For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has challenged us to respond with the word “joke.”

Late night talk show hosts and stand-up comedians are not politicians, heads-of-state, captains of industry and commerce, or religious leaders. They’re friggin’ comedians. They try to make their audiences laugh a lot — and squirm a little. One of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time, George Carlin, said, “I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.”

Comedy, by definition, is meant to be somewhat controversial. The reality is that, for as long as there has been comedy, there has been “offensive” comedy (i.e., comedy that may offend some people).

Although not stand-up comics, humorists, philosophers, and writers like Mark Twain, Will Rogers, and H.L. Mencken were often biting in their witty social and political commentaries. In the Fifties and Sixties, political and social satire worked its way into small folk music and comedy clubs, where comedians like Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce expanded both the language and boundaries of stand-up.

Today, it’s the comic talents of people like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver who are using political satire to speak truth to power. But power these days (e.g., Donald Trump) is so thin-skinned and insecure that he can’t take a joke where he happens to be the punchline. And then he uses his power, influence, and vindictiveness to get them fired. Kimmel’s show was pulled off the air for a week and Colbert’s show is ending next May.

If Trump had his way, any joke about him would result in jail time for the jokester. He has openly criticized late-night hosts and networks, using both social media and his administration to call for the cancellation or regulation of shows critical of him. He has made statements suggesting that late-night programming that criticizes him should face license revocation and further regulatory scrutiny.

Despite political and regulatory pressures, prominent hosts like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel have made it clear through on-air commentary and guest appearances that they are unwilling to back down from political satire. There is a spirit of solidarity within the industry to defend free speech and resist overt political influence.

Trump’s war against political satire that is aimed at him is not funny. He may ultimately be successful at shutting down late-night comedy shows that have existed and made jokes about those in power from both parties for decades. But political satire and the impulse to lampoon those in power is likely to persist in new and evolving formats regardless of Trump’s efforts to shut them down.

America, just because Donald Trump can’t take a joke doesn’t mean that we need to give up our collective sense of humor and shy away from good political satire.