Trump Administration Threatens to Wield FCC Against Speech Foes

Posted on September 21, 2025

As reported by NPR, Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr has made thinly veiled threats to revoke ABC’s broadcast license over comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks on Trump ally Charlie Kirk. After Kimmel made remarks regarding Kirk’s assassin which many conservatives found offensive, ABC responded days later by removing him from the airwaves indefinitely. Speculation swirled as to how much pressure the Trump administration applied to ABC.

But Carr’s offhand remarks quickly dispelled any uncertainty by underscoring that Trump’s Executive Branch was prepared to wield its considerable powers to stifle disfavored speech. His insinuations follow musings by Trump suggesting the FCC revoke licenses from broadcasters whose programs consistently give him bad press. Taken together, Trump’s new tack on speech constitutes his most aggressive line yet, and an unprecedented threat to free speech in the United States.

This is so much so the case that even Trump’s traditional allies are taking notice. No less than Republican Senator Ted Cruz characterized Carr’s statement as the tenor of a “mafioso” running an extortion racket.

Of course, the supreme irony at play is that these acts of censorship are being carried out in defense of Kirk, whom conservatives were quick to hold up as a free speech martyr. While only the vigilant efforts of law enforcement can forestall criminal acts by private citizens to chill speech, the government is bound by the constitution, a covenant with all its free citizens, to respect the right of free speech. These incursions by the Trump administration must be halted here lest an alarming precedent be set for all future presidential office-holders.

You can read the full piece from NPR here.