What A Day - Trump’s War On Free Speech

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

Democrats on the Hill are hitting back after ABC suspended "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" indefinitely. They’ve introduced the No Political Enemies (or NOPE) Act, a bill that would protect people targeted for political speech, and called for the resignation of Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, whose comments targeting Kimmel came just hours before ABC pulled the show. To learn more about what Democrats are doing to protect free speech amid President Trump's crackdown — while working to avoid a potential government shutdown  — we spoke to Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin.And in headlines, the Senate confirms a whopping 48 of Trump's nominees all at once, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisory council makes a change to the childhood vaccine schedule, and Trump disagrees with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer — while standing next to him.Show Notes:Call Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Friday, September 19th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day. The show that says, good luck to Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who announced Thursday that he will be retiring at the end of this year. Problematically, Clayton Kershaw is younger than I am. On today's show, President Donald Trump discusses plans to designate Antifa as a major terrorist organization. and the Senate confirms 48 of Trump's nominees all at once. But let's start with the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, a government entity which I never really thought I'd need to discuss at length on the show,

or ever, unless we're referencing the rapper M&M. But that was then. This is now. After FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel, host of the late-night ABC talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, should face consequences from Disney for his comments regarding, conservative activist Charlie Kirk's murder. After Carr made his comments, Nextar, the largest owner of television stations in the country,

which just so happens to have a merger pending that would require FCC approval, preempted Kimmel's show. Sinclair, the second largest owner of television stations, followed. Cut to Disney announcing Wednesday night that Kimmel's show had been pulled indefinitely. This is a practice known as jaw-boning, when the government uses informal pressure to sway the decisions of private entities. Nextar says the

FCC chair's comments had nothing to do with its decision. I say, sure. And leave it to Trump to say the somewhat quiet part really, really loudly. When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump. That's all they do. If you go back, I guess they haven't had a conservative more than years or something. Somebody said, but when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They're licensed. They're not allowed to do. They can. They absolutely are allowed to. Now Democrats on the Hill are speaking out. They've introduced the no political enemies or Nope Act in both the House and Senate, a bill that would protect people targeted for political speech. Plus, on Thursday, top Democrats called for car to resign. All of this is going on while Congress is also trying to figure out what to do about that potential government shutdown looming. So to find out more about how Democrats are thinking about the new threat to speech and the government possibly going dark, I spoke to Michigan. Democratic Senator Alyssa Slotkin. Senator Alyssa Slotkin, welcome to what today.

Thanks for having me. ABC suspension of Jimmy Kimmel is making massive waves from Hollywood to Capitol Hill, and it's prompted your Democratic colleagues in the Senate and the House to action, including the introduction of the NOPE Act that I mentioned earlier in the show. For a while now, the Trump administration has been going after media companies for things the president doesn't like, but this whole thing with Kimmel seems to be a tipping point. What do you think? Well, I certainly think, I mean, if you want to understand the through line from Project

2025, right, Brendan Carr literally was one of the authors of that. He told us what he was going to do and now he's doing it. I think the reason why it is resonating is because it's not just a one-off, you know, it wasn't good when it was Colbert, but it's now a second late-night host who has been critical of the president, and the president has been clear that now he wants to go after, you know, the rest of them. So I think it's sort of a proof point for a lot of people that this wasn't just a one-and-done situation

that the president has a goal of curbing speech when it's someone who doesn't agree with him and who calls him out and who makes fun of him. And particularly coming on the heels of the terrible week of political violence that we had, right, where there's a lot of people, talking about the importance of free speech and being safe when you say things, even when people don't agree with you. I think it just was a lot to be pushed together in a 10-day

