Welcome to The Fill From the Hill, a recurring political column where University Times writers dissect the key political topics and controversies in the news, from domestic politics to international affairs. This week, our writer tackles Gavin Newsom and his crusade against the Trump Administration. Despite my position, this column is not representative or a reflection of the opinions of the UT Staff nor the UT itself.
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ABC has put “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on an “indefinite pause” following comments made by Kimmel about Charlie Kirk after the recent assassination.
Kimmel had said on his Monday night show that suspected shooter Tyler Robinson was a member of the MAGA movement or MAGA-adjacent. These comments led the FCC Chair Brendan Carr to make remarks that seemed to indicate the organization would look into revoking ABC’s broadcast license.
This is the most recent instance of broadcasters taking down, or preemptively acting to avoid retaliation from the Trump administration.
In July, Stephen Colbert announced on his show that CBS had decided to end Colbert’s decade-long run in May 2026. The reason given was based on the finances of the show, but many quickly noted that the decision came just three days after Colbert had publicly criticized CBS’ parent company Paramount’s settlement in the case over Kamala Harris’ 60 minutes interview in late 2024.
In April 2025, longtime producer of 60 minutes Bill Owens resigned from his post. He shared in a note that it had “become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for ’60 Minutes,’ right for the audience.”
In the days following Kirk’s assassination, Trump and many others in his administration have made comments indicating that they are looking at taking any and all legal actions against groups who they claim to have influenced the assassination. This includes Attorney General Pam Bondi, advisor Stephen Miller, and Vice-President JD Vance who have blamed “crazies on the far-left” or “radical leftists.”
Miller even took it as far as to call the groups in question a “terrorist network” while hosting the Charlie Kirk Show on Monday in the vice president’s office.
Groups like the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Omidyar Network all signed an agreement denouncing the statements, and defending themselves against what they say will “harm all Americans.”
Now that the table is set, let’s get into our views on the Trump administration’s actions to curtail speech that it doesn’t condone.
Samuel Valencia: All of this is a travesty that is being carried out at the highest levels of our government to silence the people, and its future plans should be an alarm signal to anyone who claims to care about our constitution.
Republicans constantly mischaracterize and exploit tragedy to score imaginary points over Democrats, and hardly anyone bats an eye. But Jimmy Kimmel tries to refute that practice and suddenly he is punished for it? They have spent the last week since Charlie’s assassination pinning the blame on everything from trans people to now focusing on these “far-left” groups.
The fear that these companies share over potential retaliation is not the sign of a healthy democracy like many seem to think we are. It is a sign that we are on a collision course with fascism. Where those who have different opinions than the current government are silenced and “dealt with.” In a response by the ACLU following the pausing of Kimmel’s show, they shared how Trump has gone “past McCarthyism” and that this “represents a grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms.”
It started with the administrations targeting pro-Palestine protestors, which then expanded to immigrants in this country, and their next step is those they will deem “political agitators.” These designations are entirely arbitrary and labels that the administration itself has created to more easily target those they don’t like.
This doesn’t just end with Kimmel and Colbert or programs like 60 minutes, these are merely tests to see how far people are willing to let the administration go. But, we can’t totally blame the Trump administration for this absolutely horrifying act. These companies like ABC are almost equally to blame in this whole equation. Their lack of spine to stand up for their hosts in order to maintain their freedoms is almost sickening.
While not a news organization or public personality, Harvard University is one of the few institutions standing up to the Trump administration, unafraid of what hell could possibly be brought down upon it. Their win in early September protecting their funds that had already been appropriated by Congress shows that protest and standing up for your actions against a bully as big as the president of the United States does work.
Love them or hate them, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and programs should be allowed to speak freely without fear of retaliation for not speaking exactly how the current regime wants them to. This uneasy control over free speech will shatter, not if, but when it does, we will be a better country for it.
