Treating the Federal Communications Commission like his own personal enforcer, Donald Trump said on social media Sunday that NBC’s Kristen Welker would be “reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment” over a TV segment he didn’t like.
In a separate post, Trump complained in all caps about “fake polls” and said “something must be done about it,” adding, “FCC to the rescue!”
The posts were Trump’s most explicit efforts yet to direct the FCC to carry out his wishes. FCC Chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee and close ally, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the matter.
Q: explain what type of system tries to silence reporters, revoke broadcast license, make false claims and never correct, and these are about issues of human rights and democracy, supposed freedoms.
A: This is deployed by antidemocratic leaders: economic pressure, politicized legal action, regulatory abuse, and co-optation of media outlets. The goal is to eliminate reporting on human rights and democratic issues, the very “supposed freedoms” that the regime nominally upholds in its constitution but systematically undermines in practice.