fallout from Charlie Kirk’s murder:
KIMMEL: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the fingerpointing there was grieving on Friday. The White House flew the flags at half staff which got some criticism but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this.”
REPORTER: “My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. May I ask sir personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir?”
TRUMP: “I think very good and, by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They've just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years, and it's going to be a beauty.”
KIMMEL: “Yes. He's at the fourth stage of grief, construction.” (2:03-2:53
And you had right-wing influencers and activists slamming Kimmel in general but especially for his words about MAGA trying to cast Kirk’s killer as “anything other than one of them” in order to score political points.
With them basically accusing Kimmel of lying and claiming the suspect is MAGA despite what they say is indisputable evidence to the contrary.
Right, for example, Utah Governor Spencer Cox has claimed the suspect very clearly held “leftist ideology.”
And the suspect’s mother reportedly told prosecutors that her son had recently started to lean more to the left and become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented” []
As well as the fact that the suspect reportedly told his family that he thought Kirk was full of hate – saying something similar in a message to his roommate, who the mother has claimed is “a biological male…transitioning genders.” []
But with all that, authorities have not specifically identified what exactly about Kirk he found hateful;
And they haven’t totally convinced everyone that the “Groyper” hypothesis or some other theory isn’t true – like the theory that Israel killed Kirk.
A theory that’s actually gained so much traction, especially thanks to figures like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, that you had Netanyahu coming out against it today:
“Now, some are peddling these disgusting rumors, perhaps out of obsession, perhaps with Qatari funding. What I do know is this Charlie Kirk was a great man, and a great man deserves honor. Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk.” (1:35-1:52)
But of course, there are people who will believe what they believe no matter what, but there also is what seems like warranted skepticism about the impartiality of the FBI under Trump.
In fact, as we talked about last week, former high-ranking officials at the agency have actually filed a lawsuit accusing Director Kash Patel of politicizing the FBI to an astonishing degree.
And in the case of the Kirk investigation specifically, you have people pointing to a document that was widely circulated among law enforcement officials shortly after the murder – but before the identity of the suspect or his allegedly transgender roommate had been known.
Right because this document? It said that investigators had discovered ammunition engraved with expressions of "transgender and anti-fascist ideology."
But none of the bullet casings recovered alongside the gun appeared to have statements or symbols related to transgender people – making some people believe there were those intent on pushing that narrative from the very beginning.
But in any case, one of the people you had freaking out in response to Kimmel’s comments?
It was right-wing commentator Benny Johnson – another one of those formerly fringe figures that’s been welcomed into the White House despite his history of spreading misinformation as well as plagiarism.
And with that, to talk about Kimmel, Johnson had on his podcast none other than Brendan Carr – the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
And you had Carr claiming that Kimmel’s remarks were part of a “concerted effort to lie to the American people” and that the FCC had “remedies” that it would be looking into:
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this — I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,”
“These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the F.C.C. ahead.” (11:42-11:57)
And with that, you also had Carr urging local tv stations affiliated with ABC to “push back” – with a key point being that as FCC chair Carr has real power over broadcast licenses granted to these TV stations by the federal government:
“Frankly, I think that it's it's it's really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Listen, we are going to preempt. We are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we we licensed broadcaster are running the possibility of fines or license revocations from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion.’” (16:43-17:10)
And so shortly after that, Nexstar – which is an owner of ABC affiliate stations around the country? It said that it would pre-empt Kimmel’s program “for the foreseeable future.”
And Sinclar, another owner of many local TV stations, said that it would also suspend Kimmel’s program – calling on him to apologize and “make a meaningful personal donation” to Kirk’s family and his Turning Point USA.
With ABC itself making the announcement that it’d be pulling Kimmel off the air indefinitely just a short while later.
And the company – which is owned by Disney – and has already paid 15 million dollars to settle a defamation lawsuit with Trump – didn’t explain their reasoning publicly.
But you had Rolling Stone reporting that “Multiple execs felt that Kimmel had not actually said anything over the line…but the threat of Trump administration retaliation loomed.”
And also, notably, Nexstar? It recently announced that it planned to acquire a rival company in a $6.2 billion deal – a deal that will be under scrutiny from the FCC.
With that calling to mind everything that happened with CBS.
