That then refutes the theory that the FCC head and Trump canceled Kimmel, or that they have the power to do so
For a guy who gets so intertwined in pretzels you sure have a way of not seeing the obvious or ignoring it. Or just putting up straw man arguments.
The FCC wasn't threatening to cancel ABC's license.
Nexstar and the other company that owns a bunch of ABC affiliates are doing an attempted merger/takeover that will require the discretional, affirmative, approval of the FCC to ignore a law that prohibits the concentration of ownership the merger would create. As it stands, the proposed small market affiliate takeover/merger is a non-starter because it already is against the law.
It was these affiliate stations, NOT ABC or Disney that flicked the first domino over.
Disney/ABC just decided they weren't going to be pushed around by Trump and some small affiliate stations trying to suck up to Trump. That their viewers, advertisers and maybe even their integrity were more important than the failing, flailing orangutan who is in bad health and is not going to be around loonger than the viewing public will.