MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Cheers Trump Allies Trashing Free Speech Assault Amid Kimmel News: ‘Do Not Adjust Your TV!’

MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki cheered Republicans who seem willing to stand up to what many see as President Donald Trump’s assault on free speech in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing.

The aftermath of the stunning Kirk killing has prompted what observers on all sides see as an assault on free speech. Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi has drawn criticism for threatening to go after people over “hate speech” — including mockery or celebration of Kirk’s assassination.

That escalated late this week as late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended under intimidation from Trump and FCC chief Brendan Carr, and Trump announced he is designating Antifa a “terrorist organization.”

On Friday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki, the host applauded what she believes are signs that some Republicans are willing to stand up to the Trump admiistration over free speech:

JEN PSAKI, MSNBC HOST: What we did not necessarily expect today were reactions like this. This is a tweet from the former CEO of the Disney Corporation, Michael Eisner. It reads, quote, “Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the First Amendment? The suspending indefinitely of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the chairman of the FCC’s aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out of control intimidation. Maybe the Constitution should have said, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest.’ By the way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny.”

Now there’s a history between Michael Eisner and Disney’s current CEO, Bob Iger. We’re not going to get into it tonight. But that kind of unfiltered public outrage from the former top Disney exec was definitely not on my bingo card. I don’t know if it was on yours. I mean, especially at a time when we have seen so many C-suite leaders bend the knee to Donald Trump. I also didn’t expect this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off-air if we don’t like what you’re saying. And it might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel.

UNIDENTIFIED: Yeah.

CRUZ: But when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.

We should denounce it. It’s fine to say what Jimmy Kimmel said was deplorable, it was disgraceful, and he should be off-air. But we shouldn’t be threatening government power to force him off-air. That’s a real mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Do not adjust your TV sets. We did choose quite an unflattering photo there, apparently, of Senator Ted Cruz, but that was Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Now, you may not agree with every word of what he said. I don’t. But he was very clearly denouncing the Trump administration’s crackdown on the First Amendment and calling on others to denounce it as well.

And that is not the only surprising response we are getting out of Congress in the wake of Kimmel’s suspension. Yesterday, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna demanded that the House Oversight Committee subpoena Trump’s FCC chair, Brendan Carr, over the administration’s shakedown of media organizations. Take a look at Khanna today and watch how the Republican chair of that committee reacted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA), HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: I motion today to subpoena Brendan Carr and to have him explain to the American people why he’s bullying private individuals and private businesses.

Mr. Chair, I hope you’ll have him come in.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Well, I would — I think that — I think we could do that. I think we could…

KHANNA: I appreciate that, sir.

COMER: We could — I don’t think the motion’s necessary, but I think he would — I’m pretty confident he would be willing to come in to testify. So…

KHANNA: Well, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Well, thank you. I mean, I didn’t — I didn’t honestly expect that either, exactly. And don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of Republicans out there who are twisting themselves into pretzels to defend Trump’s attack on protecting free speech. But a number of them don’t seem that eager to get behind him on this one. I mean, maybe it’s because they realize that their party has spent the last four years, probably even longer, complaining about censorship, decrying so-called cancel culture, and expanding the definition of free speech to include issues like, say, whether or not private social media companies can kick you off their platform even when you lie about vaccines during the height of a global pandemic. Republicans like Ted Cruz understand that it is the height of hypocrisy for them to now turn around and support a literal government-backed censorship campaign.

Now, a few months ago, I would have probably told you not to expect longtime MAGA Republicans to break with Trump in any meaningful way, no matter how much he overreaches, no matter how much that contradicts what he — you know, what he does contradicts their own past positions. And for the most part, MAGA Republicans have stayed in lockstep with Trump, even on some of his most heinous and most absurd decisions. But there is an extent to which some MAGA members realize that they cannot just rev their base up about something and then just drop it as soon as it is inconvenient for Trump, because that’s not good for them politically. And that’s what it’s really about here.

Watch above via MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki.

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