Trump is using the federal government to wage a war on free speech.

[Carr CLIP: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way…”]

Yes, that's a government official threatening to trample on the First Amendment like a mob boss — the very definition of tyranny. 

How are some of America’s largest media companies responding? By helping Trump get away with it! 

Disney, which owns ABC, caved to pressure and suspended Jimmy Kimmel after he criticized Trump’s actions following the assasination of Charlie Kirk.

This isn’t the first time dissent has been silenced under this regime. Trump has cracked down on universities and abducted student protestors. He sued the New York Times and Wall Street Journal over reporting he didn’t like. And he cut off funding for public broadcasting because he thought it was biased against him.

But why was Disney, one of the most powerful corporations in the world, so quick to surrender? Follow the money. 

Disney needs Trump’s approval for a merger with the streaming network Fubo. Major ABC affiliate station owners Nexstar and Sinclair, that first threatened to drop Kimmel and forced Disney’s hand, are also seeking merger approval and industry deregulation that requires sign off from Trump’s FCC..  

The same can be said of Paramount (owner of CBS), which only recently got the FCC’s greenlight for its multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance after settling a frivolous lawsuit with Trump. To ensure that deal, Paramount fired Stephen Colbert and CBS News hired a Trump loyalist to oversee supposed “bias” at the network. 

Now Skydance, which is controlled by the family of billionaire Trump-backer Larry Ellison, is eyeing an acquisition – Warner Brothers, owner of CNN. And Trump is helping to broker another deal for Ellison’s Big Tech company Oracle to become a major owner of TikTok.

What will Trump require in return?

At a time in history when the most influential media institutions and leaders in the U.S. need to stand up for free speech and decency, they are leading the charge in the opposite direction — either to line their own pockets or avoid Trump’s wrath. They’re treating the erosion of our fundamental rights as a simple cost of doing business.

That includes Jeff Bezos's Washington Post, which reshaped its editorial and opinion column standards seemingly to align with Trump. And it includes CEOs of major social media platforms that are publicly fawning over him.

These billionaires and corporations think they can have a symbiotic partnership with Trump,

[CLIP: Sundar Pichai (CEO, Google): And we look forward to working together. And thanks for your leadership. Tim Cook (CEO, Apple):

Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me. Uh, I want to thank you for including me this evening. It's incredible to be among, uh, everyone here, particularly you and the First Lady.]

But the lesson of history is tyrants can never be appeased. 

What will stop Trump from continuing to demand more and more concessions — or from silencing anyone else who questions him?

[Trump clip: “They give me only bad publicity or press. They’re getting a license, I think maybe their license should be taken away]

The media has a responsibility to serve as a check on tyranny — not appease it. That’s why we must boycott Disney and all its subsidiaries like Hulu, and any media corporation that surrenders to Trump. 

Instead, pledge to support independent and local media. That could be your locally owned newspaper. Your NPR or PBS affiliate that just had its funding cut. Or an independent, small donor-funded news organization. If you have one that you support, post it in the comments.

Now more than ever, we need independent, fearless voices that will defend our constitutional right to free speech.

Our democracy depends on it.