Right, earlier this summer, the FCC approved a major merger involving CBS’s owner, Paramount, but only after:
1) CBS agreed to pay $16 million to settle another lawsuit filed by Trump.
And 2) It canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
With the network claiming that decision was financially motivated while many believe it was done to please the White House while that merger was pending – right, because Colbert, like Kimmel? They frequently criticized Trump on their shows.
And in fact, when Colbert got cancelled, Trump celebrated on social media, saying:
“I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
And this time, you had him doing much the same – celebrating and making new threats, with him writing:
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED.”
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”
“That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
And so, of course, we’ve seen massive backlash to all this.
With Democrats like Chuck Schumer calling the FCC pressure on ABC “despicable, disgusting, and against democratic values.”
You also had people sharing that footage of Fox commentator Brian Kilmeade calling for mentally ill and homeless people to be killed – and pointing out that he wasn’t fired and Fox wasn’t threatened.
And you had had one commentator writing on X:
“Trying to imagine the reaction if the Biden administration had demanded that Fox fire Greg Gutfeld because he wasn't sufficiently sad about the assault on Paul Pelosi.”
Although, there, notably, you had comedian Roseanne Barr responding sarcastically, saying:
“Yeah imagine an administration putting pressure on a television channel to fire a comedian they didn’t like.”
Right, because if you don’t know, back in 2018, her show got dropped after massive backlash to a racist tweet she posted about a senior advisor to former president Obama.
And there was a completely unverified rumor that Michelle Obama had gotten ABC to make that happen.
Although, either way – and as others have pointed out – Obama was not president at the time.
And hell, everything is just so turned around now, you even have people finding themselves surprised to be agreeing with Tucker Carlson:
“You hope that Charlie Kirk's death won't be used by a group we now call bad actors to create a society that was the opposite of the one he worked to build. You hope that... You hope that a year from now, the turmoil we're seeing in the aftermath of his murder won't be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country. And trust me, if it is, if that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience than that, ever.” (0:02-0:32)
Now, with that, I will say, Carlson’s not talking about Kimmel there.
He’s more responding to Pam Bondi saying she’d prosecute hate speech – something that sparked a lot of conservative backlash against her despite Trump clearly being on board.
Right, he actually threatened to “go after” an ABC News reporter who asked him about it:
“We'll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they'll come after ABC. Well, ABC paid me 16 million dollars recently for a form of hate speech, right?” Your company paid me 16 million dollars for a form of hate speech, so maybe they have to go after you.” (0:08-0:28)
But of course, now Bondi has walked that back, but a lot of other stuff is moving forward.
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Including Trump announcing that he is designating “ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION” – adding:
“I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.”
And besides that being alarming, it’s just kind of confusing.
Right, one, because antifa isn't a single group.
It’s short for “anti-fascists” and it’s more like a movement or maybe an umbrella term for various far-left-leaning activist groups.
And in fact, in 2020, when Trump first floated the idea of designating antifa as a terror organization, you had former FBI director Christopher Wray testifying that it’s an ideology, not an organization.
Saying it didn’t have the type of hierarchical structure that would usually allow it to be designated as a terror group by the federal government.
And with that, point number two, there’s no legal mechanism for labeling purely domestic organizations as terrorist groups anyways.
Instead, the law allows the government to make a list of “foreign terrorist organizations” to which it’s illegal to give money or “material support”And so experts say efforts to target a domestic movement like antifa would likely run up against the first amendment and other legal issues.
And also, even if it wasn’t the case, there’s little evidence to suggest antifa terrorism is a major threat like Trump describes.
According to data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, attacks from left-wing perpetrators including Antifa make up a small percentage of overall terrorist attacks and casualties in the US.
And 57 percent of attacks over the study period were perpetrated by right-wing terrorists.
And so with all that, you have many worried that “antifa” is really just going to be used as a catch-all term for any left-wing organization.
And as we’ve, even if some court ultimately says “hey, that was illegal” a lot of damage can be done in the meantime and even afterward.
That said, you still do have Republicans coming out in support – including Senator Bill Cassidy, for example, saying in a statement:
“Looting, destroying personal property, and violence cannot be tolerated. Antifa seized upon a movement of legitimate grievances to promote violence and anarchy, working against justice for all. The President is right to recognize the destructive role of Antifa by designating them domestic terrorists.”
