Donald Trump has become regular fodder for late-night TV hosts, but that is generally the case for any sitting president.
With Trump, however, things have seemingly gotten personal, and he is not taking it too well.
After yet another round of hits from late-night hosts, Trump is now threatening to have the FCC pull broadcasting licenses for the networks that offer “almost 100 percent negative” coverage of him and his administration.
Stephen Colbert’s Late Show only has five months left before its run on CBS ends, but Trump would love to see it removed from the air sooner rather than later.
Trump was burning the midnight oil this week, going on a late-night rant against Colbert, posting, “Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW.”
The president is not necessarily wrong, as Colbert had turned his attacks up a notch after he learned of the cancellation, perhaps figuring that he now has nothing to lose.
What Trump does not seem to understand is that the more he complains about these guys, the worse the attacks are likely to be.
To my point above, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel delivered a Christmas message in the UK after King Charles spoke, claiming that "tyranny is booming.”
He insinuated that Trump was responsible for him being taken off the air, then added, "But then, you know what happened?”
Kimmel continued, “A Christmas miracle happened. Well, it was September, it was a September miracle. But the holiday does seem to come earlier and earlier every year, doesn’t it? Millions and millions of people stood up and said: ‘No, this is not acceptable.'"
The host's removal was more about blatant misinformation than anything else, having wrongly characterized the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk. But, as we all know, when in doubt, blame the bad orange man.
Trump then came out blistering, posting, “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!”
Now, this may not be a popular stance with our readers, but Trump is more or less talking about censorship, and that is not okay with me.
I have stated many times that supporting our First Amendment right is easy when the person in question agrees with us, but tough when you have to defend something you don’t like. Do I like partisan media or late-night shows that ram an agenda down our throats? Absolutely not, but it is up to the networks to hold their journalists accountable, and the American people can simply tune out if they don’t like what people like Kimmel and Colbert are saying.
I think it is a bit over the top for Trump to threaten to pull broadcasting licenses because he does not like what people say. It mimics state media, which is what we have always accused Democrats of doing. If I were advising Trump, I would simply tell him to ignore it, not even mention it, because the more he does, the more attention he draws to these shows, which is akin to pouring gasoline on a fire that is already burning out of control. Trump just needs to get thicker skin. Otherwise, he is taking us down a rabbit hole we simply cannot go down as conservatives and defenders of our Constitution.
