President Donald Trump, on Truth Social Tuesday night, once again threatened that TV networks that are critical of him should lose their broadcast licenses.
“If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!,” Trump declared on Truth Social.
In addition to threatening their news divisions, which he has of course done in the past, Trump this time is threatening late-night talk shows, and their comedian hosts. The federal government and FCC have the power to regulate over-the-air TV networks, a power that does not extend to cable networks. However, this has not traditionally extended to the president demanding that individual people be fired, or that broadcast licenses be pulled.
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Per Newsweek, “The FCC cannot directly cancel broadcasting licenses for major networks, including ABC, NBC or CBS. However, it can revoke or deny renewals of licenses for local stations that are affiliates of the major broadcasters.”
This, of course, already happened earlier this year, when Trump and his FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, with the help of affiliates, successfully pushed for ABC host Jimmy Kimmel to be removed from the air for a few days, following some jokes about Charlie Kirk. But that push was unsuccessful, Kimmel returned to his show, and even received a contract extension this fall.
In a separate rant, Trump attacked the talents, and ratings, of the network late-night shows.
And he also went separately after CBS host Stephen Colbert, who is already in the final year of his show and will sign off this spring.
“Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success. Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking!,” Trump declared.
It’s not clear if there’s any particular bit or recent joke from Colbert that has Trump upset with him.
This followed a strange report, by the online betting market Polymarket, naming Colbert “the #1 suspect in the Epstein Files.” But the Files are already being released, Colbert’s name is not included, nor has the CBS host ever been named in any Epstein-related investigation.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
