Kimmel and Colbert both illustrate a big problem. The Trump regime didn't have to arrest Colbert or throw Kimmel in prison, or turn up with troops and dismantle

Kimmel and Colbert both illustrate a big problem. The Trump regime didn't have to arrest Colbert or throw Kimmel in prison, or turn up with troops and dismantle their studios - some faceless executive who is about as funny as cancer made a decision to bow to Trump because it was at least temporarily in their interest and the consequences flow from there. Satire needs independent grass roots funding. If the satirist you love costs $10M per year, well, people who love satire better be putting $10M per year on the table to pay for that, because if it's just (for example) a Disney product then to Disney $10M of satire which annoys the God Emperor is a bad deal, lets buy $10M of police procedural or whatever instead. To be clear: It is very possible that an independently funded satirist just means in six months or six years God Emperor Trump decides he's entitled to shut that down and they do get arrested or whatever, this is not a magic solution, but I think a critical weakness in the US is that so much of this is actually funded by giant corporations and thus psychopaths. It's choosing to fight with one arm tied behind your back.