President Donald Trump's latest Truth Social rant involves "fake news" purveyed by NBC and ABC, along with Trump's blessing if the Federal Communications Commission decides to revoke their licenses for the obvious bias (which would be unlikely).
"Why is it that ABC and NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the absolute worst and most biased networks anywhere in the World, aren’t paying Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES. They should lose their Licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!! Crooked “journalism” should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!" Trump posted late Sunday night.
The New York Post pointed out that the two major networks are not themselves licensed by the FCC. They instead provide content for local affiliates, which are licensed.
Trump's lack of knowledge about how TV works aside, he is showing a huge amount of either bravery or arrogance by going after what most people think of as free speech and freedom of the press. Most presidents and other politicians won't go further than complaining about bias because the majority of Americans still think of the media as protected by the Constitution, even if it has been biased against conservatives for decades, and provably so.
In truth, there is probably some of both bravery and arrogance in Trump's insinuation that two of the main three television networks should lose their ability to broadcast.
He followed up the first post by saying, "Despite a very high popularity and, according to many, among the greatest 8 months in Presidential History, ABC & NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% BAD STORIES. IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC. I would be totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy!!!"
Trump is not wrong that NBC and ABC are basically extensions of the Democrat party propaganda apparatus, but that doesn't mean that a government entity should stop them from operating.
This is why Trump gets a reputation for being "fascist." It's not true, but when he says things like this it is not a far leap for those who already don't like him.
Let's just restrict the press to those who will report favorably about him, because that will totally be fair to everyone. Right?
Trump has to know that he has prospered politically just as much because of the negative press about him as he has from the positive things people have said.
Each criminal indictment against him made him more popular because people saw him as the underdog fighting the establishment, the big bad Democrats picking on him.
In a very real sense, Trump would probably lose at least some of his support if the media suddenly started praising him all the time.
That being said, it must be stressful and annoying to get attacked every day just for doing what you think is best to help the country.
