If anyone wonders how democracies fade away, it's when one side of the political spectrum gets riled up by honest satire and discovers ways to persecute the satirists. Mugabe, Orban, Putin are relatively recent examples of autocrats who have quashed their opposing satirists.

And Fox fans, don't think Fox's style is satire. An analysis of Fox's "Five" shows it has non of the class or nuance or principle that Colbert has. It masquerades as a newsy talk show but is basically just a parade of bullies who resort to a chain gang of boorish insulters of anyone and everyone they want to demonize. And Greg Guttfeld's blanket accusation that every target of his "a Communist" orb"a terrorist" isn't funny or satirical. It's slanderous. And like how the honest world responded to Joseph McCarthy who made wild snd inflammatory accusations like that, there's no satire or truth in such accusations. Just mean spirited evil. (Like Himmler or Mussolini eere when they made such accusations.)