period, to be sort of lionizing the importance of freedom of speech when people agree with you, but then going after literally the jobs of people who disagree with you. It just the juxtaposition, I think no one is missing it. At the same time, both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have called on FCC Chair Carr to resign. After he jawboned, he, you know, basically said like, hey, nice late night show you've got. Wouldn't it be crazy if the FCC got involved? Do you agree that Carr should resign? I mean, I think this is so well and beyond what an independent FCC is supposed to be doing. I think that to me, I have no problem calling for his resignation. I think this is supposed to be an independent body made up of

people from both sides of the aisle so that we don't have censorship and we don't have pressure on organizations to take people off the air because we don't like what they say. And so to me, at a minimum, he should come in front of Congress and explain himself. But at maximum, to me, this is beyond the pale. And he's open about the fact that he's going to continue. It seems like there's little chance the note bill makes it to the floor in either chamber. and it's unclear whether Jeffries or Schumer will get any traction on a removing car. Do Democrats have any real recourse here? You know, I think we were talking about this with my team.

One of the things that kind of boils the blood, right, is that there's 10 things happening a day. And because Republicans have the White House, the House, and the Senate, there are just not great tools beyond the courts, which take a long time. And I certainly hope and expect that there'd be some sort of legal action filed on this particular case. I think when you're faced with limited options, you can do a couple of things.

Number one, go outside those institutions and organize the grassroots, right? And people who feel that their democracy is at risk, try to mobilize people in a really concrete way, a way that, frankly, we haven't done that well. That's number one, and public pressure against a populist is important. But number two is also think of the long game,

just as the other side of the aisle, thinks of the long game. I think it's extremely important that they had their project 2025. What is our project 2029? What would we do differently? And in particular, where would we plug the holes that are now being exposed under this administration? What kind of legislation would we propose to make sure something like this doesn't happen again? How do we get ahead of it a little bit and start thinking the way, frankly, they did about what we would do if and when we take back the House, if and when we take back the Senate, and certainly through 2028. So it's not satisfying. It's like eating fat-free ice cream. It's just like there's not enough there to

satisfy. But in a world of diminished tools, I think strategic planning and popular mobilization are really important. Now, some people are going to be very motivated by democracy issues, right, like the freedom of speech, a lot of people that I represent, they're thinking about their pocketbooks and their kids in the next six months, and that's it. So figuring out what it is that gets people truly to push back, I think is an important conversation. And Democrats have different views on that. And then we've got to settle that. We've got to have that conversation, that argument in some cases, so we know what plan to take. I'm one of the three people who actually kind of likes fat-free ice cream, but I will take that.

so sorry. That's actually a me problem that I should address with perhaps a professional. Yeah, you should. And especially you're from Ohio. So you know what real ice cream. I mean, I have Ohio, but you know what real ice cream is. And so I can't account for that. I know. I know. You really can't account for taste. But to your point about your constituents, there's a potential government shutdown looming. And you are one of several Democrats holding firm on your demand to restore health care subsidies and nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid. spending that were cut by Trump's big, beautiful bill. You sounded the alarm about this in a speech in the Senate floor this week. Why is this important? Well, look, I mean, I think bottom line, where we are, we've been in the Trump administration for eight months, he has systematically made America poorer and sicker, period. And the health care decisions he made in July in the big

beautiful bill. Yes, they cut Medicaid. Yes, they cut subsidies to Obama care. But in response to that, every single American, including, I'm sure you and I on private employer-provided health insurance, is either getting or is about to get a letter that says your health insurance, your private employer insurance is going to go up by 10 to 20 percent as of January 1. On the House floor or Senate floor yesterday, I held up one of those letters. I mean, these are very real. And everyone should understand that whether you're on Medicaid or you have an Obamacare marketplace plan, that's one thing. That's a real problem, right? At risk of losing your insurance. But everybody else who thinks that's not about me is going to be the bill payer for the loss of that health care for others.

