The Media Attacks Continue Day after Day

In a familiar move against news organizations he deems insufficiently loyal, President Donald Trump launched a late-night social media tirade Sunday, demanding that the broadcast licenses for NBC and ABC News be revoked. This latest attack continues his long-standing pattern of lashing out at any media outlet that fails to provide the fawning, glowing coverage he prefers.

Citing a dubious statistic, Trump claimed that "97%" of the stories about him from these outlets were negative. "IF THAT IS THE CASE," he wrote in his signature all-caps style, "THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED." He declared he would be "totally in favor" of such a move, accusing the networks of being "so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy."

The former president escalated his rhetoric in subsequent posts, branding both networks as "FAKE NEWS" and "two of the absolute worst and most biased networks anywhere in the world." He questioned why they weren't paying millions in license fees and insisted their "unfair coverage" should lead to termination. "Crooked ‘journalism’ should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!" he concluded.

This episode is another clear example of Trump's foundational approach to the press: media that praises him is legitimate, while any outlet that scrutinizes or criticizes him is an enemy to be delegitimized and punished.

Lastly, it should be pointed out again that ABC and NBC News do not hold FCC licenses for news content. They provide programming for local affiliates across the country which are regulated by the FCC and require licensing to operate in the U.S. 

How does he not know this?!