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Showing posts from September, 2025

18 Scarily Stupid Moments From Trump and Hegseth’s Generals Meeting

early and often 18 Scarily Stupid Moments From Trump and Hegseth’s Generals Meeting Portrait of Margaret Hartmann By Margaret Hartmann, senior editor for Intelligencer who has worked at New York since 2012 2:52 P.M. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Reuters Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered more than 800 of the country’s military commanders to gather at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. Many flew in from thousands of miles away on short notice, so presumably Hegseth and President Donald Trump had something very important to tell them. Instead, Hegseth called military leaders “fat” and Trump delivered a rambling, rally-style speech. The president spoke in a wheezy, sleepy tone for more than an hour, on a stage clearly meant to resemble the movie Patton. His prepared remarks were full of dictatorlike complaints about “the enemy within,” and justifications for using the military to police U.S. cities. But it was hard to track the major themes, as there were so many long, self-...

What the Right Really Means When It Says ‘Free Speech’

politics What the Right Really Means When It Says ‘Free Speech’ Portrait of Sarah Jones By Sarah Jones, senior writer for Intelligencer who covers politics and labor Charlie Kirk and his intellectual godfather, William F. Buckley Jr. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty When Jimmy Kimmel returned to television on Tuesday evening, the late-night host had sharp words for the conservatives who’d briefly forced him off the air. President Donald Trump had put Disney, which owns ABC and made the call to suspend Kimmel, at risk by making “it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs,” the comedian said. “Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.” Kimmel had attracted Trump’s ire by suggesting Kirk’s murderer was one of the “MAGA gang,” but previously he was not the most obvious target of the anti-speech right. Once known for co-hosting The Man Show, his late-night persona has always be...

Lower Than Cowards

Lower Than Cowards Kimmel returns after controversial suspension •The Atlantic by Adam Serwer / Sep 25, 2025 at 5:36 AM “We have to speak out against this bully,” Jimmy Kimmel said in an emotional monologue after returning to ABC on Tuesday. The network had suspended him, under pressure from the Trump administration, for remarks last week in which Kimmel appeared to inaccurately suggest that Charlie Kirk’s killer was a conservative. Kimmel choked up when discussing the violence and praised Kirk’s widow, Erika. But he also warned his viewers—an audience four times larger than usual—that Trump and his cronies are threatening free speech in all its forms: “Our leader celebrates Americans losing their jobs, because he can’t take a joke,” Kimmel said. But “he’s not stopping. And it’s not just comedy.” True to form, Trump has since threatened to sue ABC for bringing Kimmel back, as if it were illegal not to like him. Kimmel’s refusal to capitulate stands out because so many other well-sit...