This clearly isn't March of earlier this year. Democrats seem more afraid of backing down on this issue, then of a shutdown itself. Where do you stand on that? Look, I don't think there's a single person who wants a shutdown. I was a federal government employee for 16 years. Shutdowns are not good. Nope. But I think there comes a point where, like, you have to have a little self-respect and say, if you want my vote, right? Because they need seven Democratic votes. If you want my vote, you have to come and talk to me, like an adult, right? Like every other person I know, every Michigander I know at work doesn't get everything they want. They have to sit in a room and hammer out compromises.

And I know that I'm not going to get everything, right? I want to restore a ton of the health care. I want to lower the price of health care for all of our constituents. But Republicans have the White House, the House, and the Senate. So I'm a realist. I'm not going to get everything back. But you cannot count on my vote if you're not going to have a real conversation about health care in America. and especially the way you've already started to devastate it.

I'm willing to have that conversation. And I'm a more pragmatic member on the Democratic side. So come and talk to me. But you should know that I'm going to start by saying, what can we do to lower the price of health care for people? Like, you've got to be hearing that same thing from your own constituents. And there had been some talk of compromise on getting the government funded through September 30th. But do you think that?

there's any hope of reaching some sort of deal to keep the government running? Because it seems like right now, Democrats are standing firm because they know the one big, beautiful bill isn't popular. And they know what you were just saying about what they're hearing from their constituents. And Republicans are standing firm because they hate compromising. So where are we on this? Well, I think we're a couple weeks out. And I know the House is already moving and and voting soon on their version of the bill. And as we know, deadlines are one of the only things that actually moves members of Congress to action. So I think, you know, a lot is going to happen in the next two weeks, 10 days. And that pressurizing of the situation, I think, is important to get

people into a room, shut the door, get rid of your phone, get rid of Twitter, and actually have a real conversation. That has not happened yet, but I'm hopeful that it happens in the next 10 days. Senator Alyssa Slotkin, thank you so much for joining me. Of course. Thanks for having me. That was my conversation with Michigan Democratic Senator Alyssa Slotkin. We'll get to more of the news in a moment. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a day is brought to you by fast-growing trees. Fall is planting season.

Did you know that many plants and trees actually do better when planted at this time of year? But you have to know where to start. That's why I love fastgrowing trees.com. Doesn't matter if you live in the sunny south or if the air is getting chilly where you are, their plant experts can help you find the perfect fit for your space. They have all the plants your yard needs, like fruit trees, privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs, and so much more. Fast-growing trees also makes it easy to get your dream yard.

Order online and get your plants delivered directly to your door in just a few days without ever leaving home. Their alive and thrive guarantee ensures your plants arrive happy and healthy. And all plants and trees are locally grown in the U.S., ensuring they will thrive in your yard. I've gotten the chance to give fruit trees to friends across the country, and that's a gift that literally keeps growing and giving long after you've hit order. And this fall, they have the best deals for your yard, up to half off on select plants and other deals. And listeners to our show get 15% off their first purchase when using

the code Wad at checkout. That's 15% off at Fastgrowing Trees.com using the code Watt at checkout. Now is the perfect time to plant. Use WOD to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Check out the link below or on the show notes and support the show. Here's what else we're following today. Republicans have fixed a broken process and restored the Senate precedent that applied to previous presidents and that is allowing, and that is, I should say, the precedent is allowing a majority of a president's nominees to be confirmed expeditiously.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune spoke ahead of a vote Thursday that confirmed 48 of Trump's nominees all at once. The Senate voted to begin clearing a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed by Democrats. Frustrated by the stalling tactics, Senate Republicans moved last week to expedite confirmations of lower-level non-judicial nominations. That's under new rules that allow Senate Republicans to move multiple nominees with a simple majority vote, a process that would have previously been blocked with just one objection. The rules don't apply to judicial nominations or cabinet posts. Thune said those confirmed had all received bipartisan votes in committee, including

