Former White House attorney Ty Cobb drew chilling historical parallels between Donald Trump’s attacks on the press and authoritarian crackdowns on free expression, while delivering a deadpan joke about the future of comedy during his second term.
“It’s evocative of what we’ve seen throughout history,” Cobb, who served in Trump’s first administration, told NBC News’ Kristen Welker. “In 1939, Dr. Goebbels, at Hitler’s instruction, removed five comedians, or witticists as they were called at the time, from the airways in Germany and for criticizing or making fun of the government in a satire way.”
Cobb also pointed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that one of Putin’s first moves in the early 2000s was to “systematically silence critical media outlets and independent TV channels” that were soon “bought out or shut down.”
“Trump is waging war on people who offend him,” said Cobb. “He’s all about vengeance. And sadly, his subordinates, like one of the Project 2025 authors, Brendan Carr of the FCC, are following in line.”
The warning came as ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel and Trump publicly urged NBC to remove late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. All have mocked the president. Cobb called the situation “really tragic” and predicted more comedians would be targeted.
