Opinion: Sen. Ted Cruz Warns of the Precedent That Could Be Set by Pulling Jimmy Kimmel Off the Air

On Friday, Houston’s own Sen. Ted Cruz took to his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, to denounce Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s overt call to push late night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air and his threats to pull ABC’s broadcast license.

“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off the air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” Cruz said, noting, with a surprisingly fun movie mobster accent, that Carr was acting like he’d wandered out of Goodfellas.

And just like that, Cruz, the vaunted Constitutional law expert best known these days for taking poorly politically timed vacations and sometimes staggeringly pragmatic and politically expedient stances that seem to fly in the face of all of that Constitutional expertise, found that there is, in fact, a line he’d rather not cross.

It (possibly, maybe) had to happen eventually.

So how did we get here? Well, in case you’ve been on a distant tropical island without any cell signal, this all started on Monday when Kimmel pointed out in his opening monologue for Jimmy Kimmel Live! that MAGA conservatives had spent the weekend “trying to score political points” off Kirk’s death by insisting Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson was not one of their own. (Kimmel recorded his monologue before Utah officials issued more information about the suspect and his background.)

Conservative media began whipping itself up into a frenzy over these comments. The late-night host reportedly planned to clarify his statement on his Wednesday night show, but he never got the chance.

Earlier that day FCC Chairman Carr was asked about the FCC’s stance on Kimmel’s comments during an appearance on far-right podcaster Benny Johnson’s show. Carr decried the comments, calling Kimmel’s monologue “some of the sickest conduct possible” which does make one wonder what all of today’s modern media Carr has been exposed to. He then went further, criticizing ABC and its parent company Disney for not reprimanding Kimmel, noting that he “could certainly see a path forward for suspension on this” and that the FCC has “remedies we can look at.”

And then he made himself clearer, Goodfellas-style, though without the use of a fun movie mobster accent.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

After that two of ABC’s largest affiliates, Sinclair and Nexstar, both eyeing large mergers that will need FCC approval, announced they wouldn’t run Kimmel’s show and by Wednesday evening ABC had shelved Kimmel indefinitely.

So, here’s where things get interesting.

The Lone Star State’s junior senator isn’t the guy you think of these days when looking for an example of political bravery, a politician with the true courage of his convictions. He’s the guy who spoke out eloquently against then-candidate Donald Trump’s rise in at the 2016 GOP National Convention, before quickly changing his tune when his speech was meant with vehement boos from an irate Republican audience. And he hasn’t blinked since.

Even as Trump has made fun of Cruz’s wife, accused his father of being involved in the JFK assassination. Even in the face of MAGA supporters storming the U.S. Capital Building and the stacks of criminal charges and convictions. Even as Trump has issued a slew of executive actions that essentially seem to divest Congress of Constitutionally mandated powers, the powers that Cruz and his coworkers are supposed to be wielding on behalf of the millions of constituents who sent them there.

But on Friday, Cruz spoke out against the FCC chairman’s actions.

“I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said. (Note: Cruz isn’t quite accurate here. Kimmel’s show has been shelved but he has not reportedly been fired.) “But, let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”

And he went further from there. “I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said. But, let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”

“Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House,” he warned. “They will silence us. They will use this power and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous.”

Even as President Donald Trump has been vocal in his praise and support of Carr’s actions, Cruz hasn’t – at least as of this moment – walked his statements back.

And keep in mind, Cruz has not maintained his seat since 2012 because of his charisma and charm. (Former President George W. Bush told donors, “I just don’t like the guy.” U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham once stated that if someone took Cruz out on the Senate floor the Senate wouldn’t convict. Former GOP House Speaker John Boehner called him “Lucifer incarnate.” Former Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat, wrote in his memoir, “I like Ted Cruz more than my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz.”)

Instead of being likable, Cruz has another set of skills. Specifically, his 2016 GOP Convention debacle aside, Cruz seems to have an almost unerring ability to put a finger to political winds, read political tea leaves and then to, well, thread a political needle that always has him exactly in line with his donors and his constituents.

Thus, while it’s possible that all of this has hit some tripwire in his Constitutional scholar’s mind that requires him to take a stand, it’s potentially a much more interesting shift, carefully worded, and carefully framed, for Cruz.

In fact, when NBC News asked Cruz, who is Republican chairman of the Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC, if Cruz would do as Senate Democrats have requested and call Carr before the committee for a hearing on this incident, Cruz didn’t say hell, yes. But he also explicitly did not say no, telling NBC, “We will certainly engage in oversight of all of the agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction.”

So far, Cruz has garnered a smattering of support from his fellow Republicans, with U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas and Pennsylvania Republican Sen. David McCormick speaking out in support. Cruz is also in line with a contingent of the conservative podcaster manosphere, many of whom have taken issue with Kimmel being pushed off the air, noting concerns about how this potentially violates First Amendment rights of free speech.

Cruz cites the same concerns in his podcast episode, pointing out that this is the kind of thing that the GOP could bitterly regret someday.

“Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House,” he warned. “They will silence us. They will use this power and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous.”

Meanwhile Trump has continued to celebrate Carr’s actions, noting that since, in his view, most TV broadcasters give him and his administration negative coverage “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”