(Daily Caller News Foundation) — Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ranted apocalyptically on Thursday against President Donald Trump after Disney’s ABC indefinitely pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show.
The move followed Nexstar Media Group saying on Wednesday that it had decided to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its owned and partner ABC-affiliated stations after the comedian’s Monday monologue implying Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was a member of MAGA. Walz said on “All In with Chris Hayes” that the move was an indicator of the looming death of democracy and compared it to North Korea.
“This is it. If you ever wondered how democracy dies, you’re witnessing it … This is North Korea-style stuff. And it’s being done because this is a weak, thin-skinned man who’s failing as a president,” Walz said. “All of the things he promised are not happening. And this is exactly what dictators do. It’s our most cherished freedom to point out very clearly: this is a terrible president and a terrible human being, who is doing nothing to improve the lives of Minnesotans and who continues to have this double standard.”
“[T]his is not overreacting. This is our responsibility now,” he added. “Getting a democracy back after it’s gone is a lot harder than defending it now.”
Kimmel said during his monologue that MAGA had sunk to new depths, asserting that Republicans had frantically attempted to frame Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson as not being affiliated with them whatsoever.
“We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel also ridiculed how Trump was coping with the assassination.
“In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism,” the comedian said. “But on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.”
He then played a clip of Trump discussing how he was “holding up” following the assassination. As the audience laughed, Kimmel said the president’s remarks resembled how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr appeared on “The Benny Show” Wednesday and threatened ABC over Kimmel’s monologue, leading some to say the move was due to the government suppressing anti-Trump speech.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
However, former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said on NewsNation’s “CUOMO” Wednesday that Disney’s ABC indefinitely pulling Kimmel’s show was not about “censorship.”
“This isn’t about censorship. This is about responsibility. And as you pointed out correctly, every corporation has a responsibility to make sure the product it is selling is an honest product,” O’Reilly told host Chris Cuomo. “And by saying that MAGA might have been responsible for murder — not only is that defamatory, but it’s outrageous.”
This article was originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
