Trump: NBC Fake News, Should Lose Broadcast License
There is a breadth of possible reactions to President Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. federal government rescind NBC’s broadcast license due to its participation in “fake news.”
You could say that this is a terrible idea, because it shows how little Trump knows about the law and the workings of the FCC.
You could say that this is a terrible idea, because it screams “fascism,” as shutting down the free press is the calling card of literally every fascist in coming to power.
IMO, the only response that makes sense is understanding that Trump ultimately has exactly one playing card, and once he loses it, he’s gone. That’s his supporters’ belief that he’s the only one telling the truth, and that literally millions of journalists and members of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies have conspired to deceive and convince the American people into believing that their leader is a pathological liar.
That’s it.
Craig,
Good grief, of course revoking NBC’s broadcasting licence would be a terrible idea. Not only does the President know he has no authority to do so, I doubt he meant to be taken literally.
The President was simply venting his frustration and annoyance at what he perceives as unfair reportage, bias and partisan advocacy disguised as reporting.
President Trump speaks in the same awkward terms as the average man, not the carefully guarded phraseology of the professional politician. Sadly, this makes him a target for every critic who wishes to interpret every phrase with the most negative spin or interpretation.
Take the President’s most famous awkward statement; “”We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,”
This simple statement was reinterpreted, misreported and distorted in the media until the original meaning was completely lost.
Perhaps a more careful politician would have phrased the sentence more clearly and left less room for deliberate misinterpretation.
Read objectively, the meaning is quite clear. The President is condemning hatred, bigotry and violence in demonstrators of all persuasions. It’s also clear that he had only just been informed of a riot in Charlottesville and possessed few details concerning the participants.
The President also urged people to remember “no matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are all Americans first”.
The President’s intentions were quite clear. He condemned hatred, bigotry and violence, while urging unity and tolerance.
Only dishonest political opportunists could interpret those responses as “racist” “Fascist” etc.
An ordinary man might feel he’d covered the situation as fairly and appropriately as possible by employing terms like bigotry (white supremacists) violence (employing violence in general) hatred (anti-fa etc).
An ordinary man might reasonably feel the President had also covered everything when urging people to unite as Americans regardless of color, creed, religion or political prejudice. In fact, a fair minded individual might even consider such sentiments “liberal” and “progressive”.
The other day, I caught a caught a taxi and heard a particularly inane jackass radio commentator ranting about Muslim bombers, I remarked to my companion, “I wish a Muslim bomber would blow him (the shock-jock) up !”.
I didn’t mean it literally, nor does the President when he makes these remarks. Fortunately, i don’t have thousands of media piranha awaiting my every word to reinterpret in accordance with some preconceived agenda.
President Trump should do his homework before making claims like this! I don’t think he understands anything that he needs to. The only accomplishment he has is that he is a billionaire. Without his money, he is useless. The problem is that money is power, and Trump has lots of money. He should just give up on the wall since there is no way Mexico is going to agree to pay for it. I don’t understand how people like him and Hillary Clinton were the final two. It makes absolutely no sense, but if 40% of Americans still believe Trump, there’s a good chance we’re not getting rid of him any time soon.