Comments
THE VIEW FROM HERE - America has a history of lynch mobs. Americans’ proclivity to lynch innocent people was the subject of the 1943 movie, The Box Bow Incident. No one is giving a hoot what Jimmy Kimmel actually said; virtually everyone asserts that Kimmel’s comment about Charlie Kirk was hate speech. In their rush to lynch another innocent person, Americans ignore that Jimmy Kimmel said nothing hateful.
Pertinent Facts
(1) Kimmel said nothing about Charlie Kirk.
(2) Kimmel said nothing to justify Tyler Robinson.
(3) Kimmel said nothing to celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination
(4) Starting at a time when no one knew who had shot Charlie Kirk, the President and MAGAverse were insisting that the shooter was radicalized Left Winger.
People who care about facts would first analyze Kimmel’s actual words to learn what he said. Here’s Kimmel’s full joke.
"We hit 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"
Let’s parse these words segment by segment:
(1) A team of writers draft the late night monologues and the hosts read them from the teleprompters. Thus, we may scrutinize these jokes closer than we would an ad lib.
(2) First segment: We hit some new lows over the weekend
Since the assassination occurred on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, Kimmel was not referring to the killing. He explicitly said “over the weekend” there some “new lows.” He was referring to the pronouncements of Trump and the MAGAverse insisting that the shooter was a radicalized Left Winger.
(3) Second segment: “MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them”
Kimmel’ statement is accurate. Many in the MAGA were insisting that Tyler was a far Lefty. One cannot be a Left and a Trumper. In fact, on the same day that Kirk had been shot, Jesse Watters on Fox News looked into the camera and said. “They [the Left] are at war with us. Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us. “And what are we going to do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate? And that’s the question we’re just going to have to ask ourselves,” he added. “Now, Charlie would want us to put as much pressure on these people as possible.”
That same evening, President Donald Trump posted a video placing the blame squarely on the "radical left." Trump Blames the Left
On Saturday, Trump said “But we’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did.”
Neither Trump nor his MAGA echo chamber cautioned the public to wait until the shooter’s identity and motives were known before blaming innocent people for the murder. When Tyler Robinson’s identity was known, Trump continued with the false narrative that the Left Wing bore sole responsibility.
(3) Third segment: “doing everything they can to score political points from it”
What is the antecedent of ”it”? “It” seems to refer to the both the assassination itself coupled Trump’s and the MAGAverse’s trying to score political points from Kirk’s death by blaming Trump’s political enemies. People should refresh themselves as to the events after Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist, burnt The Reichstag in 1933 History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes
(4) What prompted the writers? The structure of the joke shows that it was a response to Trump’s and the MAGAverse’s false characterization of Tyler and of entire Left, e.g. “They are at war with us.”
Had Trump not been trying to make political gains by blaming the Left for Kirk’s assassination, Kimmel’s writers would never have written the joke asa rebuttal. Without Trump’s baseless charges against the Left, there would have been no context for Kimmel to essentially say, “Here’s back at you.”
(5) Kimmel said nothing hateful. Nonetheless, people on both the Right and the Left call it “hate speech” and then argue that hate speech is protected speech. While the First Amendment protects hate speech, that is irrelevant because Kimmel said nothing hateful. He did not condone Kirk’s murder; he did not say anything negative about Kirk. He focused on Trump’s and MAGA’s attempt to blame the murder on Trump’s political enemies. Kimmel’s observation was accurate; the Trumpists were politicizing the assassination in order to benefit of Donald Trump by blaming the Left.
In our polarized society, people constantly push their own Narrative while overlooking reality. As a result, both the Right and the Left are way out of bounds by accusing Kimmel of hate speech. Kimmel’s noticing that Trump was making political hay from Kirk’s death was not hate speech.
Is There Someone Who Should Lose His Job?
Yes, FCC chair Brendan Carr should definitely be booted. When the FCC chair makes mafioso threats to retaliate against anyone, he should be fired. Trump and his supporters have a first amendment right to be wrong about the Left, about Tyler Robinson, and about Jimmy Kimmel, but FCC chair Brendan Carr owes a duty under the First Amendment never use the power of government to silence anyone’s right to speak freely. Carr swore an oath to the United States’ Constitution and his threat that we can “do this the easy way or the hard way” was an inexcusable violation of his constitutional oath. FCC chair Carr should have quoted President Theodore Roosevelt:
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles-based attorney, author, and political commentator. A long-time contributor to CityWatchLA, he is known for his incisive critiques of City Hall and judicial corruption, as well as his analysis of political and constitutional issues. Abrams blends legal insight with historical and philosophical depth to challenge conventional narratives. A passionate defender of civic integrity and transparency, he aims to expose misuse of power and advocate for systemic reform in local government. You may email him at [email protected])
