• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 4 hours ago

The jokes and the ribbing toward President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump keep coming from Jimmy Kimmel on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” 

In response, in his latest Truth Social post, President Trump amped things up himself. Is there comedy here?

“When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television?” he wrote. “People are angry. It better be soon!!!”

The analysis and strategy from Walt Disney and Kimmel’s perspective seems to be a steady one: Keep working and making jokes. This is the cost of the media doing business in the age of Trump -- lawsuits, high gas prices, and overall agita.

This comes amid the FCC making an unprecedented move to do an early broadcast license review of eight ABC-owned television stations.

What is the likely outcome? Disney has a 90% or higher probability of winning any direct court battle regarding its broadcast licenses, according to legal analysis. The legal standard for actually revoking a license is even more difficult due to First Amendment protections.

The review is not focused on Kimmel. The agency claims to be investigating whether Disney’s corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives violate anti-discrimination rules.

Josh D’Amaro, the new CEO of Walt Disney, has little choice but to factor in all these bottom-line legal costs.

But know this: history, and Trump-related judicial business outcomes for all these types of lawsuits continue to fail -- spectacularly.

So on Wednesday's show, Kimmel continued to joke about how he has helped the president and First Lady create a closer bond: “Our first couple, Donald and Melania, lately have seemed closer than ever, and I like to think I played a part in that,” he said.

This is in reference to previous comedy lines Kimmel made about the age difference between Donald and Melania Trump.

Kimmel continues to do comedy around political and government officials -- something other comedians/entertainers have been doing for decades: More roasting, more humor -- which in the past has generally yielded higher TV ratings.

The First Amendment protections have not gone away, at last reading of the U.S. constitution.

Comedy is not referred to in its text. But the Supreme Court has ruled that humor -- satire and parody -- is protected.

Until then, the entertainment continues, under a new intended comedy mantra or punchline: “It better be soon!!!”