The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has launched a digital ad campaign targeting vulnerable House Republicans, accusing President Donald Trump of launching a coordinated effort to suppress free speech following the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show by ABC. The campaign, which will focus on key districts in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, aims to capitalize on growing bipartisan outrage over the incident by highlighting how Trump is attempting to suppress dissenting voices. The ads will run on conservative media platforms including podcasts by Joe Rogan and Ben, Shapiro, targeting younger and male audiences.
The campaign, shared first with Fox News Digital, comes in the wake of ABC’s move last week to pull Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air after his remarks about the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk sparked outrage and a veiled threat from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The suspension of Kimmel sparked outrage among Democrats and progressives, and even some high-profile conservatives, who said the late-night host was being punished for exercising freedom of speech. Many Republicans countered that Kimmel’s comments suggesting Kirk’s suspected killer was a MAGA member were outrageous and false.
ABC reinstated Kimmel on Monday, and his program returned to air Tuesday night, although the roughly 60 affiliated stations owned by Nextar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group preempted the program. The DNC argues that Trump’s recent actions, including the suspension of Kimmel’s show after the host made controversial remarks about the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, represent a broader campaign to control what Americans are allowed to see and think.
During the first week of his second administration, Trump announced that