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free speech
Why Authoritarians Like Trump Are So Afraid of Humor
When leaders veer toward authoritarian rhetoric, the satirist goes to work to make sure our public language does not get swallowed by the party line.
Oct 12, 2025
When Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny hosted the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live,” he used the opportunity to tweak critics who are upset about his upcoming Super Bowl Halftime performance—delivering remarks in Spanish and then telling listeners they have four months to learn what he just said.
Martin Luther King Jr. once described violence as the language of the unheard. Bad Bunny took the opportunity to respond to his detractors in another powerful language of the unheard: satirical humor.
Although humor can seem trivial to some, we should not underestimate its power to shift cultural agendas. Contempt toward elites in the form of satirical mockery can be cathartic and a demonstration of solidarity for those of lower status. Humorists can have a deep impact on the public imagination.
Shifting public imagination is one reason repressive leaders fear comedic critique.
Satirical humor is one of the remaining glimmers of hope we have left in the fight against authoritarian rhetoric.
“Satire is the sharpest instrument of free speech," Russian comedian Viktor Shenderovich said in a recent interview with Politico magazine. “And the first thing all dictators do is crack down on freedom of speech.”
Shenderovich, now living in exile in Poland, was the force behind the satirical puppet show Kukly, which Russian President Vladimir Putin successfully pressured networks to cancel once he became president. The show poked fun at political leaders, like Putin, using unflattering puppets.
President Donald Trump is also known to oppose negative coverage, often trying to suppress it through lawsuits. We witnessed the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and the cancellation of Stephen Colbert. Trump has also publicly pressured networks to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers.
The satirist plays an important role in political society. When leaders veer toward authoritarian rhetoric, the satirist must go to work to make sure our public language does not get swallowed by the party line. In short, satire helps preserve the language of critique itself.
The sharpness of satire that Shenderovich alludes to can be effective for cutting through the fog of fear and confusion that accompanies authoritarian rhetoric.
As a humor scholar, it does not surprise me that Trump’s thin-skinned reactions to critique would target comedians. Satirical humor, in particular, has historically functioned like a disinfecting light.
Executive orders and irresponsible speech, such as baseless claims about Haitians eating neighborhood pets, may remain relatively unaffected in the public imagination despite pushback on CNN, "Meet the Press," or "Face the Nation." But the sting of satirical laughter is difficult to ignore. This is probably why people like Kimmel, Fallon, and Colbert get under his skin.
Perhaps even more frustrating to authoritarian figures is the way humor can undermine attempts to break their political enemies’ spirit by providing hope. Consider an example from a particularly dark point in history. Viktor Frankl described humor as a weapon in the fight for self-preservation in his powerful memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning.
He writes, “It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.”
The context for Frankl’s statement is the concentration camp. For him, humor was a lifeline that helped people hang onto their humanity in the midst of inhumane treatment by their Nazi captors.
Trump’s rhetoric is, without question, intended to strike fear into the hearts of his political enemies. The vagueness of his language is also a way of widening the scope to include anyone who disagrees with him. Think of his threat to have Attorney General Pam Bondi go after a journalist for hate speech.
Satirical humor at its best is a powerful force for disrupting authoritarian rhetoric. Satire shows no reverence for the kind of linguistic authoritarianism on display in attempts to expunge the nation’s parks and museums of racial memory or define anti-fascism as domestic terrorism. Rather, it disregards the social niceties we associate with social interaction and explores the logic behind our meaning choices.
Admittedly, satire’s irreverence can sometimes be uncomfortable, even offensive. Ignoring social niceties can mean pulling back the veil on hidden embarrassments. However, this may be the only route to a clarifying vision. I echo the words of writer and literary critic Ralph Ellison: “For by allowing us to laugh at that which is normally unlaughable, comedy provides an otherwise unavailable clarification of vision that calms the clammy trembling which ensues whenever we pierce the veil of conventions that guard us from the basic absurdity of the human condition.”
Satirical humor is one of the remaining glimmers of hope we have left in the fight against authoritarian rhetoric. Long live its sting.
