Hacker News Reader

Comment by IncreasePosts | Hacker News Reader

Neither was Kimmel - the real threats came from the ABC affiliates who threatened to not air his content.

Kimmel was canceled explicitly because of a threat by the government. Carr has made that clear.

Why are people playing dumb and ignoring this detail?

Because the political playbook is to argue in bad faith and conservatives are much better convincing their base of that than democrats. Why are many of them convinced that left wing violence is a scourge when right wing violence outweighs it by an overwhelming majority [0] unless you do mental gymnastics after tons of mass shootings (as Kash Patel, who one would think would be aware of related trends to domestic terrorism, so eloquently put it: “I’m sorry. Dylann Roof?”[1])

[0]https://theconversation.com/right-wing-extremist-violence-is... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkgM9_xOj4

It's not being ignored. It's being judged to be incorrect.

Carr spoke about a potential investigation by the FCC on a podcast and the affiliates and Disney bowed to that.

> Carr spoke about a potential investigation by the FCC on a podcast and the affiliates and Disney bowed to that.

Kind of like a mob member talks about a potential fire at a local establishment.

Is there a judiciary that determines whether the mob was within their rights to light your restaurant on fire, and can stop the mob from lighting the restaurant on fire?

Even if you think the FCC is just an extension of trump(fair) at this moment, their rulings aren't the final word. They still need to follow the law. If the FCC improperly attempts to withhold a license from the affiliate, the affiliate can sue and let federal judges, who are not an extension of trump, decide on the matter.

> If the FCC improperly attempts to withhold a license from the affiliate, the affiliate can sue and let federal judges, who are not an extension of trump, decide on the matter.

Which will take years to settle and you're paying fees upon fees. Or you can kiss ass and get it rubber stamped.

That's why corruption can be so corrosive: it's the "easy" way through the problem.

The FCC, like other federal agencies, is independent. There's nothing in the article to suggest that Carr's decision to do this has anything to do with Trump, who doesn't actually have authority here. Per the article, Carr apparently doesn't think he did anything coercive either. He's just making public statements. The supposed "threat" doesn't seem to me like much of one.

And Carr is also irrelevant to the Kimmel firing. ABC faced pressure from affiliates and his ratings had been declining for a long time.

> The FCC, like other federal agencies, is independent.

That's not what Trump thinks [1].

[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/ensu...

Trump does not share your view that they are an independent agency.

Carr also does not appear share your extremely charitable interpretation of his actions. He has subsequently confirmed that he sees this in line with the administration's larger political mission and is being about as subtle as a fog horn about his status as a political hatchet man:

https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1968521297974923696

Reply on news.ycombinator.com