The Censor-in-Chief: Trump’s Whiney Assault on Press Freedom

From late-night comedians to respected journalists, the President’s campaign against dissent is chilling.

Donald Trump is all about his own voice. He’s the leather-lung guy in the seat next to you at the ballgame, shouting for all nine innings. His goal? To grab the home team’s attention. The difference? Trump is also trying to shut up everyone else.

As I write this, the President and his administration are in the middle of a sweeping campaign to either silence or control not only the press — newspapers, broadcasters, cable outlets — but also entertainers who mock him. In a society threatened by his authoritarian agenda, mockery may be the most effective form of resistance. It always has been.

In the days of the Soviet Union, when speech could bring jail time, black humor kept people sane. One joke circulated widely:

Q: What’s the difference between the Constitutions of the U.S. and the USSR?
A: Both guarantee freedom of speech. But the U.S. Constitution also guarantees freedom after the speech.

In today’s China, people poke at the image-conscious Xi Jinping with memes depicting him as a silly Winnie the Pooh. In North Korea, some risk prison by comparing Kim Jong Un to a kindergartner or calling him “Kim Squared” in reference to his tyrannical father, Kim Il-sung.

Here in the United States, where free speech is supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent, Trump has yet to imprison anyone for joking about him. But at least one media company has acted as if it’s under criminal threat. Paramount announced it would cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in May 2026. Few entertainers have told more jokes about Trump than Colbert, and after the announcement, the President went on social media to say, “I absolutely love” that the show was canceled. Colbert responded: “Go fuck yourself.”

As he reveled in his victory over satire, Trump suggested ABC and NBC should also fire their late-night hosts — Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers — both sharp critics whose monologues routinely jab at him. More recently, Trump added CBS Mornings host Gayle King to his hit list because she criticized him.

King’s show straddles the line between entertainment and journalism — another Trump target. In October 2024, Trump sued CBS’s owner, Paramount, for $10 billion (later upped to $20 billion), claiming 60 Minutes harmed him when it aired an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. As is standard, producers edited the interview to fit the allotted airtime. There was no evidence of bias. Paramount initially defended itself on constitutional grounds — briefly — before entering settlement talks.

Hanging over this lawsuit was Paramount’s pending $8 billion merger with Skydance, a deal that would make the Redstone family billions. With the merger delayed by litigation, Shari Redstone capitulated. Paramount agreed to pay $16 million toward a future Trump Presidential Library. 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned, and anchor Scott Pelley rebuked Paramount on air. Days later, dozens of journalists — including Anderson Cooper and Lesley Stahl — published an open letter criticizing the settlement.

Unmoved, Paramount executives announced they would appoint an “ombudsman” to investigate allegations of bias at CBS News. With a reputation for accuracy dating back to Edward R. Murrow, CBS is perhaps America’s most respected news organization. Now, under constant Trump accusations, its journalists will work with a watchdog peering over their shoulders — much like public broadcasters did before Congress defunded them at Trump’s urging.

Meanwhile, over at ABC, anchor Terry Moran was recently fired for a social media post calling Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, “richly endowed with the capacity for hatred.” Moran deleted the post almost immediately, but Miller’s record speaks for itself — including his authorship of the family separation policy for detained immigrants and a quote from 2019 saying, “I would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched American soil.”

In another era, Moran might have faced suspension or a reprimand. In Trump’s America, ABC simply fired him. The network was still reeling from another settlement — this one after George Stephanopoulos said Trump had “raped” writer E. Jean Carroll. While a jury didn’t use the term “rape,” the judge noted the assault fit the common definition. Legally, ABC likely would have won. Instead, it settled — paying $15 million for Trump’s library and $1 million for his legal fees.

And now, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has asked the DOJ to open a criminal investigation into CNN for reporting on a phone app that alerts the public to ICE raids. Noem accused CNN of promoting lawlessness; CNN said it was reporting a widely known fact. Separately, Trump-appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has accused Comcast — owner of MSNBC — of “news distortion,” a not-so-subtle threat to its broadcast licenses.

In Washington, Trump’s anti-press crusade has rattled journalists. New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker says there’s “a real fear factor” and that reporters’ sources now fear retribution.

If the Constitution remains intact — something not guaranteed with the current Supreme Court — Trump’s weapons are fear and lawsuits. The First Amendment explicitly protects the press, a freedom the founders saw as essential to informing citizens and guarding against tyranny. That culture of press freedom has endured for generations, inhibiting direct censorship — with one major exception: Richard Nixon.

Nixon, who targeted CBS’s Smothers Brothers comedy show and tried to block publication of the Pentagon Papers, was an outlier. Until Trump. He respects nothing and is determined to bend reality to his will, knowing that in today’s fragmented media landscape, many will only care if their preferred outlet is hit. The Late Show has 2.4 million viewers; Joe Rogan has 17 million subscribers. Viewers and subscribers mean dollars, and Trump understands dollars.

Some media executives have chosen cowardice over principle. But not all. The Wall Street Journal is fighting a $10 billion Trump lawsuit over its Epstein coverage. The Des Moines Register is resisting his suit over a poll showing him trailing his opponent. These are the fights worth supporting — because the Constitution still matters, sometimes. The goal here for Trump may not be to shut every news outlet down, though I have no doubt he would if he could, but it’s to intimidate just enough that they will cancel bad press, and replace it with surfing puppies.

Chief Justice John Roberts has said:

“The First Amendment reflects a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.”

Our freedom depends on him holding that line. In the meantime, we can help — by subscribing to outlets that are still willing to stand up to the Censor-in-Chief. Substack plays a major role in that…news directly from the source and unvarnished. Thank you for that support.