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President Trump made the First Amendment his No. 1 enemy on Wednesday, calling freedom of the press “disgusting” and suggesting the TV networks he doesn’t like should lose their broadcasting licenses.
Triggered by an unflattering story from NBC News, Trump zeroed in on the network while making some of his most overt threats yet to the press.
“With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” he wrote in a morning tweet.
At night, he added, “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!”
Trump has targeted NBC many times before in his media rants, but never previously suggested the station — which helped him shoot to superstardom with “The Apprentice” — should be taken off the air.
Trump’s TV tantrum came after an NBC News report said he asked in a July Pentagon meeting for the U.S. to increase its nuclear arsenal tenfold. After the meeting, Secretary of State Tillerson allegedly called Trump a “f—–g moron,” which NBC first reported last week. Trump and the State Department denied the insult, though Tillerson himself did not.
In another Wednesday tweet, Trump wrote, “Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a ‘tenfold’ increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!”
Speaking hours later to reporters in the Oval Office, while sitting next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump still hadn’t moved past it.
“It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write. People should look into it,” he told the media, accusing reporters of using sources that “don’t exist.”
Trump’s war with the so-called “fake news” media has been a signature obsession since he started his presidential campaign, when he vowed to “open up” libel laws to make it easier to sue media outlets.
His most recent threats have become even more severe.
In a tweet last week, he suggested Congress should investigate news networks for reporting stories he deemed “fake.”
“Why Isn’t the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!” he wrote.
Trump’s Wednesday threat suggests he wants the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on networks he doesn’t like.
The FCC regulates broadcast stations, including NBC, since the airwaves are considered public. It has the ability to penalize the stations or revoke licenses for a variety of offenses, including knowingly broadcasting false information.
But there is little chance that Trump’s complaints would warrant such action, since there is no evidence NBC is publishing fake stories.
Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Trump’s demand is unwarranted — and carries an authoritarian tone.
“This madcap threat, if pursued, would be blatant and unacceptable intervention in the decisions of an independent agency,” Copps said in a statement.
“The law does not countenance such interference. President Trump might be happier as emperor, but I think the American people would strip him of his clothes on this issue.”
Copps added that Trump’s threat looms larger for smaller local stations, which “might lack the resources to fight back,” than it does for the major networks.
Thousands of television viewers have filed complaints with the FCC this year over news coverage of Trump and demanded the agency strip stations of their licenses.
Dozens of viewers complained about NBC and the other broadcast networks, but the vast majority focused on CNN, which the FCC cannot control because it doesn’t regulate cable.