Unbowed, unbent. If Disney/ABC placed any restrictions on Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night after a suspension over his remarks about the assassination of reactionary influencer Charlie Kirk, they were nowhere in evidence last night as he struck what Variety’s Michael Schneider calls “the perfect tone.”
■ Angie Han at The Hollywood Reporter: “Kimmel met the moment with his powerful, tightrope-walking monologue.”
■ See it here …
■ … or read highlights here.
■ Politico: Kimmel was close to tears as he praised the words of Kirk’s widow: “Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. … That is an example we should follow.”
■ This drew a standing ovation: “This show is not important. What’s important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”
■ In a skit that followed the monologue, Robert De Niro played President Trump’s new Federal Communications Commission chief: “It’s just me, Jimmy, the chairman of the FCC, gently suggesting that you gently shut the fuck up.”
Trump rants. The president took to Truth Social to whine about Kimmel’s comeback: “We’re going to test ABC out on this. … Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter: That fulfilled a Kimmel prediction, providing “another crystal-clear example of the president using his government power to cajole a privately owned media company into changing its content.”
■ Emmy-winning comedy writer Merrill Markoe—David Letterman’s longtime head writer—warns that President Trump’s attacks on the First Amendment aren’t over. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ The Onion: “‘You Think You Can Talk About Our Dad That Way?’ Scream Trump Boys, Beating TV With Bat.”
Meanwhile, on other channels … Kimmel’s timeslot competitor Jimmy Fallon told viewers last night: “You’re watching the wrong Jimmy.”
■ Stephen Colbert: “Thanks to everybody … watching from home—which might be just my wife, Evie. Because everybody else is probably watching ABC.”
■ But that wouldn’t include ABC affiliates owned by the right-skewing Sinclair and Nexstar station chains …
■ Nexstar’s NewsNation, sprung from the soil of the formerly Tribune Co.-owned WGN, is marking its fifth anniversary.
■ In other programming regression: Apple TV+ has postponed the premiere of a series about an investigator who infiltrates online hate groups with the goal of taking ’em down from the inside.
‘A strongman forced Kimmel off the air. The people brought him back.’ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link, possible because readers support Chicago Public Square with a buck or two): “Millions of democracy lovers found their voice, and … a renewed belief that we are going to win.”
■ The Big Picture: “On multiple fronts, Trump has been pushed back or forced to dig in and defend.”
■ Economist Paul Krugman sees in the Kimmel saga a sign that the tide’s turning against the president: “We may not be Russia or Hungary.”
■ Chicago-born journalist Terry Moran—fired from ABC after a tweet critical of Trump: “Solidarity works. That’s the lesson.”
■ Press Watch columnist Dan Froomkin cheers signs The New York Times is “finally getting real about Trump” with some “surprisingly unflinching” articles.
Thanks, Trump. Gov. Pritzker’s ordering state agencies to trim their budgets by 4% as a buffer against federal cuts under the Republican administration …
■ … which is scrambling to rehire hundreds of federal employees laid off under its aborted “Department of Government Efficiency.”
‘A dark fantasy of narcissism and Christian nationalism.’ Historian Heather Cox Richardson reviews Trump’s … oh, let’s say … whackjob speech to the United Nations …
■ … two minutes of “deranged” highlights from which Zeteo provides here …
■ … and in which the president told those nations, “Your countries are going to hell” …
■ … repeatedly complaining about embarrassing escalator and teleprompter malfunctions that the UN later attributed to Trump’s own team.
■ Emily Atkin at Heated calls it the “dumbest climate speech of all time … so stupid and unoriginal, it was actually kind of funny.”
■ He also complained about the UN’s flooring.
■ One senior foreign diplomat texted a Washington Post columnist: “This man is stark, raving mad. Do Americans not see how embarrassing this is?”
■ Columnist/lawyer Robert Hubbell: Trump’s destroying a U.S. legacy of goodwill.
‘End your dangerous operations in Illinois.’ The state’s Democratic congressional delegation is demanding Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem call off her deportation efforts here and provide definitive accounts of just what they’ve achieved.
■ Former Illinois Democratic Rep. Marie Newman: “We must … prepare to send a louder and more pervasive economic message: A General Strike.”
■ The TRiiBE surveys Chicago-area doorbell and security cam footage catching ICE agents in the act …
■ … and shares Washington, D.C., organizers’ advice to Chicagoans on what to expect from Trump’s show of military force here.
■ The American Prospect: “While the president howls about crime in liberal cities, he is taking drastic action to make it worse everywhere.”
■ Updating coverage: Three people were shot at a Dallas ICE facility and the shooter’s dead from a self-inflicted wound, according to the agency’s director.
‘Deaths will follow.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg condemns Trump’s “lethal advice” to parents on Tylenol.
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: That news conference “was a historic embarrassment for America.”
■ NewsGuard tracks an online surge in false vaccine-autism claims after Trump’s rant.
■ Coming Friday, Oct. 3, to Chicago’s WTTW-TV: A new Chicago Stories documentary, “Inside the Tylenol Murders.”
100 miles of bikeways. That’s how many more Mayor Johnson says have been built in Chicago since he took office.
■ A Tribune editorial complains: “Teens on e-bikes are having accidents in the suburbs. We need real rules.”
Thanks. Ron Schwartz and Jim Parks made this edition better.