These days, you’ve got to stand in line to quote the late German pastor Martin Niemöller, referencing (and repenting for) his early support for Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Remember how it ends?
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
Some 80 years later, another “they” is coming for many among us:
They came for many citizens who depend on Medicaid.
They came for many who receive SNAP food resources.
Bill Leonard
They came for immigrants both undocumented and documented.
They came for thousands of government employees.
They came for diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
They came for universities.
They came for teachers.
They came for lawyers.
Then they came for the comedians. And it wasn’t funny.
Colbert and Kimmel
The CBS expulsion of Stephen Colbert from the airwaves was attributed to low ratings, but most of his viewing audience knew the current president of the United States had been calling for his removal for years. Colbert’s late-night contract continues until May 2026.
ABC’s immediate suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live was blamed on statements he made after the horrific shooting of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, only to be restored days later due to public pressure on ABC and parent company Disney. These actions, and the continuing effort to silence comedic critics of the present presidential administration, deepen fear of the loss of free speech nationwide.
In a New York Times op-ed, Suzanne Nossel, author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All, wrote:
Consequences of free speech need to be proportionate, lest they eviscerate the freedom itself. In the riff that cost him his show, Mr. Kimmel wrongly implied that Mr. Kirk’s killer was a MAGA supporter and derided President Trump’s grieving over Mr. Kirk’s death. Criticism of his remark was fair game. But the rallying of a public campaign involving threats by a top government official, rebellion by multiple station groups and indefinite suspension for Mr. Kimmel was a wildly excessive response to a thought that was neither defamatory nor menacing.
POTUS offered this assessment of the initial cancellations: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy (Fallon) and Seth (Myers), two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT.”
History of satire
Satirical critiques have a long history in American politics:
“Calvin Coolidge doesn’t say much — and when he does — he doesn’t say much.” — Will Rogers
“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.” — Mark Twain
“George Washington couldn’t tell a lie, George Bush couldn’t tell the truth, and Bill Clinton couldn’t tell the difference.” — Jay Leno
“A government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.”
“I sleep better at night knowing Reagan is sleeping” — Art Buchwald
“There they are. See no evil, hear no evil, and … evil.” – Bob Dole, watching former presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon standing together
“A government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.” —Jimmy Kimmel, September 23, 2025
History is replete with exchanges between power-obsessed “monarchs” and their satirical detractors. Ironically, recent comedic challenges to the person and policies of President DJT call to mind an “anonymous” satirical work scholars attribute to the great Medieval humanist/philosopher Desiderius Erasmus. Titled Julius Exclusus e Coelis, (“Julius Excluded from Heaven”), it appeared in 1514 after the death of the powerful “warrior pope” Julius II, said to have been more comfortable in armor than in papal vestments. Julius, known to history as one of the great Renaissance popes, personified vast ecclesiastical authority and political power as the vicar of Christ on earth.
Erasmus’ satire, written as a play, opens when the drunken Julius, accompanied by Genius, his guardian angel, arrives at the gate of heaven and is unable to open it. So the satire begins:
Julius: What the devil is this? The doors don’t open? Somebody must have changed the lock or broken it.
GENIUS: It seems more likely that you didn’t bring the proper key; for this door doesn’t open to the same key as a secret (papal) money-chest. Why didn’t you bring both the keys you have? This is the key of power, not of wisdom.
JULIUS: I didn’t have any other key but this; I don’t see why we need a different one when we’ve got this.
GENIUS: I don’t either; but the fact is, we’re still on the outside.
JULIUS: Now I’m really getting mad; I’ll knock the doors down. Ho! Ho! Somebody come and open this door right away! What’s the holdup? Nobody home? What’s the matter with the doorman? He’s asleep, I guess, or else drunk.
GENIUS: This fellow judges everyone else by himself.
PETER: A good thing our gates are of diamond, otherwise this one, whoever he is, would have kicked them in. He must be a giant of some sort, a general of the armies, a stormer of cities. But oh my God, what a sewer-stench is this! I certainly won’t open the gates right away, but take a seat up here by a grated window where I can look out and keep an eye on the scene. Who are you and what do you want?
JULIUS: Open the door, will you? At least, if you can. And if you were really doing your job, it should have been open long ago and decorated with all the heraldry of heaven.
PETER: Pretty lordly. But first tell me who you are.
JULIUS: As if you couldn’t see for yourself.
PETER: See? What I see is new to me, like nothing I ever saw before, and I might say monstrous.
JULIUS: But if you’re not stone-blind, you’re bound to recognize this key, even if you aren’t familiar with the golden oak tree. You can certainly see my triple crown, as well as my cloak all gleaming with gold and gems.
PETER: That silver key of yours I do recognize, though there’s only one of them, and it’s very different from those that were given to me long ago by the one true shepherd of the church, that is, Christ. But that glorious crown of yours, how could I possibly recognize it? No tyrant ruling over barbarian peoples ever ventured to wear one like it, much less anyone who came here asking for admission. Your cloak doesn’t impress me either; for I always used to consider gold and jewels as trash to be despised. But what does this amount to really? In all this stuff —the key, the crown, the cloak — I recognize marks of that rascally cheat and impostor who shared a name with me but not a faith, that scoundrel Simon whom I once flung down with the aid of Christ.
Bottom line, Julius never gets into heaven. Instead, he takes 20,000 soldiers who died in his wars and goes off to found a new Paradise, promising ultimate retribution against Heaven as soon as possible.
Some things never change. Funny, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, let’s keep speaking freely, world without end, amen.
Bill Leonard is founding dean and the James and Marilyn Dunn professor of Baptist studies and church history emeritus at Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, N.C. He is the author or editor of 25 books. A native Texan, he lives in Winston-Salem with his wife, Candyce, and their daughter, Stephanie.
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Can employers fire employees for their Charlie Kirk posts? | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
What are Christians to make of this season’s South Park? | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim