BREAKING: Trump adds Brian Tyler Cohen to official enemies list
We have a predictable, albeit dangerous, update here that actually concerns me. specifically. The White House has. officially added me to a short list of. what they're calling, quote, media. offenders alongside other independent. creator David Pakman. Now, I don't know. what they plan on doing with this list, but I can tell you what they've done. with other lists. Donald Trump has. engaged in a retribution tour against. his other perceived enemies, which. includes Letitia James, Adam Schiff, James Comey, John Bolton, Tim Walsh, Jacob Frey, Mark Kelly, Alyssa Slotkin,
and news outlets including the Wall. Street Journal, New York Times, ABC, CBS, Disney, and the Washington Post, just to name a few. Which leads me to. believe that they've now moved on to the. next iteration of their plan going after. content creators. Now, first of all, I. think it's worth noting the irony of a. political movement that beat its chest. about free speech for the last 4 years. now creating lists of people with. dissenting opinions. These people are so. fragile, so delicate, such little.
that they are now going after. content creators and comedians for doing. stuff like telling jokes that offend. their that offend their frail. sensibilities. And what's worse, they. are using the federal government to do. it. In fact, you don't even have to. guess as much because Donald Trump is so. ham-handed himself that he comes out and. just admits it. This is what he said. immediately upon the FCC going after. Kimmel. >> That's something that should be talked. about the licensing, too. When you have a network and you have. these shows and all they do is hit.
Trump. That's all they do. If you go back, I guess they haven't had. a good show but in a long years or. something, somebody said. When you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They're licensed. They're not allowed to do that. They're. arm of the Democrat Party. >> In other words, it wasn't about Kimmel's. comments, which by the way were. completely innocuous, but rather that. Trump has a broader agenda of. suppressing any coverage critical of. Trump. Quote, all they do is hit Trump.
This is about heaping praise onto an. aspiring autocrat all because he's too. fragile to shoulder any criticism. And. this has become a recurring theme. Trump. also got Stephen Colbert canceled by. leaning on CBS as their parent company. Paramount was seeking a merger with. Skydance. He sued ABC News which. settled, sued 60 Minutes which settled, installed Barry Weiss by the way who. gutted the staff including Scott Pelley. just this week, sued Meta which settled. He is currently suing The New York. Times, The Wall Street Journal, Simon &. Schuster. He barred the AP from the.
press briefing room. He even barred the. Australian Broadcasting Company from his. UK press conference a few months back. because the reporter dared ask a. critical question of him. Anyone who. touted Trump or his MAGA movement as. some champions of free speech is either. a liar or a fool. In fact, it's not just. Trump who is too ham-handed to. understand how not to confess to the. reality of what's happening here. His. FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has been. beyond overt in giving the whole game. away. This is what he said just prior to.
Kimmel's cancellation a few months back. >> But frankly, when you see stuff like. this, I mean look, we can do this the. easy way or the hard way. These. companies can find ways to change. conduct, to take action, frankly, uh on Kimmel. Or you know, there's going to be additional work for. the FCC. Again, there's actions that we. can take on licensed broadcasters. And. frankly, I think that it's it's it's. really sort of past time that a lot of. these licensed broadcasters themselves. push back on Comcast and Disney and say, "Listen, we are going to preempt. We are. not going to run.
Kimmel anymore until you straighten this. out because we, we licensed broadcaster, are running the possibility of fines or. license revocation from the FCC if we. continue to run content that ends up. being a pattern of news distortion.". >> Think about that language for a second. We can do this the easy way or the hard. way. That's not regulatory oversight, that is extortion. That is a federal. official threatening a media company. with government retaliation unless they. silence a critic of the president, a. comedian. And that's exactly what ABC.
did, which raises the question, is this. even constitutional? And the answer is. absolutely not. Just last year, this. Supreme Court ruled 9 to nothing that, quote, government officials cannot. attempt to coerce private parties in. order to punish or suppress views that. the government disfavors. That is a. ruling where in everyone from Clarence. Thomas and Samuel Alito agreed. with Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown. Jackson. When you've got the White House. running to the far right of the US.
Supreme Court, you might have lost the. plot. But let's be clear here. While Trump is. a despot and his acolytes like Brendan. Carr are some of the most vile human. beings to ever ascend to the highest. ranks of the US government, and they. deserve all the scorn in the world for. their horrific behavior, this. administration would not feel as. emboldened as they do without the. cooperation by these corporations that. are so focused on money and. shareholder value that they will. sacrifice everything in pursuit of it. Let's not forget the backstory behind. the Kimmel cancellation attempt. Nexstar.
