Donald Trump Should Let Jimmy Kimmel’s Career Die of Natural Causes

...By Newsweek EditorsShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.In 2003, actress Barbra Streisand sued to remove an aerial photograph of her Malibu home from the internet, an ill-fated effort. Its legacy gave the internet a lasting phrase for the kind of attempted suppression that backfires into greater attention: the Streisand effect. President Donald Trump is now Streisand-effecting the career of comedian Jimmy Kimmel, whose latest offense was an April 23 routine in which he said Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow.” By demanding that ABC and Disney fire him, and not for the first time, Trump has turned a stale late-night joke into a live test of power and political overreaction. But he has a better option. Trump’s Gift to Late NightThe timing of Kimmel’s joke was unfortunate but, crucially, not deliberate. Two nights after the joke aired, the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the president, first lady and much of the political class had gathered. It was a close call. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Shots were fired, but the suspect Cole Tomas Allen was detained before he could enter the dining room. He now faces multiple charges, including attempted assassination of the president. Trump subsequently called Kimmel’s joke a “despicable call to violence” and said he “should be immediately fired,” while Melania Trump said “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate”. Kimmel replied that the line was “not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination,” but a “light roast about the first couple’s age difference”. The joke was made uglier by its proximity to the shooting, and caused upset among Trump’s supporters. But the predictable angered attention of the Trumps, and the president’s demand for Kimmel’s firing, elevated its significance to a level well beyond what it deserved. Late Night’s Real ProblemTraditional late night is not dying because presidents criticize or threaten it, but because the tired old broadcast ritual that your grandparents enjoyed no longer commands such cultural value. LateNighter’s 2025 Nielsen Live+7 data found that total late-night viewership across tracked shows was basically flat, at 13.025 million average nightly viewers that year compared with 13.056 million in 2024. Adults aged 18-49 fell 17 percent, from roughly 1.8 million to 1.5 million. That is the number Trump should remember, because it shows that late night is not being murdered—it is aging out, replaced by podcasters and influencers who understand the real and biggest audience today is found through social media. The monologue-desk-celebrity-plug format is no longer leading the American conversation. It's lukewarm porridge for aging liberals who want the cheap comfort food of obvious Trump jokes. Trump Nourishes KimmelKimmel was, however, a rare 2025 bright spot for late night shows, averaging 2.013 million total viewers—up 14 percent—and 230,000 adults aged 18-49. But that spur was itself driven by a huge controversy that Trump and MAGA had amplified over comments Kimmel made about the killer of Charlie Kirk.The incident was painful for Kimmel, who was suspended. But it ultimately saved his show. In the fourth quarter of 2025, after his…

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