Since Charlie Kirk’s assassination, both parties have been exposed not only for rank hypocrisy but also for their similarity. For instance, Jimmy Kimmel went on his network TV show and said, “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 everything they can to score political points from it.” He made this statement, well after the shooter’s mother had explained how he had moved leftward in politics and argued with his conservative father.

Kimmel, his writers, or producers had to know there was no basis for his claim that a MAGA supporter had committed the heinous crime. He lied to his audience. A few days later, ABC suspended him. Conservatives applauded, while those on the left cried that the network was was denying the comedian’s free speech.

This explosive situation recalled a similar divisive situation at ABC some years back. In 2018, Roseanne Barr had posted a rant on twitter against Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, saying, “If the muslim brotherhood & Planet of the Apes had a baby =VJ.” Even though Rosanne quickly apologized, ABC fired her from her hit TV show. At the time, many others and I on the right said ABC should give the comedian some slack, while those on the left saw it as just punishment for what they perceived as a racist remark.

Roseanne’s trials with mental illness are well known. From being institutionalized after a teenage auto accident and other afflictions, her erratic behavior is no secret. However, an off-kilter take on the world may contribute to her comic genius. After her apology, perhaps a suspension while she received some help would’ve sufficed, but ABC showed her no mercy. Adding insult to injury, the network continued the series under another name for seven profitable years without the star.  

Even though Kimmel has not apologized to date for his blatant lie, many on the left demand his immediate reinstatement. We are aware of Rosanne’s mental health issues, but what is Kimmel’s excuse? Yet, so far, he has suffered a lesser penalty. Remember, he isn’t in trouble for telling a joke, but telling an awful lie implicating an innocent group in a murder and then refusing to apologize.

Before those on the right get too far up on their high horse, we hear cheers on the right for FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s license revocation threats against ABC and its affiliates. His threats might’ve been what cemented Kimmel’s suspension. You can’t construe Carr’s words as anything other than government interference with media content.

Carr’s government media interference isn’t new. During the COVID-19 pandemic, government agencies pressured social media outlets to censor unfavorable content. As one of the approximately 1 million signers of the Great Barrington Declaration, a document advocating a significantly different approach to the pandemic, I, at the time, wondered why it received so little notice.

Thanks to the “Twitter Files” and other revelations, we now know the role government entities played in suppressing alternative views. The right joined Elon Musk in decrying the government interference that led to numerous lingering COVID failures. Why is the Government’s ability to threaten private media to conform to its dictates O.K now?

While President Trump seems to be reveling in the demise of left-wing late-night network hosts, it is well to note that some on the right are pushing back on government involvement in pushing them out or censoring their content. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke for many when he pointed out the dangers of the Government pressuring private entities to censor content or people it doesn’t like.

Cruz, as one who has litigated constitutional cases before the Supreme Court, well knows that the Government is prohibited from forcing private entities to do what it is not permitted to do itself. Trump and his followers would do well to follow the Senator’s and other voices on the right’s advice. Fox News’ “King of Late Night” Greg Gutfeld hasn’t commented extensively on the Kimmel situation. Still, his longtime show sidekick, Kat Timpf, didn’t hold back on her criticism of Carr on Gutfield.

The problem with Trump and the MAGA Republican wing is that they favor using left-wing tactics when they’re in power, when they know it was unfair when they suffered from them. Democrats targeted Trump with seemingly endless lawfare to take him down; now the Trump administration targets opponents in the same way.

FHA Director Bill Pulte has been shocked to find that Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), who played a significant role in the Trump impeachments, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump for mortgage fraud, had committed mortgage fraud by claiming more than one primary residence on mortgage applications. Pulte added a Federal Reserve Board member when the Fed didn’t reduce interest rates quickly enough for Trump.

These charges seem just as suspect as Attorney General James’s prosecution of Trump’s loan fraud. Claiming multiple primary residences is rarely prosecuted. Just as in Trump’s case, lenders do their own investigations rather than relying on what an applicant says. In fact, many Trump cabinet members have claimed more than one primary residence. Lawfare looks like a banana republic tactic, no matter who wages it.

As readers are aware, I have long believed that the lawfare against Trump was not intended to prevent him from running, but rather to have the weakest candidate win the Republican nomination by portraying him as a sympathetic figure. It worked, but the Democrats bewilderingly nominated an even weaker candidate.

Regardless of motive, the aftermath of the Kirk assassination illuminates a pattern of questionable action by the left, mirrored by a similar action by the MAGA right and vice versa. Both seem to have forgotten that what goes around comes around.

This pattern brings up some questions. Why does the Government have so much power that people and organizations feel threatened if they don’t comply? In the Kimmel case, threats to licensing and merger approvals were implied. Reining in the Government’s ability to intimidate people and organizations is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote our Constitution. Let’s return to American principles, no matter who’s in charge at the moment.

Another question is what Charlie Kirk, a free speech advocate, would think of the Kimmel fracas. Stifling speech or lying isn’t any way to memorialize him.