People Want Me Deported

Hi,

It's been three months since I got tear gassed by the National Guard. How time flies.

As you're aware by now, America is slipping into an authoritarian dictatorship. The world is so busy, you almost lose sight of the whole dictatorship thing. But when Jimmy Kimmel and his entire staff get yanked off air for making a joke about Donald Trump, it all comes flooding back.

If you missed it, Kimmel pointed out how little Donald Trump seemed to care about the death of his "good friend" Charlie Kirk. "This is not how an adult grieves," said Kimmel, before throwing to a clip of a reporter asking Trump about Kirk's death. Without missing a beat Trump pointed to a nearby big truck:

“Right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get for about 150 years. And it's gonna be a beauty. It'll be an absolutely magnificent structure!"

Kimmel quipped that this must be one of the stages of grief: Construction.

On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatened to pull ABC's broadcast licence. ABC affiliate's Nexstar (who has a giant merger deal in front of the Trump administration right now) and the Sinclair Broadcast Group also objected to Kimmel's jokes – and the ABC caved in.

Kimmel was pulled off air.

"He Is Currently Living and Working In The US"

Things have never felt weirder on Webworm, and in my wider life. After my last two pieces (here and here) about Kirk and his killer, my inbox started dinging. I assume my most recent stories spread beyond my usual crowd, and into the right wing troll-o-sphere.

"Flightless bird fell off months ago. No wonder Dax fired you :)" said Michelle, who I assume was an old Armchair Expert listener. She went on:

"You obviously hate America. I’ve listened for years, and haven’t heard you say one good thing about it. Also, I was well aware that you’re liberal, and listened anyway even though I’m not a liberal. I was fine with it until you trashed Charlie Kirk. Usually immigrants are grateful to be here, and you just seem miserable."

There seems to be a collective forgetting about who Charlie Kirk really was – and what he stood for. And he stood for a lot of really, really bad stuff. As former president Barack Obama said earlier this week:

“I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn’t negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family.

We can also, at the same time, say that I disagree with the idea that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mistake. I can say that I disagree with the suggestion that my wife or Justice Jackson does not have adequate brain processing power. I can say that I disagree that Martin Luther King was awful.”

I got a lot of emails and DMs, and then back in my home country of Aotearoa, New Zealand, the usual trolls came out. Broadcaster Sean Plunket is actively trying to get me deported, copying some of my Webworm article and tagging in US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau.

Earlier Landau had posted earlier on social media saying, "Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country [...] Feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the State Dept can protect the American people."

Sean took him up on it. Despite me not glorifying violence in any way, Plunket replied - giving my full name, and the fact I live and work in Los Angeles.

I think it's easy to write Plunket off as a crank, but just for some context I do want to add that he does have reach. New Zealand politicians go on his show - including New Zealand's deputy Prime Minister, along with reputable journalists like Newsroom's Jonathan Milne.

So while part of me goes, "I am a small fish Landau doesn't care", this also objectively sucks. Other free speech absolutists (spoiler alert: they're not) like Damien Grant joined in, amplifying Plunket's messages. I think it's easy to write Grant off as a crank too, but I note he has a regular column on New Zealand's biggest news site Stuff. Like Sean, he has mainstream reach.

Of course that led to social media piling onto all of this, some also tagging in the US deputy secretary of state.

Another normal day in 2025.

My Own Terms

I'd prefer to leave America on my own terms. Right now, I am choosing to stay here, observe, and report. That is what journalism is about. You pay me to do the work, and so I will attend executions of wrongfully convicted people, Christian Nationalist Creed shows, and the arrival of the National Guard. And the occasional Tunnel Girl.

I also have friends and loved ones in America. I have a godson here. That stuff exists, too.

New Zealand stays firmly in my sights, and so I'll cover Michael Organ's run at politics, call out RNZ's horrific reporting on the death of a trans teen, and keep on top of Arise megachurch pastors starting new scams.

I'm not married. I don't have kids. It's mostly just me I have to look after. I'm okay. I am also incredibly privileged to have a New Zealand to return to, however I arrive at that decision (or lack thereof).

As for the random Sean Pool's of this world: Yes, I do care about people tagging me in with Homeland Security – because in an America rapidly slipping into an authoritarian dictatorship, Homeland Security - and the entire Trump administration - worries me a lot.

It won't shut me up – but it's going to continue to get more difficult and risky. We just saw Kimmel (and his whole crew of writers, camera people and runners) essentially lose their jobs. Giorgio Angelini (who guest wrote the last Webworm) just got banned from Instagram till the year 2034.

I feel incredibly lucky that Webworm has no advertisers or corporate overlords. There are no Disney mergers or Wondry deals here. I'm about as independent as I can be – and I'm glad for that.

I'm glad for you.

Thank you.

David.