• On Monday, the Trump administration stated that taking Tylenol while pregnant is linked to an increased rate of autism, but according to CNN, “The science showing a connection between autism and Tylenol is not settled." Even Fox News’ senior medical analyst said, “There’s absolutely no proof whatsoever” that Tylenol causes autism. Newsmax, however, responded by making outlandish claims. Host Chris Plante, for example, made the absurd claim that “since the Democrats are so angrily denouncing it and they’re wrong about everything, it’s probably more likely to be true."

Last week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC affiliates and Disney over inaccurate statements Jimmy Kimmel made regarding Charlie Kirk’s killing. Nexstar, a large network affiliate in need of Carr’s approval for a merger, refused to air Kimmel’s show. Soon after, ABC announced that Kimmel’s program was suspended indefinitely. This week, Kimmel’s show returned to the air, but Sinclair and Nexstar said they would not be airing the program yet. 

Several Fox hosts responded to the Kimmel saga by insisting that his initial suspension was a business decision unrelated to administration activity. This talking point echoed many Republican politicians.

But there was at least one person who continued to implicate the state in a network’s programming choice: President Donald Trump. Trump responded to Kimmel’s return to the airwaves by threatening the network with retribution. His public stance makes it clear that Carr’s initial statements aligned with the president’s wishes — he wants to see his supposed enemies punished and his friends helped.

Media Matters’ Matt Gertz writes: “The greatest threat that free speech currently faces in this country is that the president doesn’t believe in it. Donald Trump treats criticism of himself, his administration, and his policies as fundamentally illegitimate, and he is eager to use government power to curtail it. When Trump’s allies downplay or spin the anti-speech activity flowing downstream from his whims, they engage in willful ignorance or deliberate deception."

• On Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury for giving false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Several right-wing media personalities were quick to state that the indictment is political retribution. Fox News’ Howard Kurtz said the indictment was “completely and totally orchestrated by President Trump.” And Newsmax host Rob Schmitt said the indictment “does feel like retribution, does feel like they saw a man and they looked for a crime. And that's likely happening.” 

Last weekend, Donald Trump went on a social media tirade against his attorney general, Pam Bondi, for not prosecuting his political enemies. Trump specifically mentioned Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former FBI Director James Comey, saying they were “guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” 

This is hardly the first time Trump’s administration has moved for his political enemies to be prosecuted. And right-wing media have broadly called on MAGA enemies to be prosecuted. But one interesting facet to come out of this episode was that right-wing media figures came out to defend Trump’s authority to personally intervene in legal decisions. Newsmax host Greg Kelly, for example, said Trump is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and that the Department of Justice is not in the Constitution. 

Trump’s ire has not been exclusively directed at his attorney general. Erik Siebert, the top federal prosecutor in the East District of Virginia was forced out by Trump for not bringing charges “against two of the president’s perceived enemies,” identified by The New York Times as Letitia James and James Comey. This week, Lindsey Halligan, a strong ally of Trump’s, took over the post. Kelly, naturally, defended the change. 

Neither is Trump’s personal intervention into legal matters just reserved for his enemies. This week we learned that White House border czar Tom Homan allegedly accepted a bag of cash from undercover FBI agents as part of a corruption investigation. The investigation was subsequently closed under the Trump administration. Fox News, which once employed Homan, stayed largely silent on the case, while some other right-wing media personalities defended Homan. 

Last weekend, Trump told an audience, “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.” The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro said Trump was acting like a “stand-up comic” when he made those comments. Trump’s actions to weaponize the Department of Justice, however, tell a different story.

• As it seems increasingly likely that the government will shut down on October 1, Newsmax’s Carl Higbie said, “Let’s go, shut it down.”

Donald Trump delivered a speech riddled with misinformation to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. The most glaring moment, perhaps, was when Trump falsely claimed that grocery prices were down under his administration. Despite the falsehoods and general weirdness of his speech, Fox’s Sean Hannity claimed it was “the best speech he's ever given.” 

One interesting part of Trump’s U.N. appearance happened before he took the stage, when an escalator he was riding abruptly stopped. (Trump’s teleprompter also later stopped working briefly.) The U.N. conducted an investigation and found the escalator stoppage had occurred due to a safety mechanism, but Trump went on a social media rant about the episode. The incident sparked conspiracy theories in right-wing media, with Newsmax’s Greg Kelly calling the escalator mishap “a deliberate dis.” Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty said the escalator and teleprompter mishaps were deliberate. Fox’s Jesse Watters suggested the escalator and teleprompter had been sabotaged. And The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles alleged that the incident was deliberate.