To the editor:

President Trump’s Federal Communication Commission threatened to revoke the licenses of broadcasters carrying Disney’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. It did so after a Kimmel monologue that criticized Trump’s comments related to the Charlie Kirk murder. With its financial existence threatened by Trump, Disney suspended the show.

The Kimmel monologue was the same irreverence directed at the sitting President that late-night television has been broadcasting for 60 years. There was not one word that criticized Charlie Kirk or minimized his murder. Trump’s comments about Kimmel’s suspension focused on dislike of Kimmel, who is a critic of Trump, not on any accusation of disrespect towards Kirk.

The personal freedom we enjoy in our democracy would not exist without our history of freedom of speech. We are thankful that generations of Americans before us have defended this precious freedom. We rightly oppose the suppression of speech by oppressive autocratic foreign regimes. Our government institutions such as the FCC exist to protect this precious personal freedom. But Trump’s FCC plays the opposite role. Trump used the FCC as an instrument of Big Brother political thuggery in an attempt to bolster his personal political empowerment.

Trump chose an action that was untrue, unjust and blatantly un-American. Our choice is to protect democracy’s freedom of speech for all or comply with Trump’s autocratic suppression of this basic freedom.

John Sturn

Ellinwood