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LymphocyteLover

(8,797 posts)
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 03:54 PM Sep 18

Trump Threatens Licenses of TV Stations That Criticize Him

Source: Bloomberg

There's a paywall so I can't read it but this article was linked below this Bluesky post
"Headlines on the Bloomberg Terminal from Air Force One:

*TRUMP: TV LICENSES SHOULD BE TAKEN AWAY IF BAD PUBLICITY FOR ME
*TRUMP: IF TV SHOWS 'HIT TRUMP' SHOULD BE DISCUSSED ON LICENSES
*TRUMP ON TV SHOWS CRITICIZING HIM: THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED TO"

Headlines on the Bloomberg Terminal from Air Force One:

*TRUMP: TV LICENSES SHOULD BE TAKEN AWAY IF BAD PUBLICITY FOR ME
*TRUMP: IF TV SHOWS 'HIT TRUMP' SHOULD BE DISCUSSED ON LICENSES
*TRUMP ON TV SHOWS CRITICIZING HIM: THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED TO

Thomas Seal (@twseal.bsky.social) 2025-09-18T18:02:00.533Z


Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-18/trump-says-kimmel-suspended-over-bad-ratings-not-free-speech
24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Trump Threatens Licenses of TV Stations That Criticize Him (Original Post) LymphocyteLover Sep 18 OP
We're "there". no_hypocrisy Sep 18 #1
We have been there Miguelito Loveless Sep 18 #6
The illusion of freedom JoseBalow Sep 18 #8
it certainly should be blindingly obvious to EVERYONE at this point. Real fucking fascism alive and well LymphocyteLover Sep 18 #9
Quite a pickle C_U_L8R Sep 18 #2
Archive link dweller Sep 18 #3
TY... littlemissmartypants Sep 18 #13
That's so mature of him. He's acting like a thin-skinned spoiled brat. Dave Bowman Sep 18 #4
Kind of acting like Richard Nixon. LiberalArkie Friday #19
He's making it so clear that it's going to backfire. He's not even pretending enough Sep 18 #5
FU ya GD NAZI FUChead... & thanks for Cha Sep 18 #7
All because Endlessmike56 Sep 18 #10
Certain MSNBC hosts better stay away from windows above the fourth floor. NoMoreRepugs Sep 18 #11
Ah..Donald. Old proverb: "Don't push people too far, they might come close enough to stop you". chouchou Sep 18 #12
K&R ReRe Sep 18 #14
Don't worry Mr Dump mdbl Sep 18 #15
It's Easy topcelts Sep 18 #16
That Is The Precise Reason Independent Agencies Were Established DallasNE Sep 18 #17
The govt can only do this for broadcast stations, local affiliates. CaptainTruth Sep 18 #18
They can't legally do it for broadcast TV either Wiz Imp Friday #21
Thanks! CaptainTruth Friday #23
How long will the GOP allow this monster to destroy our economy and government. travelingthrulife Friday #20
Exactly! They can't ALL be happy with this, meaning they are scared to speak out, which is fucked up. LymphocyteLover Friday #22
Dear God, will somebody PLEASE take away his cellphone ... make this STOP! FakeNoose Friday #24

LymphocyteLover

(8,797 posts)
9. it certainly should be blindingly obvious to EVERYONE at this point. Real fucking fascism alive and well
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 06:03 PM
Sep 18

right here in the good ol' USA.

C_U_L8R

(48,157 posts)
2. Quite a pickle
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 04:00 PM
Sep 18

lose your license or lose your audience.

they should have stood up to Trump long ago… now they are thoroughly fucked.
I”m voting with my clicker.

enough

(13,622 posts)
5. He's making it so clear that it's going to backfire. He's not even pretending
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 04:24 PM
Sep 18

that it has to do with combating “leftwing violence.”

Cha

(314,583 posts)
7. FU ya GD NAZI FUChead... & thanks for
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 04:44 PM
Sep 18

inviting this Fascist Fuck to the royal palace, Charles.

ReRe

(12,014 posts)
14. K&R
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 06:59 PM
Sep 18

Well there you go. Right outta the horse's mouth into perpetuity. He can't take that back.
Place that right there in evidence, court clerk. Thank you!

mdbl

(7,422 posts)
15. Don't worry Mr Dump
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 09:52 PM
Sep 18

I have plenty of other sources. You ruined network television so I don't watch that anyway. Have at it you big democracy hating asshole.

DallasNE

(7,876 posts)
17. That Is The Precise Reason Independent Agencies Were Established
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 10:01 PM
Sep 18

But the Supreme Court has empowered Trump to fire for any reason whatsoever, rather than only for cause. Trump couldn't be doing this without the full support of the Supreme Court. America is in bad shape right now Very bad. And time is running out to fix it.

CaptainTruth

(7,896 posts)
18. The govt can only do this for broadcast stations, local affiliates.
Thu Sep 18, 2025, 10:07 PM
Sep 18

It has no effect on cable, streaming etc networks because they don't broadcast on frequencies owned by the US govt.

And... how many people watch broadcast TV (with an antenna & a receiver) today? 1% of all viewers?

Wiz Imp

(7,479 posts)
21. They can't legally do it for broadcast TV either
Fri Sep 19, 2025, 10:32 AM
Friday
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/sep/18/brendan-carr-fcc-jimmy-kimmel
Tom Wheeler, a former FCC chair appointed by President Barack Obama, said Carr is “incredibly bright” and savvy about using the broad latitude given to the chairman, “exploiting the vagaries in the term ‘the public interest’”. Instead of the deregulation Trump promised voters, the administration “delivered this kind of micromanagement”, Wheeler said. “It’s not the appropriate job of the FCC chairman to become the censor-in-chief,” Wheeler said.

The lone Democrat on the FCC, Anna Gomez, criticized Carr for “using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression”. Gomez called ABC’s decision “a shameful show of cowardly corporate capitulation” that threatened the first amendment, and said the FCC was operating beyond its authority and outside the bounds of the constitution.

“If it were to take the unprecedented step of trying to revoke broadcast licenses, which are held by local stations rather than national networks, it would run headlong into the first amendment and fail in court on both the facts and the law,” Gomez wrote in a statement. “But even the threat to revoke a license is no small matter. It poses an existential risk to a broadcaster, which by definition cannot exist without its license. That makes billion-dollar companies with pending business before the agency all the more vulnerable to pressure to bend to the government’s ideological demands.”

travelingthrulife

(3,344 posts)
20. How long will the GOP allow this monster to destroy our economy and government.
Fri Sep 19, 2025, 10:20 AM
Friday

This is all on the heads of the GOP. They could end his reign of terror this week if they chose to.

LymphocyteLover

(8,797 posts)
22. Exactly! They can't ALL be happy with this, meaning they are scared to speak out, which is fucked up.
Fri Sep 19, 2025, 12:48 PM
Friday
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