The Fight for Freedom of Speech: A Stand Against Control

They pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air. Just like that. The late-night comedian stated that the "MAGA gang was trying to characterize Kirk's killer as anything other than one of them and score political points." Suddenly, a whole network folds under pressure. ABC hit pause on his show, affiliates cut him off, and politicians cheered as if they had just won a war.

But let’s be real, this isn’t just about Jimmy Kimmel. This is about control. It’s about who gets to speak, who gets silenced, and who gets protected no matter the damage they cause.

The Legacy of Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk lived his public life pushing lies, fueling hate, and targeting communities, especially Black women, with words meant to cut deep. He had no problem demeaning us or stirring up the ugliest parts of America. Now, in death, the country is bending over backward to clean up his image and punish anyone who dares to say out loud what he actually did in life.

Christus Non Est Tyrannus (Christ is not a tyrant)

The Bible says, “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52, NIV). That’s the truth. If you want someone to speak well about you in your death, you need to do good while you’re living. That’s legacy.

Instead, the conversation has flipped. Kimmel becomes the villain. Journalists like Karen Attiah lose their jobs for simply quoting Kirk’s own words. Once again, we see how quickly corporations, politicians, and tech bros will move to protect racism wrapped in respectability.

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

This is where Christian nationalism creeps in. Let’s call it what it is: the Antichrist in a tailored suit. Don’t let them fool you with scripture and flags. There is nothing of Jesus in a movement built on silencing truth, banning books, and policing identity. Jesus flipped tables when greed took over the temple. Christian nationalists build golden tables and call it holy. That’s not salvation; that’s idolatry.

Learning from History

History is not a textbook note. It is a blueprint people follow when they want power without apology. We can learn from how the Nazis took over Germany because the playbook for control is blunt and repeatable. Here is how they did it, step by step, and why we should be alarmed when the same tools start showing up again.

First, they made the law pliable. In 1933, Germany passed the Enabling Act, which allowed the executive branch to rewrite rules without real checks. That legal bendability is how a democracy becomes an instrument of a single will.

Next, they seized the microphone. State control of radio, newspapers, and film turned every broadcast into a tool to shape thought. Then came Gleichschaltung, the coordinated takeover of institutions. Political parties, unions, universities, and even cultural organizations were folded into the official line. Book burnings and public shaming followed to make dissent costly and dangerous. Finally, they co-opted professionals and business owners with carrots and threats so the machinery of society would obey without needing boots on every street.

The Modern Parallels

Now read that same list again with our news headlines. Project 2025 is a policy blueprint that maps how to remake federal agencies to be politically loyal. Brendan Carr wrote the FCC chapter of that blueprint. Changing legal rules to give regulators more discretion over speech and licensing is how you bend law into an instrument of power.

Public interest hearings, the threat of license reviews, and calls to punish networks for perceived bias are ways to make broadcasters self-censor. Education censorship and book bans at school boards are the modern equivalent of burning books in town squares. When tech platforms and corporate media bend under political pressure, you get the same chilling effect that made dissent extinct in other times.

The Familiar and Dangerous Pattern

This is not to say everything is identical. It is to say the pattern is familiar and dangerous. When the levers of law, media, education, and commerce begin to stack toward one political project, pluralism starts to erode. When people happily excuse racism and cloak it in religion, when they cheer punishment for speech they dislike, they are helping build the scaffolding of control.

Our Choice

So where does that leave us? It leaves us with a choice. To speak louder. To support independent media that refuses to bow. To pull our money from advertisers who bankroll censorship. To show up in schools and fight for what our kids deserve to learn. To use art, culture, and community to tell our own stories when they try to bury us.

Truth & Freedom

Donald Trump, JD Vance, and the rest of their crew are banking on America staying asleep while they carve away our freedoms piece by piece. They don’t want your child learning Black history. They don’t want your neighbor speaking out at city hall. They don’t want you questioning why billionaires and politicians are hoarding everything while we fight over scraps. They want obedience. They want silence. They want control.

And here’s the dangerous part: their machine is powered by platforms and corporations. Tech companies amplify the lies. Networks bow to political pressure. Before we know it, our rights, our speech, our education, and our ability to resist are being erased in real time.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us with a choice. To speak louder. To support independent media that refuses to bow. To pull our money from advertisers who bankroll censorship. To show up in schools and fight for what our kids deserve to learn. To use art, culture, and community to tell our own stories when they try to bury us.

This moment is not about defending Jimmy Kimmel. It’s about defending the right to call a spade a spade. It’s about refusing to let Christian nationalism claim the name of Christ while doing the devil’s work. It’s about knowing that legacy matters—yours, mine, theirs.

Because at the end of the day, Matthew 26:52 reminds us: live by the sword, die by the sword. History will not remember the ones who tried to silence truth kindly. History will remember the ones who stood up, spoke out, and kept fighting when the world told them to hush.

Our freedom is not theirs to take. Not without a fight.