‘Rules for thee, not for me’ in America

First they came for the student activists and then they came for the migrants and now they come for the late-night TV talk hosts. Who’s next?

Just a week after the brutal slaying of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk sent the American right into a froth about Left America’s supposed unwillingness to tolerate different viewpoints, the Trump administration is working hard to make sure no one says anything remotely critical about Kirk or any of his other allies.

Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been suspended indefinitely following some criticism from the host that the MAGA movement is trying to paint the suspect in Kirk’s shooting as coming from the Left and are “doing everything they can to score political points from (Kirk’s death).”

That was enough for Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr to call for Kimmel’s head, which he received.

That Trump’s administration would take these steps is not surprising, but it is especially galling considering other recent events. Consider the comparative silence from the American right after Fox News host Brian Kilmeade suggested on Sept. 10 — the same day of Kirk’s slaying — that the homeless be executed (he did eventually apologize, but kept his job).

Then there’s Vice-President JD Vance joking Wednesday that he “wouldn’t go fishing right now in that area of the world” after U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats.

This is an instructive moment. After Kirk’s death, outlets around the world condemned the violence in clear terms, regardless of what individuals may have thought of Kirk and his legacy. But this show of grace amid tragedy has proven to be wasted on the MAGA movement, which has acted as though the whole world is dancing on Kirk’s grave anyway.

They were, as is now clear, always going to use the tragedy as a bloody shirt to wave, no matter what.

So, what now?

Here in Canada, there’s not much for the average person to do about it. It is not our government promoting or carrying out this crackdown on free expression, (although we should be mindful that political attitudes can jump borders). But what we can do is reframe how we view and describe the behaviour we are seeing. Let’s start by dropping the word “hypocrisy” from the political discourse.

Commentators often level charges of hypocrisy at politicians, but it is often misused. We may be inclined to cry hypocrisy when Trump pardons Jan. 6 rioters or wields the power of the state against anyone he suspects may be an immigrant and then decries political violence. But it is not hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is when someone claims to believe one thing, but actually does something else. The wrinkle here is that Trump and company, as evidenced by their actions, only believe certain things are wrong when someone else does them. “Rules for thee, not for me” is a core principle of the movement. That is how the vice-president can beat a war drum over his friend’s assassination and then joke about potentially killing innocent fishing crews with military strikes. It is why this administration can sanctify Kirk as a mere free-speech champion, no matter how much of his speech was damaging and detestable and then demand Kimmel be fired for what he says.

Death and disagreement alike are only problems when meted out by someone else and not them.

That means the MAGA movement is not hypocritical, but malevolent. It seeks to create a vicious double standard in America wherein they can do as they like, and everyone else does as they say. Anyone who does not want such an ideology to spread must be prepared to say exactly what it is and face it on those terms.

You cannot, after all, properly combat a thing you can’t see clearly.