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Mahmoud Khalil and the Israelification of the US: Wake Up!
Palestinian human rights advocate, Mahmoud Khalil, knows authoritarianism when he sees it. “I lived under the Assad regime [in Syria]. I know how that feels.”
Oct 12, 2025
A negotiator for the pro-Palestine student protests on Columbia University's campus in 2024, Khalil and I spoke late last month. Thousands of National Guard had already been deployed to Los Angeles and Washington DC, supposedly to “crack down” on crime, leading to hundreds of arrests and seizures.
Khalil was arrested and seized — by unidentified men, without a warrant, at his home — this March. Snatched away from his pregnant wife he was transported in shackles to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, where he was held for 104 days until a New Jersey judge ordered him to be released. A legal, permanent resident who had committed no violence and broken no law, Khalil’s detention was just the first and most visible abduction in a wave of arrests targeting international students and faculty who were speaking out against genocide in Gaza.
Reflecting on his experience, Khalil said: “I think people mistakenly think that what's happening is far from their doors. They think that this would never happen to them, whether, you know, because of their social status, because of their ethnicity or any of that.”
People call it the “Palestine Exception.” That’s the idea that all sorts of behaviors and speech that are acceptable in other contexts are selectively denied and punished when it comes to advocacy around Palestine. Conversely, many Americans have believed that if they only steer clear of the issue of Palestine and the treatment of Palestinians, their rights to free speech and assembly will be protected and secure; that they will be “safe.”
As we spoke, President Trump (a convicted felon) was ordering National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon, and calling for “expanded deployments” to other places. At a crackpot convening of the nation’s top brass, Trump urged the military to use US cities as “military training grounds” For what? For domination? Occupation?
“What's happening around us should alarm us that this is at our door, it's in our house,” said Khalil.
Palestine may not be the exception, but rather the test. The treatment of Palestinians and human rights advocates like Khalil has tested our tolerance for cruelty and authoritarianism, and until recently, it’s a test that our anti-fascist movements have failed. Go down the list that scholars have compiled. What do authoritarians do? They name an enemy, declare an emergency, and invoke extraordinary, often military powers to shock and intimidate every credible source of opposition and dissent, the law, the media, the academy, free speech, and other politicians. Mahmoud Khalil has seen all those moves up close, and he is far from alone. Speaking in solidarity with Gaza has cost jobs, funding, landed people on watchlists and led to widespread campus arrests.
He thought it couldn't happen here. He thought that in the US, people had rights. Having left Syria and coming to prestigious Columbia University to take up graduate studies with a view to becoming a diplomat, Khalil, too, thought that he was safe:
“I was, to be honest, like I was confident, you know, nothing would happen to me. I never did anything wrong. I literally was protesting a genocide.”
He was wrong, and he learned different, and Americans are also learning.
National Guard and ICE agents have arrived in Portland, where they’ve fired pepper balls at senior citizens, journalists, and shot one priest in the head as he attempted to pray for peace. Federal agents including ICE and Border Patrol have started patrolling the streets of Chicago, where they’ve reportedly shot chemical munitions at civilians in broad daylight.
On September 30, the very next day after Khalil and I talked, federal agents rappelled in darkness from a Black Hawk helicopter onto the roof of a five story building in South Chicago’s South Shore, kicking down doors, deploying flashbang grenades, and forcibly entering nearly every apartment, removing adults and kids, zip tying their hands before separating them from their parents.
“It’s not that the US is becoming authoritarian. It is authoritarianism now,” said Khalil.
Khalil is once again under a deportation order, issued by the same immigration court judge who oversaw his detention in March. Citing paperwork errors on his visa application, he’s once again threatened with deportation to Algeria or Syria where his life would be under threat.
“Americans need to wake up,” said Khalil.
It all makes one think about that Palestinian experience we’re not supposed to speak about. What if, instead of the Palestinian exception, we need to be talking about the Israelification of the U.S.?
