ABC Faces an Impossible Choice on Kimmel (Bill Carter) [View all]

[pstokely]

https://latenighter.com/features/abc-faces-an-impossible-choice-on-kimmel/

ABC, of course, realizes that Trump and Carr will make good on the threat, which Carr stated openly and without any regret about his unabashed abuse of power in undermining the Bill of Rights, using terms Tony Soprano would have loved: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

If ABC decides to stand by Kimmel, the hard way may be financially excruciating. Already the other huge ABC station group, Sinclair Broadcasting, a famously hard-conservative group, leapt to support Carr’s and Trump’s bullying, issuing a statement Wednesday night that it would not carry Kimmel’s show no matter if ABC finds a way to return him to the air.

That would seem to leave ABC little leverage to stave off canceling Kimmel, though that would be widely seen as the most craven capitulation yet to an unjustifiable act of government intimidation.

Like most of the lawsuits Trump has filed against media companies—most recently The New York Times—this move is all about intimidation, not substance.