TJ Walker argues Trump weaponizes outrage over Kimmel's joke to position himself as a civility guardian, despite a decade of insulting war heroes and judges. The real threat isn't comedy but Trump's power to frame opponents as national dangers.
Here's what's really going on with this Jimmy Kimmel controversy. Donald Trump isn't upset about a joke. He's upset that the joke isn't about him, or that it's about him and it doesn't make him look good. Because Trump has never met a situation he couldn't try to turn into a political weapon. A hurricane? Political opportunity. A court case? Political opportunity. Late night monologue? Suddenly a national emergency. And now he wants a comedian fired for doing comedy. Think about that. The same guy who spent years insulting war heroes, judges, entire groups of voters. Now he's the guardian of civility. If Trump actually cared about tone, step one would be don't celebrate people dying, especially patriotic Americans like Robert Mueller. Step two would be don't spend a decade insulting everyone in sight. But instead, we're supposed to believe Jimmy Kimmel is the real threat to America, not the most powerful man in the world, the guy telling jokes at 11:30 at night. Ultimis.
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