Jim Jordan Tries, Fails To Help Trump Silence Critics
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Rep. Jim Jordan, on CNBC, failed miserably while trying to defend Trump’s very public attempt to silence his media critics.
Jordan even erroneously claimed Sinclair put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air.
Neither did Nexstar.
SORKIN: Congressman, can I just read you something? This is what the President of the United States says, and you tell me whether you think this sounds like coercion or not.
I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million. This one sounds even more lucrative.
JORDAN: Well, I mean, I don’t think you can say this is the pressure from the government, because ABC put him back on. I think he, I didn’t stay up and watch it, but I think he was back on last night.
So how is that, how is that the government’s taking him off the air, when in fact the ABC themselves, Disney, made the decision, oh, we got two of our, of people we do business with next door in St. Sinclair, who own a number of affiliates, and then they put him back on.
SORKIN: But that does sound like pressure from the government, right?
But there’s pressure, but it may not be successful pressure, but it’s pressure from the government?
JORDAN: I guess you can say maybe some, but I don’t think that’s what drove it.
I think this was a business decision.
I mean,
SORKIN: what do you make of what your peers, what do you think of what Ted Cruz said about this? He said government shouldn’t be in this business of trying to pressure anybody about free speech at all.
JORDAN: No, fair enough. And look, I think we should be defending your right to speak, most important right we have under the First Amendment.
JORDAN: I always say, if you can’t speak, you can’t practice your faith, you can’t share your faith, you can’t petition your government, you don’t have a free press, so the right to speak is so important.
I do believe what Mr. Carr is pointing out is that public broadcast airwaves are slightly different than what the Democrats tried to do, which was on platforms, which is on cable television.
Rep. Jordan took Trump’s words out of context because he posted those remarks after Kimmel was reinstated by ABC, not before.
Being a main cog in the MAGA machine, if Jordan had any guts, he would be out front criticizing Trump and his FCC henchmen, Brendan Carr, for trying to destroy the First Amendment, but the best he could do was agree with Ted Cruz’s statements about government pressuring businesses over what they say.
They cannot defend this and claim to be “constitutional conservatives.” That much is obvious.