At first glance, the move by the American TV network ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves might seem straightforward enough. The late-night chat show host said a bad thing, some would argue, and he paid the price.

But as ever in the crazy, confusing, contradictory world of Donald Trump’s America, it’s much more complicated than that.

What’s at stake here is mergers, money, and a concerted effort to strangle the media to such a point that it no longer has the will or the resources to report or comment on the president and his MAGA associates. And that is something that should strike fear into anyone who still holds a shred of hope for Western democracy.

But first, let’s look at what Kimmel actually said.

In his opening monologue on Monday night, the four-time Oscar host and long-t

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