They Want to Silence Us

They want to stop our laughter, to deny the meaning of words, to reject the voice of minorities. But Trump and his sycophants won't succeed.

Does this look like a violent death threat to you? James Comey didn’t think so when he saw this. (Photo on Instagram by Comey)

You might not think you are Jimmy Kimmel, but you are. You might not assume the second prosecution of James Comey affects you, but it does. You might not believe the Supreme Court’s ruling to gut the Voting Rights Act in a case in Louisiana is about you, but it is.

Once again this week, we are confronted by the hostility of the Trump regime toward free speech and Americans’ voices.

And let’s be clear: The regime includes Melania Trump—a full-fledged, thin-skinned, dark-hearted authoritarian herself—along with Trump sycophants Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr and the anti-democratic extremists on the Supreme Court.

Let’s start with Melania and Kimmel, not really a fair fight in terms of wit and constitutional protections, but one the Slovenian-American enemy of free speech assumes she can win because the man she married is all powerful.

“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy,” she posted this week on X. “His words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.” She called Kimmel “a coward” and insisted he “shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

Best of all, she complained about his "hateful and violent rhetoric.” That’s Jimmy’s, not Donald’s. (Oh, Mrs. Trump, if only you tended to your own house first.)

Soon, her protector backed her up with his usual animus and threats: “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

Soon, he could count on Brendan Carr, a loyal little soldier, to abuse his power and threaten ABC. “Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days,” a sudden filing by the Federal Communications Commission stated Tuesday.

The reason for all the fire and fury? In a mock roast, as if he were the comedian at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Kimmel noted that Melania had the “expectant glow of a widow.” The joke, delivered days before the actual event, was meant to convey the obvious age difference (24 years) and the fact that Trump is nearly 80 and declining mentally and physically.

Not exactly a killer joke, but funny, and obviously not advocating for violence, although it looked a little different after a gunman tried to get into the Washington Hilton’s ballroom where the Trumps were sitting.

But fire Kimmel and take away ABC’s license? Give me a break.

The Trumps care more about their fragile psyches than the foundational rights that make real freedom possible.

If it was up to Melania and Donald, there would be no laughter. Theirs is a joyless marriage, but the perfect package to demand an end to laughter.

I mean, if they have a humorless union, how dare any of us laugh at their expense. Don’t we know who they are?

Were they to succeed in deep-sixing Kimmel, let’s not doubt they and their dirty little operatives would be busy combing social media looking for jokes that they would decide are funny or not. How dare we laugh! Jokesters are what prisons are for!

To Disney’s credit, they pushed back: “ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules,” a company spokesperson stated, noting their “continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment” and flexing their will “to show that through the appropriate legal channels.”

It remains to be seen whether Disney’s peers will treat such threats with the same confidence and respect for the First Amendment and the legal system. Because you know that the attack on Kimmel and ABC was not just meant for them.

“I am still innocent”

Speaking of jokes and deep-sixing, in what world does a photograph shared on social media of seashells arranged on a North Carolina beach lead to prosecution for a death threat? In Trump’s America, apparently.

It takes a particularly thin-skinned real-estate developer who spent too much of his life hanging around with mafia guys—an authoritarian who hungers to silence dissent—to take such a thing as serious threat.

Yes, former FBI director and Trump critic James Comey came upon and photographed seashells arranged as the numbers “86 47.” In fact, Comey deleted the photograph on Instagram when he realized some thought “86” was not a political message but referred to killing.

But the vindictive Trump, noted expert in such matters, was looking for retribution and was not about to miss the chance to go after Comey again.

“86” is a mob term for ‘kill him,’” he posted on his “Truth” Social platform. “They say 86 him!”

Meanwhile, Merriam-Webster, a slightly more reliable source, notes that to 86 something is “to refuse to serve (a customer),” “to eject or ban (a customer)” or, broadly, “to eject, dismiss, or remove (someone).”

But don’t tell Trump. He may decide to target the dictionary makers next, who are obviously “low IQ,” unlike him.

Todd Blanche, the sycophant auditioning to be Trump’s AG, didn’t get the joke. Oh, no. He gathered the grave significance of the number and pushed prosecution.

Justifying the latest indictment of Comey, Blanche said that “anybody who tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells or something to the contrary is missing the point. You cannot threaten the president of the United States.”

Uh huh.

Blanche—determined to be Trump’s new Roy Cohn—also denied that this was political persecution directed by Trump. “Of course not, absolutely, positively not,” he said on CBS Mornings.

If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

And it’s reasonable to assume that Trump was counting on exploiting a mugshot of Comey after he surrendered at a federal courthouse in the Eastern District of Virginia. Tragically for Trump, there was no mugshot and Judge William Fitzpatrick permitted Comey to leave without placing conditions on his release.

To Comey’s credit, there was no sign of fear after being targeted again. “Well, they’re back,” he said in a video posted on Substack Tuesday, adding, “I am still innocent. I am still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So let’s go.”

Wonder how serious these charges are? Even Fox News is platforming experts making light of it.

Note this from law professor Jonathan Turley, who’s usually more than ready to drum up support for Trump’s legal trampling: “If Comey is charged for the shell picture, it would face a monumental challenge under the First Amendment. In my view, the image itself is clearly protected speech.”

Yes, this may be dismissed as another example of political over-reach by a White House occupant bent on retribution. But don’t forget that Trump’s firing of AG Pam Bondi was influenced by her inability to be more aggressive in prosecuting his enemies.

There will be more, especially as Blanche continues striving to please his boss. And you can be sure that as Trump is now insisting he needs his ballroom for self-protection, his Roy Cohn will be on the look out for more threats, real or imagined.

Are we all supposed to limit “86” from our vocabulary? Let’s take Comey’s lead: Do not be afraid.

Of course, in a sane world, violent threats would motivate real responses—you know, like fresh ideas about limiting the epidemic of gun violence that continues to poison our country and make us all less free.

“Abandoning its vital role”

And then there are the six black-robed justices on the Supreme Court, who exploited their power to take away the voice of American citizens of color. In their 6 to 3 ruling Wednesday in Louisiana v. Callais, they essentially determined that it is unconstitutional for lawmakers to consider race when drawing voting district maps.

This followed the creation in Louisiana of two out of six congressional districts that sought to recognize the rights of minority voters—to ensure their voices are heard. In a state that is 30 percent Black, these two districts are currently majority Black populations.

Unsurprisingly, state legislators in Louisiana and Florida were quick to announce new voting maps that could give Republicans new congressional districts and weaken minority influence. Louisiana’s governor declared a state of emergency yesterday saying that he was suspending the primary elections. Other states are likely to try and redraw their maps before the midterms to strengthen the GOP’s hand.

In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court had now accomplished a “demolition of the Voting Rights Act.”

Former President Barack Obama did not hold back, posting how this ruling frees state legislatures “to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities…under the guise of ‘partisanship’ rather than explicit ‘racial bias.’” He also said this court “seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach.”

But he also described the necessary antidote to this overreach: It will take “citizens across the country who cherish our democratic ideals continue to mobilize and vote in record numbers…in every election and every level.”

His post was viewed 63 million times as of this writing.

Let me leave you with two short quotes from Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, which I have been re-reading since Melania’s attack on Kimmel’s joke. One goes like this: “To laugh is to live profoundly.” And the other: “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”

I find these helpful as reminders that the Trumps and their sycophants will not succeed in making us stop laughing nor will they succeed in making us forget what we love and what we know to be true. We voters can prove that everywhere in America this year, including in the districts that will try now to take away the people’s voice.

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