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President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that television networks providing negative coverage of him should lose their broadcast licenses, escalating his attacks on the media.
“They’re 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity … I mean, they’re getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from Great Britain, according to CNN reporter Alayna Treene.
“When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump … I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years. They’re not allowed to do that,” he added.
The president’s remarks followed ABC’s suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after the host criticized Trump supporters’ response to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Nexstar Media Group, which owns many ABC affiliates, announced it would drop the program before ABC extended the suspension across its network.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!” the president posted to Truth Social on Wednesday.
President Trump has repeatedly attacked outlets for what he calls unfair coverage. In August, he wrote on Truth Social that ABC and NBC are “fake news” and “two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% bad stories.”
He added, “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!!! MAGA.”
While Trump raised the idea of pulling licenses, the Federal Communications Commission does not regulate networks such as ABC and NBC. Instead, it licenses local broadcast stations. That oversight can indirectly affect networks through affiliates, but does not allow the FCC to revoke a network license directly.