deputy secretaries for the Departments of Defense, Interior, Energy, and others. Among the confirmed, former Fox News host and ex-fiancee of Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Gilfoyle, as U.S. ambassador to Greece. Because apparently, if a Trump calls off your engagement, you get to be the ambassador to a country with very nice islands. After what can only be described as a very confusing meeting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vaccine Advisory Panel voted on Thursday to advise giving children under the age of four two separate shots, one for chicken pox and a second combo shot for measles, mumps, and rebella,

instead of one shot that protects against all of the above. This meeting for the advisory committee on immunization practices, full of new members handpicked by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had been highly anticipated in some circles following testimony this week by former CDC director Susan Menares. She said she was pressured by Secretary Kennedy to rubber-stamp vaccine approvals. Toward the end of the meeting, the group did vote to keep the first. four-and-one combo shot covered for kids as young as 12 months under the Vaccines for Children

Program, which pays for about half the shots given to kids in the U.S. Several committee members expressed confusion during that follow-up vote. If it's not covered by BFC, then they will continue to use the current recommendation. So Dr. Meisner, if I would like you to vote, and if it's confusing at this point, I think we'll continue to continue the voting, so you're welcome to abstain if you want, or you can vote yes or no. Thank you. Sorry to prolong you. I'm going to abstain because I'm not quite sure what I'm voting for here. Same. The committee was supposed to vote on its recommendation for the hepatitis B shot for infants but decided to delay it. The panel is set to meet again today to discuss its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines. I am scared.

So I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score. One of our few disagreements, actually. That's President Trump speaking to reporters in the United Kingdom at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Kier Starmor Thursday. He's referring to the two leaders differing views on the war in Gaza. Both leaders said they support a ceasefire in the region, and both agree that Israel needs to get the hostages back. But Starrmer has said that the UK will formally recognize a Palestinian state this month, potentially within days. So it's part of that overall package which hopefully takes us from the appalling situation we're in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, which we do not have, and a viable Palestinian state.

That might not be exactly what Trump has in mind for the future, hence the few disagreements he mentioned. The two leaders were also at odds over the best way to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Starmor said he wanted to increase the economic pressure on Moscow. Trump told reporters that Putin, quote, really let me down, but did not answer any questions about what he plans to do next. It's a sick group. They love burning the American flag. I think it's terrible that they burn the American flag. That's Trump on Fox News Thursday, talking about plans he announced earlier this week to designate Antifa as a major terrorist organization.

However, the White House still has not offered more details on what that label might actually mean. The designation is puzzling. First, because Trump did the same thing in 2020, but according to the New York Times, nothing really came of it. And second, because, as wired reporter David Gilbert told us earlier this week, Antifa is not a centralized organization. There is no CEO of Antifa. It's kind of something that has been around for years that the people on the right have kind of grown, or seeing this idea of Antifa grow as their kind of enemy. Trump also said he'll recommend investigating, quote, those funding Antifa.

But again, this is not a group you can just donate money to. Like, there's no GoFund Me for Antifa? Another reason this raises so many questions is that the United States actually has no legal mechanism for labeling domestic organizations as terrorist groups, because domestic groups are protected under the First Amendment. But Gilbert explained that Trump's, use of the word Antifa could be more of a call to action to the right, that he is using to justify a crackdown on the political left more generally.

Instantly, if you go on social media, you'll see people on the extreme right who are celebrating because they basically think that's giving them a free pass to do whatever they want. And so if you do have protests in the coming days and weeks, which, you know, you could have and there are counter-protests, they will be labeled as Antifa and they will be seen as a perfectly valid target because Trump has effectively, in their eyes, at least, giving them the green light to attack them. Fantastic. And that's the news.

One more thing. To put it very mildly, it's a weird time to work at a person. progressive media company. The Trump administration has made it crystal clear. Liberals aren't just political opponents. They're basically terrorists. And I mean that literally. Here's White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaking about Democrats in his very normal, easygoing manner back in August. It is an entity devoted exclusively to the defense of hardened criminals, gangbangers, and illegal alien killers and terrorists. The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a political party. a domestic extremist organization.