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'We Will Not Back Down,' Says Indivisible as Trump Aims FBI, IRS at Liberal Groups
"Let’s call this what it is: A baseless attempt to chill free speech and scare people away from exercising their constitutional right to protest an authoritarian regime."
Oct 10, 2025
The pro-democracy group Indivisible is among those speaking out against the Trump administration's reported targeting of progressive and liberal organizations with various government agencies, including the FBI and IRS, as part of what critics call an "authoritarian playbook" by President Donald Trump that seeks to criminalize dissent, chill free speech, and frame nonviolent protest and opposition as "domestic terrorism."
In-depth reporting by Reuters named Trump's far-right, xenophobic White House advisor Stephen Miller as "playing a central role" in the internal effort to wield the power of federal agencies at a variety of organizations that the administration claims—contrary to all available evidence—are funding or orchestrating violent protests and political attacks.
Granted anonymity to speak more freely about the internal mechanics of the operation, Reuters' reporting is based on discussions with "three White House officials, four Department of Homeland Security officials and one Justice Department official to produce the first comprehensive account of how decisions are being made, forces deployed, and operations coordinated in the crackdown."
"Trump wants to scare people away from exercising their constitutional rights. We won’t let him succeed. Don’t let this smear distract you. The best response to attacks on our rights is to exercise our rights. That means showing up in huge numbers on October 18."
According to Reuters, "Miller is deeply involved in reviewing government agencies' investigations into the financial networks behind what the administration labels 'domestic terror networks,' which include nonprofits and even educational institutions, a White House official said."
In response to [a Reuter's request], the White House highlighted seven political protests in 2023 and 2025 that included acts of violence directed against law enforcement officials, and two incidents of vandalism at Tesla dealerships this year as well as half a dozen social media posts celebrating the damage.
It named nine liberal groups, donors or fundraising organizations that it said helped finance or plan protests where the violent incidents occurred.
While the second White House official stressed that the organizations were not necessarily potential targets, the material provides insight into the administration's thinking.The list includes Soros' Open Society Foundations; ActBlue, the funding arm of the Democratic Party; Indivisible, a grassroots coalition opposed to Trump policies and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based group.
"The goal is to destabilize Soros’ network," a third White House official said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Soros's network of charitable organizations rejected any claim by Trump or the White House officials that its operations have anything to do with violent conduct or promoting violence.
"Neither George Soros nor the Open Society Foundations fund protests, condone violence, or foment it in any way," the spokesperson said. "Claims to the contrary are false."
Other groups named by the White House officials were two Jewish-led advocacy groups, IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, both of which have organized protests and nonviolent sit-ins to oppose the genocide in Gaza being carried out by the US-backed Israeli government.
Citing the Reuters reporting, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin said in a social media thread Thursday night that the fact a looming crackdown on groups opposed to Trump and his far-right agenda is coming less than two weeks before "before the largest peaceful protest in modern American history is absolutely intentional." On October 18, massive protests are planned nationwide as a follow-up to the "No Kings" day of action that took place in June, bringing an estimated one million people into the streets against the Republican Party's authoritarian lurch under Trump.
According to Reuters, "Miller is taking a 'hands-on' role in investigating the funding of nonprofits and educational institutions and is sharing recommendations from Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with Trump and other top advisers," as well as sharing information with the joint terrorism task force.
"We don’t have all the details, but it appears Trump’s regime is gearing up to smear us with ludicrous accusations that we’re somehow tied to violence at protests—a claim that’s as false as it is predictable," said Levin. "Let’s call this what it is: A baseless attempt to chill free speech and scare people away from exercising their constitutional right to protest an authoritarian regime. We have been committed to nonviolence from the very beginning. It’s a core principle, not just a talking point."
"We will not back down," Levin said in the post. "Trump and Miller can lie, smear, and threaten all they want. They will lose."
"By floating false allegations of violence," he concluded, "Trump wants to scare people away from exercising their constitutional rights. We won’t let him succeed. Don’t let this smear distract you. The best response to attacks on our rights is to exercise our rights. That means showing up in huge numbers on October 18."
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