A colleague who is a lawyer and longtime advocate for freedom of speech and other civil liberties recently told me he’s never been more afraid about the future.
Who could blame him?
It is terrifying to see President Trump and his regime working to turn Charlie Kirk’s horrific assassination into the movement’s Reichstag fire — an act of arson that German Nazi leaders exploited to justify all-out war on their political opponents and tighten their grip on power.
What had been billed as a memorial service for Kirk moved from worship and tributes to his faith to a series of regime officials, most notably Stephen Miller, blaming a nefarious but undefined “they” for what seems to have been the act of a lone gunman — and to call for reprisals against “the radical left.”
Trump himself closed out the event, following Kirk’s widow and successor Erika. Whereas she said she forgave the man who murdered her husband and reminded people that Jesus called on his followers to love their enemies, Trump wasn’t buying it. He announced that he still hates his opponents, who he claimed “hate our country.”
The intensified demonization of Trump’s opponents goes hand in hand with his brazen use of the Justice Department to target personal enemies, and with MAGA-supporting Supreme Court justices collaborating in the dismantling of checks and balances that are supposed to protect Americans from presidents who abuse their power.
Some MAGA figures have stopped even pretending to care about the rule of law. Recently MSNBC broke the news that the FBI investigated Trump’s deportation czar Tom Homan for taking $50,000 in cash last year, allegedly to help secure federal contracts in the future Trump administration.
The Trump Justice Department doesn’t seem to care much for the rule of law. It killed the FBI’s Homan investigation, and the White House denies that he did anything wrong. But who can trust anything coming from this White House?
At the gathering to honor Kirk, Trump claimed he would defend freedom of speech “at all costs.” In reality, Trump has long used threats, harassment and frivolous lawsuits to attack media outlets over coverage that displeased him, including well-deserved mockery from late-night comedians. After Kirk’s murder, the MAGA movement launched an aggressive campaign against his critics.
Trump’s consiglieri at the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, used outrage over Kirk’s killing as an opportunity to threaten ABC and Disney’s ability to do business if they didn’t punish late night television host Jimmy Kimmel for comments about the right-wing reaction to Kirk’s murder.
Almost immediately, craven company officials announced Kimmel’s indefinite suspension, continuing a dangerous trend of corporate capitulation.
The brazenness of Carr using his position to threaten media outlets over their coverage was enough to provoke even some very conservative politicians to denounce him.
An outpouring of support for Kimmel and freedom of speech from politicians, Hollywood figures and other Americans made a difference, as a chastened Disney returned Kimmel to the air last Tuesday. Nexstar (which owns The Hill) and Sinclair, both media companies that both have mergers pending FCC review, did not at first broadcast Kimmel’s return on the ABC affiliates they own. Both finally reversed course on Friday and agreed to start airing him again.
Still, Kimmel’s return is an encouraging sign that public opinion can still have an impact when mobilized to defend freedom from Trump regime authoritarianism. Let’s take that to heart, because we are going to need to mobilize again and again while this regime is in power.
I am certainly not immune to feeling fearful about the Trump rapidly undermining the rule of law and demolishing scientific research, public health, clean energy infrastructure and more. But I am taking to heart something I recently heard from Stockton, Calif. Mayor Michael Tubbs.
An embodiment of the American Dream, Tubbs overcame most challenging circumstances in early life to excel at Stanford University and serve four years on Stockton’s city council. He was elected mayor at the age of 26 and now serves as an adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). He is also a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2026
Pessimism is a luxury we cannot afford, Tubbs told People For the American Way board members. Pessimism, like despair, is disempowering. And we truly cannot afford that.
As Kimmel was preparing to return to the air, he posted a picture of himself with Norman Lear, the late TV producer and champion of free speech who mightily resisted efforts to censor challenging conversations about social and political issues on his shows. “Missing this guy today,” Kimmel wrote.
I miss Norman every day. The founder of People For the American Way, he too was sometimes discouraged at the direction our country’s leaders were taking us. But he never forgot how much progress we made toward freedom and justice for all during his more than 100 years. And he never lost faith in the American promise or the American people.
Let our faith that we can build a better future be stronger than our fear of the perilous present.
Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way.