So it makes sense if folks like me and others writing and talking from a liberal perspective are feeling anxious. So I chatted with John Favro, co-founder of Crooked Media and co-host of Pod Save America, about how he's feeling about all of this and how he thinks the liberal media needs to react. John Favro, welcome to what a day. Thanks for having me. As someone who, obviously, co-founded a media company, specifically this media company. How are you feeling right now with what's happening with the Trump administration?

the FCC, Disney, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel, are you concerned about the potential that could lead to a bigger, more troubling, I mean, even more troubling assault on free speech? Yes. It's clear there. I mean, there was already a government crackdown happening before Charlie Kirk's assassination. I think the assassination accelerated it. And that's what we're dealing with right now. I think the pretext is barely pretext, since there was. also no subtext, anything they do. It's just text. It's like very flimsy. So they're going to throw everything at the wall that they can. And maybe some companies will stand up to them, but that's not really the goal. The goal is intimidate everyone, scare everyone, and we will target people that we can. And just by targeting different companies and individuals, it will chill the speech of everyone else. Trump has also spoken about investigating organizations that that he defines as Antifa or the radical left,

and he's threatened liberal foundations and nonprofits. What is the role of liberal media right now? What do we need to be doing that isn't being scared or anxious or running away and hiding and taking down all of our posts? Exactly what we would be doing if he was not in office, is what I genuinely think. I think they want us to be afraid. Authoritarian regimes sort of thrive on fear.

And we've said this here, crooked for all of our shows is important to be factual. We should always want to be factual, not just because Trump's in the way, but it is important to be factual. And if we are making sure we do all our research wisely and get all the facts straight, then they come after us. They come after us, but it's not going to stop us from doing our jobs. And I think that it's very important for us to do that right now because another fear that I have is so many people in this country, understandably, after 10 years of this, are exhausted and cynical. The cynicism is now turning into nihilism, I worry.

And then people are afraid. And so it is an understandable reaction to watch this unfold and say, I'm out. I don't want to pay attention to this anymore. And I want to go live my life. And I get that. But I would say to all those people who don't want to check into the news all the time, like we need you now because I do think there are strength in numbers and I do think there's power and solidarity and I think our job right now is to make sure we are giving people good information about what's going on in the government we're giving people to the extent that we can ideas and tools to actually act in a nonviolent way and I think that for people listening part of this is awareness right like I think the stories we tell the stories you're reading like talk to your friends about them, talk to your family, who you know would be alarmed by this,

but is maybe not paying as close attention. And so I think sort of like building awareness, which, by the way, I do think the Jimmy Kimmel move is going to build quite a lot of awareness among people in the country who otherwise might not have been paying attention. But I think by building awareness, it is a good first step. John Favro, as always, thank you for joining me. Thanks, Jane. That was my conversation with John Favro, co-founder of Crooked Media and co-hosts. of Pod Save America.

Before we go, a week after conservative activist Charlie Kirk's killing, hysteria hosts Aaron and Alyssa dig into the botched investigation, from the media circus to FBI director Cash Patel's fumbling and what it reveals about power and accountability. They also connect the dots to other stories shaking the system, from the latest Epstein files to new battles over policy in California and New Mexico. Don't miss this week's episode of Hysteria. Tune in on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube. That's all for today.

If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. Take a break from all of this and vote for the chubbiest baby bear and tell your friends to listen. And if you're in a reading, not just about how the National Park Service's annual Fat Bear Week starts on Monday, but you can vote for the chubbiest bear cubs through today at FetB. Thatbearweek.org, like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston.

And because of a big salmon population this year, naturalist Mike Fitz, who started the competition back in 2014, said, quote, We are kind of expecting, really, to have some of the fattest bears we've ever seen in the event. I can't wait. What a day? production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is

Emily Four. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Megan Larson, Gina Pollock, and Jonah Eatman. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adrian Hill. We had helped today from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.