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And that kind of brings us to Congress.
Right, because with all the fallout from Kirk's muder, there’s a lot happening on that front as well.
Including House Speaker Mike Johnson, for example, getting ready to force a vote on a resolution honoring Kirk –
And I say force cause Democrats are not too thrilled about this.
One telling Axios “people are worried that we're being totally set up" because anything short of a unanimous vote could be a rallying cry for Republicans,
But as far as what the resolution itself looks like?
It eulogizes Kirk as a “devoted Christian” and “courageous American patriot,” declaring: []
“Charlie Kirk personified the values of the First Amendment, exercising his God-given right to speak freely, challenge prevailing narratives, and did so with honor, courage, and respect for his fellow Americans,"
And while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries isn’t planning on telling Democrats how to vote, Representative Jasmine Crockett has already said she’s planning to vote no,
Saying, she’s "not sure what is honorable" about Kirk’s past statements. []
And she’s not the only Democrat potentially at the center of controversy right now.
Representative Ilhan Omar narrowly escaped being censured by the House yesterday after she said this about Kirk following his death:
“Charlie was someone who once said ‘guns save lives’ after a school shooting. Charlie was someone who was willing to debate and downplay the death of George Floyd in the hands of MPD. [Medhi: you called him a scumbag.] Right, had no regard: downplayed slavery and what Black people have gone through in this country.” (0:06-0:33)
And then reposting this clip on Twitter on top of that:
“Don’t be fooled. These people don’t give a single shit about Charlie Kirk. They are just using his death to further their Christofascist agenda, and before I continue, I need to say that this revisionist history about who Kirk was is just as perplexing.” 0:13-0:26
“Kirk was a reprehensible human being. He enacted his political agenda by preying on weak minded people. He took complex socio-economic issues and simplified them by point fingers at out groups, demonizing those groups, and then siccing his massive following on them. He was a stochastic terrorist, an adamant transphobe, he denied the genocide happening in Palestine, he believed in the subjugation of women, and with his last dying words, he was spewing racist dogwhistles. Charlie Kirk was Dr. Frankenstein and his monster shot him through the neck. And all of that said, none of us should want to live in a society where these types of killings become the norm.” 0:33-1:10
Nancy Mace then filing the resolution to censure Omar – which would’ve stripped her of her committee assignments – and saying:
“You celebrated his murder and now you’re scrambling to save face. You didn’t condemn political violence. You glorified it. And you got caught.”
But ultimately, the House voted 214-213 to dismiss the resolution – meaning 4 Republicans joined every single Democrat in voting in favor of Omar.
With Representative Mike Flood of Nebraska saying, “This is a First Amendment issue. We may not like or agree with what someone says, but that does not mean we should deny their First Amendment right.”
And then Mace accusing him and the other dissenting Republicans of “selling out.”
And on the flip side, you had Democrats today introducing new legislation Schumer says is intended “to protect free speech in the wake of the Trump administration’s attacks on it.”
So we’ll have to see if that gets anywhere but that’s where we’re at right now.
There’s a whole lot to keep track of but we’ll see what happens next and I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments below.
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With all the high profile assassinations and shootings lately there’s been a question on lawmakers’ minds: how are people getting so radicalized?
And there’s no shortage of blame and finger pointing there, but House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer is zeroing in on four companies:
Discord, Reddit, Twitch, and Steam.
In a statement, Cromer wrote that Charlie Kirk’s killing was the catalyst for this questioning and added:
“In the wake of this tragedy, and amid other acts of politically motivated violence, Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence.”
“To prevent future radicalization and violence, the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit must appear before the Oversight Committee and explain what actions they will take to ensure their platforms are not exploited for nefarious purposes.”
(and the Oversight Committee’s X account made a similar statement)
On the surface it makes some sense that Congress would want to talk to these platforms.
Right, Kirk’s killer reportedly had extensive conversations on Discord about the shooting, which even led FBI Director Kash Patel to warn that the agency would be investigating anyone involved in the chat.
However, digging deeper there are some questions about the choice of platforms.
Like, why is Reddit included when they’re unsure if Tyler Robinson was even active on the platform.
And then there’s big questions about why Steam and Twitch are even being included.
