Until recently, the only evidence that Rep. James Comer was “a big fan of comedy’’ was his allegiance to the administration of President-cum-Dictator Donald J. Trump.
But the Republican from Tompkinsville, or Frankfort, or wherever he’s hanging his hat nowadays, has made it known that he enjoys a few laughs outside the Borscht Belt comedy that infests Washington D.C., breaking with Trump over biting comments uttered by late-night TV gagster Jimmy Kimmel, which have, as usual sent the Lord of Mar-a-Lago into a spit spewing rage.
Kimmel (confession: I have never watched his show but have heard enough to recognize his routine) has been a constant Trump irritant over the years, resulting in White House calls for the ABC network to end his long-running show. That demand came most recently when Kimmel joked about First Lady Melania Trump bearing the “glow’’ of “an expectant widow,’’ apparently referencing her age difference with Trump, an increasingly doddering 79.
The widely-circulated comment came days prior to the latest apparent attempt on Trump’s life during the course of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where the Trumpster was slated to speak. And this offers as good a spot as any to condemn any assassination attempts directed at Trump or any president, for that matter. It bespeaks of an ugly side to the American experience that must be rejected by one and all.
On Monday’s airing of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel insisted his “expectant widow’’ comment “was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination, and they know that.’’ He added, “I’ve been very vocal for many years, speaking out against gun violence in particular.”
Regardless, Trump didn’t take kindly to Kimmel’s snide riposte. Writing on Truth Social, his social media site, he wrote:
“When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!! President DJT’’
Kimmel’s yucks have induced Trump’s puppet at the Federal Communications Commission, Chairman Brendan Carr, to order a review of the local broadcast licenses held by the Walt Disney Co., ABC’s parent organization, purportedly concerning its practices regarding diversity, equity and inclusion.
No one’s buying that, the real reason being Trump’s wrath. Thus far, at least, Disney has refused to acquiesce, keeping Kimmel on the air.
And Comer, usually a loyal subject, is on Kimmel’s side.
“I don’t want to cancel comedy,’’ Comer said during an interview with NewsNation this week. “I believe in freedom of speech. I think that was, you know, a lot of Kimmel’s jokes are tasteless and probably borderline inappropriate. But the end of the day, he has a right to do that.”
Comer went on to say viewers who find Kimmel’s comedy tastes offensive “can turn the channel’’ and that he hoped his “good friend,’’ Brendan Carr, “can move on.’’
Comer said he is “a big fan of comedy’’ and particularly enjoys the work of Dave Chappelle, whose style also has come in for criticism.
“All the comedians, and I know a lot of them feel like many people, usually from the left, have kind of canceled comedy, and I think that’s unfortunate,” Comer said. “But hopefully Kimmel can proceed with jokes that don’t pertain to assassinations or things like that because I think that gets a lot of people jacked up and I think that contributes to the rise in political violence that we’re seeing.”
Trump, on the other hand, characterized the Kimmel comment as “a despicable call to violence’’ in seeking his ouster, a claim that was backed up by several sources in the right. Karoline Levitt, who is on leave as Trump’s press secretary for the duration of her pregnancy, maintained the rhetoric “has helped to legitimize this violence.”
The National Religious Broadcasters association filed a complaint over Kimmel’s monologue with the FCC.
“We should be relieved that lives were spared Saturday evening; but relief can’t become complacency,’’ said NRB President and CEO Troy A. Miller. “We’re seeing a pattern of violence in this country that didn’t appear overnight. When influential voices joke about death or treat political opponents as disposable, it contributes to a culture where violence feels thinkable to the already unstable. National platforms carry real weight, and with that comes responsibility. That’s why this warranted action.”
These and other arguments have been made on Trump’s behalf before, essentially proclaiming that critical or provocative comments unleashed in the president-cum-dictator’s direction might convince some rattled individual to take up arms against him.
Of course, it should be said that Trump has always been sensitive to criticism and has acted like a bawling infant to even the slightest reproach. He has no sense of humor about himself – the story goes he decided to enter the presidential campaign in 2016 after received some gentle ribbing from President Barack Obama at a prior White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Trump appears particularly touchy about being characterized as a fascist or an authoritarian without coming to the realization that the best way to repel those claims is to quit acting like a fascist or an authoritarian. Pointing that out isn’t an act of violence. It’s an example of telling the truth.
And then there’s the president-cum-dictator’s own demeanor. While he bewails unkind assessments launched in his direction as entertaining danger, he is never reluctant to cast vituperation that, by his way of thinking, might bring harm to the person in question.
He has, for instance accused Obama, literally, of treason, claiming he has “irrefutable” evidence – none exists — that Obama falsely accused Trump’s campaign of having ties to Russia in an effort to undermine his 2016 election bid. The Department of Justice, under Trump’s direction, has initiated an investigation.
“It’s there, he’s guilty,’’ Trump told reporters last July. “This was treason.” The claim, as is usual with Trump was offered without proof.
In all, Trump has accused 10 Americans, including Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who unsuccessfully challenged him as a Democrat in 2016, of treason. It is nonsense coming from a man who, for all the world, appears to being losing his grip. He accused six Democratic lawmakers of sedition, including Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a potential presidential candidate, for participating in a video advising military personnel that they don’t have to follow illegal orders.
Back in 2019, Axios reported that Trump accused either individuals or entities – including The New York Times – of treason 24 times. During one of his two flings with impeachment in his first term, Trump accused then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-representative now Sen. Adam Schiff, Democrats from California, of treason, basically for seeking his ouster.
The list of jibes he has flung that, had they been pointed at him, he would consider violence inducing, is endless. California Gov. Gavin Newsome, who is expected to vie for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, recently spelled it out on the X social media site:
“The President has openly celebrated the deaths of his political opponents, called Democrats and immigrants ‘vermin,’ ‘demonic’ and ‘evil’ ‘animals’ who are ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’ He regularly uses violent language, threatens to arrest and jail his political enemies — while describing the attempt to overthrow our democracy on January 6 as a ‘beautiful thing.’ The same folks cheering Trump’s threats don’t get to rewrite the narrative now.”
It is impossible to feel empathetic about Trump’s claim that rhetoric is targeting him for violence when he uses the same sort of language against his enemies, in spades. Jennifer Tarlov of Fox News recently cited a list of Trump’s biggest hits — “enemy within,” “communist,” “Marxist,” “fascist,” “radical thugs,” “vermin,” “garbage,” “traitor,” “sick,” “party of hate,” “evil,” and “Satan.”
Trump’s salacious name-calling has always been out of place for a resident of the White House. But it’s downright silly to blame someone like Jimmy Kimmel for using language to instigate violence when Trump is a much greater perpetrator.