Media Group is the largest provider of. local news in the country. They operate. ABC affiliate stations in dozens of. markets across the US. Nexstar was. seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion. merger with a company called Tegna. At. the same time, you've got the federal. government demanding a ransom for. everything and making it perfectly clear. where they stand on these late-night. hosts who dare criticize dear leader. Trump himself literally posted on Truth. Social, quote, I absolutely love that. Colbert got fired. His talent was even. less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy.
Kimmel is next. And guess what? That is. exactly what happened. And because these. companies like Nexstar and ABC and CBS. and Paramount and Washington Post and. Meta are all so overleveraged and so. desperate to grab more cash, they. continue to capitulate to Trump. And the cost of that is that we all are. less safe because we all now live in a. country where the president feels. emboldened to commit more of these acts. ABC's decision to even temporarily pull. Kimmel show doesn't just hurt Kimmel, it. gives Trump carte blanche to feel that.
his autocratic behavior is acceptable. CBS's decision to cancel Colbert's show. doesn't just hurt Colbert, it gives. Trump the sense that he can pull these. stunts even more with impunity. That. hurts all of us. These outlets, desperate to curry favor with the god. king, are hurting all of us. All because. they need another buck because god. forbid they didn't focus solely on more. money, more growth, more shareholder. value. God forbid. So look, again, I'm not surprised that. it's looking like I and other creators.
are next on Trump's list, but I can. promise you one thing from my part. I. will never stop speaking out. I'm not. owned by some money-grubbing corporate. entity that needs something from the. federal government. I am 100%. independent. An independent media. clearly has never been more important. That's why they're working so hard to. silence our voices. So look, if you. would like to support my work, I'll ask. for one thing right now. Um, I have a. book coming out in just a few weeks. The. single best way to support me, if you. can, is to pre-order my book titled The. Day After. It is a blueprint for how. Democrats can and must fight back.
against this aspiring autocrat. Maybe. that's why Trump is targeting me because. I try to be clear-eyed about how to. relegate his movement to the dustbin of. history forever. I'm going to put a link. to pre-order that book right here on the. screen and in the post description and. in the comments or you can go to. briantylercohen.com/book. I'll also be on tour in mid-July. You. can grab tour tickets at that same link. and I would love to see you in person. Please help elevate my message in this. ecosystem as we work together to ensure. that the US never experiences anyone.
like Trump again. And I hope that the. rest of the media outlets understand. that by capitulating to Trump, you are. not placating him. You are just showing. him that you're weak. You are showing. him that you can be extorted. You're. showing him that if and when he wants to. do this again, that he'll be able to do. it without a problem. I said this months. ago and I'll say it again right now. Trump is never going to stop trying to. silence the voices that are rightfully. calling him out. He won't stop with me. Just like he wasn't stopping with. Kimmel, just like he wasn't stopping. with Colbert, just like he wasn't.
stopping with ABC News and CBS and the. New York Times and 60 Minutes. All of. these cowardly media conglomerates are. not understanding that you do not buy. Trump off. You buy yourself a little bit. of time. That's it. And eventually, he'll come back because he knows that. you're weak and you stand for nothing. And the only thing more pathetic than. bowing down to this thin-skinned. autocrat is everybody's collective. inability to recognize that he will. never be satisfied. Donald Trump is. basically a shark preying on you. And. you cut off your arm to feed it to him.
Eventually, he comes back for the next. arm, then your legs, then your body. And. where did that leave you? That grand. bargain? It left you with nothing. Prey. to a predator who smelled blood in the. water because you were too stupid to. protect yourself when you had the. chance. So, my advice to the rest of the. media, wake the up. Recognize the. moment we're in and for sake, stand for something. Stand for anything. Anything that isn't money. Because all. the money in the world isn't worth a. thing when what you're left selling is a. product no one believes in. In the.
meantime, please know that I will never. stop. I will never be quiet. I will. never stop holding these people to. account. I have dedicated my life to. this cause. And watching this. administration target me has only made. me redouble my efforts. I promise you. that I will stop at nothing to ensure. that these people are never near the. levers of power again. And I hope that. you'll fight this fight alongside me. >> [music]. >> Before you go, I'm very excited to. announce that I've written a new book. titled The Day After: How to Wield Power.
in a Post-Trump World. The book explores. what it is, in my opinion, the single. most important theme that we're dealing. with in politics today and moving. forward, power. Specifically, how. Republicans abuse it and how Democrats. refuse to wield it. This book explains. how we got here and more importantly, how we should finally wield power if. we're fortunate enough to get it back. It is the blueprint for progressives who. want to do far more than just restore. the status quo. Please pre-order today. by visiting the link in the episode. description or go to. briantylercohen.com/book.
You can grab yours from any of the major. retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. or find an independent bookstore closest. to you that's also listed on that. website. Thanks so much for supporting. independent media.