Some notable figures on Twitch like Hasan Piker feel like their inclusion is just a back-handed way to target them and saying:
[Twitch is not a factor in the tyler robinson investigation at all and yet they want to bring the platform into the story. there is a sinister reason and i think you all know what it is.] @28:15-28:37
But the real head scratcher was the inclusion of Valve, which owns Steam.
Right, it’s a video game market place.
And while you can message people on there and interact directly, it’s unclear how that’s related to any recent political violence.
(Other than dubious claims Robinson played some cooked games, but even then I’m not sure if they’re directly tied to Steam)
Which is probably why Rod Breslau made claims like:
“The government is scapegoating social media, chat, and video games under the guise of ‘political deradicalization’ as a way to censor the internet. meanwhile all the free speech guys cheer this on because they want certain streamers banned over personal vendettas. it’s pathetic.” []
(Others mocked the situation and said things like: “Gabe Newell is going to announce Half-Life 3 in front of congress holy shit” []"
As well as joked at the idea that Steam is somehow used to radicalize people in the same way any of the other platforms could be).
And in general there was a sentiment that this was an effort by government officials to effectively clamp down and force these companies to tow the line…
“Government Officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.”
And throughout this entire story one thing probably stood out… some big platforms that encourage user interaction were missing, such as Facebook, Rumble, Kick, and of course -- X.
If Congress wants to talk to platforms that allegedly radicalize people…. Then why isn’t X included?!
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Because the updates to this story are just sad and disturbing.
Right, David is a big name in music right now, his song Here With Me has gone very viral on TikTok, he just made a theme for Fortnite as well.
And this story actually starts over a week ago when Los Angeles police said they found a body in an impounded Tesla registered to David.
The car was at a tow yard in Hollywood, but authorities did not initially say who they believed the remains were.
And David was reportedly on tour at the time the body was found.
Then, fast forward to yesterday, and LAPD identified the body in David’s car as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas, (reevas) who was reported missing from Riverside county in April of 2024, when she was 13.
Her body was described as “severely decomposed,” with NBC News also reporting that the remains were not intact and it appeared she had been dead for an extended period of time.[][]
As for how she was identified, the medical examiner noted that the body had a tattoo on the right index finger saying “Shhh…,” and a woman claiming to be Celeste’s mother contacted TMZ to say she thought it could be her daughter. []
And on that note, you had some noting that it appears that David also has a “shhh” tattoo on his finger.
From there, TMZ says they forwarded the information from the mother to LAPD’s homicide division.[]
With the outlet also reporting that the mother said her daughter had a boyfriend named David.
Though, right now, it is important to note that TMZ is one of the few big outlets reporting that right now.
As for what else we know, the Tesla her body was in was initially found abandoned on a public street before going to the tow lot. ][
And according to local reports, a house near where it was abandoned was searched last night.
But apart from that, we don’t know too much else, with the LAPD telling NBC News:
"At this time, the LAPD does not have a crime classification from the coroner as to the mode or manner of death. Thus, we do not have any suspect information.”[]
But the case has gotten a ton of attention online, with internet sleuths using David’s music, work, and other information to try to allege he is behind this. [][][]
Though, again, LAPD said there are no current persons of interest and this has not even officially been ruled a homicide yet. []
But he is still experiencing some fallout here, right, brands like Hollister and Crocs said they are removing him from ad campaigns, []
Kali Uchis (Callie Ooo-cheese, ooo like do, boo,) said she is going to pull her song with him as well.
And he also cancelled his concert last night, and he is scheduled to perform in LA soon, so we will have to see if that changes. []
And I would love to know your thoughts on this in the meantime.
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And, on the topic of RFK Jr., that also brings us to the second bit of health-related news, which is that a group of northeastern states has officially formed a regional public health coalition to counter Kennedy.
Right, and if this sounds familiar, it’s because this bloc has been in the works for a while now and closely mirrors a nearly identical effort among West Coast states, including California, called the West Coast Health Alliance.
So this new group — called the Northeast Public Health Collaborative — is basically the East Coast version of that, and right now it includes seven states:
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
And like the West Coast version, this new coalition is specifically designed to coordinate public health efforts and issue vaccine recommendations to combat Kenney’s sweeping campaign against vaccines that has been widely condemned as unscientific.
