Dear John,

ABC, owned by Disney, has surrendered to Trump’s escalating attacks — this time, suspending Jimmy Kimmel’s show in response to intimidation from Trump’s FCC chair. This crosses a dangerous threshold, as the legacy media giant once again buckles under the administration’s unrelenting pressure.

This isn’t the first time dissent has been silenced under this regime. Trump has been busy cracking down on universities and abducting student protestors critical of his agenda. He sued the New York Times and Wall Street Journal over their reporting on him. And he cut off funding for public broadcasting because he thought it was biased against him.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr made the boss’s threats clear, ominously warning Disney, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Disney folded, choosing to protect their bottom line at the expense of the core freedom of the press.

The Founders enshrined freedom of the press in the First Amendment precisely to ensure that Americans could criticize their government without fear of retribution.

But Trump is twisting this principle into its opposite. Instead of respecting the press as a democratic safeguard, he wields defamation lawsuits, regulatory threats, and public intimidation to silence his critics.

He’s showing no signs of stopping. After bullying Disney into silence, Trump openly threatened to strip broadcasters of their licenses if their late-night hosts criticize him: “They’re giving me all this bad press, and they’re getting a license,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

Join the pledge to turn off Disney and ABC until they reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s show and stop bowing to Trump’s authoritarian threats.

This is not an isolated act. It’s part of a pattern: Trump threatens to jail peaceful protesters, tries to dismantle public broadcasters like PBS and NPR, sues independent outlets into silence, and now coerces corporate media into compliance. Each act chips away at the press’s ability to do its most basic democratic function: hold power to account.

This is how we risk sliding into dictatorship: not just because one man seeks power, but because others, intimidated by Trump’s thirst for retribution, enable him to seize it.

We face a make-or-break moment. Will we allow Disney and ABC to normalize Trump’s silencing the free press — embedding fear and submission into our culture — or will we demand they stand up for the principles on which this nation was founded?

Here are some concrete ways we can take action:

• Sign the petition and join the Turn Off Disney campaign until ABC reinstates Jimmy Kimmel, and pledges to resist Trump’s intimidation.

• Stop watching ABC and its cable channels, including ESPN, FX, Freeform, and Disney.

• Cancel Disney streaming services — Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ — and tell them why.

• Use social media to call out Disney’s capitulation to Trump.

• Don’t visit Disney parks until they commit to defending free speech.

Democracy depends on a fearless press. By capitulating to Trump’s threats, Disney and ABC have undermined that freedom — and emboldened him to go even further. But by withholding our dollars and changing the channel, we can make clear: Americans expect the media to defend our First Amendment, not help dismantle it.

Let Disney and ABC know you’ve joined the Turn Off Disney campaign until they stand up to the Trump regime and protect freedom of speech by adding your name now.

Thank you for joining the pledge to protect the First Amendment.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action