After seemingly settling a rating with CBS within the settlement of his 60 Minutes lawsuit, Donald Trumpis setting his sights on ABC and NBC, which he claims are political pawns of the Democratic Occasion.
“Wow, ‘Concast’s’ NBC is down in viewership virtually 28% this yr,” the U.S. president wrote on Reality Social on Saturday, July 26. “Their programming is horrible, their administration even worse. They’re an arm of the Democrat Occasion, and ought to be held accountable for that. Likewise, Pretend Information ABC!”
Seven minutes later, he had extra to say on the matter. “Networks aren’t allowed to be political pawns for the Democrat Occasion,” he wrote. “It has develop into so outrageous that, for my part, their licenses might, and may, be revoked!”
Trump didn’t present proof of NBC and ABC being political pawns for the Democrats, nor did he cite a supply for the purported dip in NBC scores. In keeping with scores information cited by NewscastStudio, NBC Nightly Information charted year-over-year viewers development for the second quarter of 2025 below new host Tom Llamas, rating as the one night newscast to publish positive factors in each complete viewers and adults 25-54 from the identical time final yr.
Although he as soon as was an NBC star himself through his involvement with The Apprentice, Trump has taken intention at NBC and different broadcast networks earlier than.
“With all the Pretend Information popping out of NBC and the Networks, at what level is it acceptable to problem their License?” he wrote on Twitter in October 2017, per Brookings. “Dangerous for nation!”
He added on the time: “Community information has develop into so partisan, distorted and pretend that licenses have to be challenged and, if acceptable, revoked. Not honest to public!”
Ajit Pal, then the chairman of the Federal Communications Fee, responded to Trump’s feedback. “Beneath the regulation, the FCC doesn’t have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station primarily based on the content material of a selected newscast,” he mentioned on the time, per The Washington Put up.
Then, in October 2024, Trump criticized the networks once more. “60 Minutes is a serious a part of the Information Group of CBS, which has simply created the Best Fraud in Broadcast Historical past,” he claimed on Reality Social, per Brookings. “CBS ought to lose its license, and it ought to be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as ought to different Broadcast Licenses, as a result of they’re simply as corrupt as CBS — and perhaps even WORSE!”