And this new coalition comes at an absolutely key time.
Right, as we talked about a few weeks ago, the FDA recently restricted its approval of updated COVID vaccines, recommending them only to people 65 and older and those with health complications that put them at risk.
A move that the scientific community has widely condemned, arguing that it’s not rooted in fact and could result in tens of millions of Americans losing insurance coverage for this important preventative.
And literally as I was recording today’s show, CDC’s vaccine advisory panel was holding an incredibly important meeting that could have massive implications for millions of Americans — but especially children.
Right, the panel, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, is incredibly powerful — it makes vaccine recommendations for the CDC, and the agency almost always enacts its guidance.
But the experts have expressed widespread concerns about the panel’s credibility after RFK Jr. fired all the previous experts and stuffed it with his own hand-picked appointees.
Including vaccine skeptics and people who have openly advocated against vaccine use.
And that committee is about to face a major test, because it’s meeting today to discuss recommendations for key childhood immunizations: the hepatitis B vaccine and combination shot that protects against measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox.[]
And tomorrow, the committee is also set to discuss recommendations for the COVID vaccine.
But there is a lot of concern and speculation that they will roll back past recommendations and impose age restrictions that limit access.
And I can’t overstate how big that would be — as Reuters explains, changing the child vaccine would be, quote:
“one of the most consequential policy moves under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that medical experts have said would expose many more Americans to preventable illnesses.”
But, to bring it back to where we started, the idea with these regional inter-state health blocs is that they could counter the federal recommendations from RFK’s hand-picked vaccine skeptics and go back to the long-standing, science-backed guidelines.
In fact, just yesterday, the West Coast coalition issued its own recommendations on COVID, flu, and RSV shots that fall more in line with the standards we’ve had for years.
And just today, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the newly-formed East Coast bloc has already issued its own recommendations for COVID shots that would dramatically expand access beyond the FDA’s guidelines.
But for now, we’re going to have to keep a close eye on what the CDC panel says — because it will have enormous implications.
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what's to come is to look back.
And so that's actually why today I spoke with Mr. Beat.
He's a former social studies teacher turned history YouTuber
and actually now a fellow at the Robert J.
Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas,
where you can check out the whole over an hour conversation on the links below.
I wanted to include when I asked him about what is to come for America,
where the best educated guess given us history.
Where do you see the United States in the next two, seven, ten years?
Oh good.
I'm glad you said ten, because the next two years are going to suck.
Just as
just like, again, I'm always zoomed out.
I'm always like, trying to avoid the day to day news cycle.
And I'm just looking at a broader trends
because I think for one reason it helps my own sanity.
So but yeah, I do think the next couple of years,
based on historical trends, are really going to be chaotic.
And we don't have leadership that's trying to unite us.
They're just trying to exploit the fact that there's division and
and use that to their advantage.
So yes, things will get worse.
Which is hard to imagine.
Just things are already pretty rough.
But I think compounded with the fact that,
economically things will we're going to have stagflation, which just means,
low economic growth, high unemployment combined with really high inflation.
We haven't had that since the 1970s, by the way.
That's like pretty much the worst economic situation.
And it's going to happen.
And so people will become even more radicalized seven years down the road.
I think we'll we'll be in a much better place ten years down the road.
I think we'll be it'll be night and day.
I think we're going to look back on this time will be like, oh, wow, we've come on.
I just think that, a lot of things can actually happen
that for the better in a short amount of time.
And that's again, I brought up this.
The 60s is a time of sure, it was chaotic, but there was also
a lot of really important, impactful reforms during that time.
Same thing with the 1890s, early 1900s,
even you
can say the 1930s where we had the Great Depression.
You had some chaos, but you had some good programs
come out of the with the New Deal that are still with us today.
Well, that, my friend, it brings us to the end of this video.
You got even more just a click away.
You've got my newest podcast, which I actually just shot this morning with Mr.
Beat is very, very interesting. I think you'll like it.
Also, if you just want more Philip DeFranco
show news that you might have missed, I got you here with the newest episode.
Oh, I'm such a giver.
I even got links in the description for our Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
and YouTube versions of both, or really wherever you want to get filled in.
But no matter what you do, I just want to say thank you for watching.
I love your faces and I'll see you right back here next time.
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