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SAN DIEGO -- President Donald Trump is notorious for falling to pieces over small things. But oddly, his petty rants sometimes touch on big topics.

The trouble is that the noise caused by the small often drowns out the substance of the big. This presidency is all about distraction. The president who can't stand a slight is an expert at sleight of hand. Americans now spend so much time and energy arguing over the unimportant that we miss the chance to unpack what is consequential.

Consider the ruckus that ensued when Trump recently hinted that the federal government might yank the licenses of broadcast television networks that air criticisms of him. The way the president sees it, if the networks are "against" him, he shouldn't be "for" them.

Trump made those comments in speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One just one day after ABC suspended "indefinitely" the late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" after the host made fun of the way Trump was handling the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Here's the backstory: At one point, the president dodged a reporter's question about how he was coping with the death of Kirk -- someone he referred to as a friend -- when it was revealed that the alleged assailant, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, came from a MAGA household. Instead, Trump awkwardly changed the subject and started talking about how construction was going on the new White House ballroom.

"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend," Kimmel said. "This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish. OK?"

Kimmel was not making fun of Kirk, only Trump. And, no, despite what was reported by some conservative media, the comedian did not compare Kirk to a goldfish. He was saying Trump was a phony.

No kidding. Tell us something we don't know, Jimmy.

Here's more backstory: Earlier, Chairman of the Federal Communcations Commission Brendan Carr had channeled his inner mafia boss when he called the host's comments following Kirk's death "truly sick" and implied that ABC could be in hot water if it didn't "take action on Kimmel."

"We can do it the easy way, or the hard way," Carr said during an interview on a right-wing podcast.

In other words: "Nice broadcasting license you got here. It'd be a shame if something bad happened to it."

At first, it appeared as if ABC -- whose initials critics said stand for "Always Be Caving" -- had picked the easy way by suspending Kimmel.

Meanwhile, Trump, who likes to moonlight as an entertainment correspondent, insisted Kimmel suffered from "lack of talent."

"Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk," Trump said to reporters during a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

But then ABC and its parent company, Disney, changed course and brought Kimmel in from the cold. He is scheduled to be back on the air starting today, Sept. 23. The host will likely make a statement upon his return. He might even apologize for his word choice and poor timing.

Kimmel made a statement of a different kind by booking as his first guest upon his return one of the president's least favorite people: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a vocal Trump critic and likely contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.

However, Sinclair Inc. and Nexstar Media Group -- conservative outlets which together own a total of nearly 70 ABC affiliates -- both announced that their stations will not be airing the late-night show.

This story is about much more than whether a late-night host who earns an annual salary that is reported to be around $15 million still has a gig. Kimmel was always going to be comfortable.

This story is also about whether a media outlet such as a newspaper or radio station or television station has to shower the president of the United States with sugar and spice and everything nice.

As Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when he was threatening to yank broadcast licenses, he thinks the media is out of touch with much of America. After all, he easily won the 2024 election.

"I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily, all seven swing states," Trump said.

Finally, the president is making sense. He is also making a good point. It's true that the media is out of touch with many Americans.

It's a major problem. But censorship and the scrapping of the First Amendment are not the solution.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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