Ari Melber says Trump’s attempts to censor Jimmy Kimmel backfired, after the late-night comedian returned to ABC with record-breaking ratings.
Donald Trump “lost this round” — that is Ari Melber’s assessment after Jimmy Kimmel’s record-breaking return to ABC. On Wednesday’s “The Beat,” Melber called the episode a “ratings bonanza,” noting 6 million viewers tuned in to watch Tuesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” On social media, the comedian’s opening monologue had racked up more than 26 million views as of Thursday morning.
Melber said the ratings show the Trump administration’s attempt to squash criticism from the late-night host backfired — in spectacular fashion. “When you try to suppress something, you sometimes draw more attention to it,” he said.
“The Beat” host referenced a popular nickname for this phenomenon: the Streisand Effect. The term was coined in 2005, after Barbra Streisand tried to suppress a single picture of her home in California. As Melber recounted, her effort “ended up backfiring and drawing far more interest.”
However, while Melber acknowledged that Trump’s censorship attempt may have misfired this time, he also cautioned that a phenomenon like the Streisand Effect is only possible when the information being suppressed is still accessible.
“So it is a fact that there’s more interest in Kimmel’s monologue, but — yes, ‘but’ I’m sorry there’s always a ‘but’ these days — that still will only matter in reality if there is the freedom to find the material and get it,” he explained. “The Streisand Effect does not work in North Korea or places with legal, practical, tech limits on what you might find on your TV or on their version of what they call the internet, which is censored.”
Melber highlighted how many local affiliates run by Nexstar and Sinclair are still refusing to air Kimmel’s show, seemingly going along with “the MAGA government crackdown” and bringing America one step closer to the practices of autocracies like North Korea.
“There’s an old saying in politics, that it’s a thin line between the impossible and the inevitable, meaning sometimes something that you don’t think could ever happen, happens,” Melber continued, noting that right now, America has “a leader who openly tries to abuse government power to sacrifice or end the very first amendment of our Constitution” and “the basis for all the rest of our civic dialog and democracy.”
So while many Americans may believe the U.S. going the way of North Korea and other autocracies is impossible, Melber says, “that’s where we are.” And according to him, the only way to prevent a further crackdown is for the American people to stand up and band together to fight censorship. “The rest is up to us,” Melber said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., slammed the Trump administration’s shutdown memo threatening federal workers’ jobs, calling it illegal blackmail that harms American people and services.
A Senate Democrat ripped President Donald Trump for a recently released memo that detailed mass firings in the event of a shutdown, and accused the president of engaging in “mafia-style blackmail.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., railed against the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) memo sent to federal agencies this week that outlined a plan to reduce employees across the government beyond those that are typically furloughed.
While the House passed a short-term funding extension last week, Senate Republicans and Democrats are at odds over the bill. The deadline to fund the government is Sept. 30, and so far, no progress has been made to reach an agreement to keep the lights on.
Van Hollen charged that Trump “is engaged in mafia-style blackmail, with his threats ultimately harming the American people”, and likened the OMB’s memo to actions taken by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year that led to tens of thousands of federal employees being either fired or incentivized to retire or take a buyout.
“He is threatening to double down on the failed actions of Elon Musk and his chainsaw — going after patriotic civil servants that provide Americans with critical services — despite having to rehire many of these workers after Americans experienced the negative impact of those cuts”, he said.
“These dedicated workers have nothing to do with the ongoing political and policy disputes that have brought us to the brink of a shutdown”, Van Hollen continued. “These threats are not only an attack on Americans’ services and benefits, they’re also likely illegal. We’ll be fighting back with every tool we have.”
Van Hollen’s ire comes as the Trump administration is gearing up for mass firings beyond the standard furloughs in a government shutdown.
The OMB’s memo, obtained by Fox News Digital, directed that in the event lawmakers cannot pass a funding extension, or continuing resolution (CR) by the deadline, agencies should “use this opportunity to consider Reduction in Force (RIF) notices for all employees” in programs that have no other available funding source and that don’t comport with Trump’s priorities.
“RIF notices will be in addition to any furlough notices provided due to the lapse in appropriation”, the memo read, and would be issued “regardless of whether the employee is excepted or furloughed during the lapse in appropriations.”
Lawmakers are set to return to Washington on Monday, just a day before the deadline to fund the government. Senate Democrats blocked the GOP’s CR last week, and demanded a seat at the table to negotiate with congressional Republican leaders and Trump.
However, Republicans have pushed back against Democrats’ counter-proposal as unserious, and are unwilling to budge on a laundry list of items tossed into their CR, which included permanently extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, repealing the healthcare section of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, and clawing back canceled funding for NPR and PBS.
A meeting between Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Trump was set for Thursday, but the president canceled, and accused Democrats of “ridiculous” demands in their counteroffer to the GOP’s plan.