Trump sics FCC on ‘Meet the Press’ for telling the truth

President Donald Trump’s world is crumbling, and reporters, even mainstream ones, keep talking about it—which makes him furious.

So Trump is doing what he does best: threatening reporters and networks.

After “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker said—completely accurately!—that Trump’s endorsements in recent primary elections got “mixed results,” Trump hopped on Truth Social to say he was going to sic the Federal Communications Commission on her. 

“How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves?” he demanded to know.

Therein lies the biggest problem here, which is that Trump thinks that the public airwaves belong to him, not us, and he’s entitled to turn them into state media by using the FCC and the ever-present threat of lawsuits as a cudgel. 

You see, Welker is lying, per Trump, because of “the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei,”  in South Carolina and Oklahoma respectively which, sure. But the whole point of saying he is getting “mixed results” is that there are wins and losses. Perhaps a lackey can explain to Trump how that works.

Hah, that will never happen.

Trump also continued his tradition of being super weird about how he refers to female reporters, insisting on calling Welker a “hostess” of the show. Well, at least he didn’t call her a “piggy.”

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But here’s the thing: Trump’s endorsements are getting mixed results. At least 13 of his endorsees have tanked in their primaries, including the spectacularly hilarious results in Minnesota with his governor pick, pillow salesman Mike Lindell, who lost by 45,000 votes and yet is still demanding a recount but doesn’t want to pay, so he’s suing to get it.

But back to Welker. Per Trump: “Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”

Oh and also: his endorsement is, “without question, the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics. If it were not, I would be the first to admit it.”

Oh, yeah. If there’s one thing Trump is known for, it’s admitting when he is wrong. 

Trump is such endorsement-poison that once-solid Trump districts are, well, no longer solid, so Trump is gonna have to start threatening a lot of reporters.

He will certainly keep doing that, let’s be honest. And it’s a whole-of-administration effort, of course.

FBI Director Kash Patel sicced his agency on The Atlantic for the magazine’s accurate reporting that Patel is kind of a drunky lazybones.

The Department of Justice subpoenaed New York Times reporters for accurately reporting on Trump’s bribe plane follies, when he swapped out his little gift from Qatar for the actual Air Force One. 

Trump’s FCC chair and hatchet man Brendan Carr has been whining about accurate coverage of the war in Iran. Carr also not-so-subtly threatened networks that didn’t “voluntarily” (yeah, right) agree to air “patriotic, pro-America content that celebrates the American journey and inspires its citizens by highlighting the historic accomplishments of this great nation from our founding through the Trump Administration today.” Yes, if you’re not celebrating the deeds of Dear Leader, you’re not a real American. 

The Trumpian project can’t really survive in the light of day, because the truth is that it’s a disaster. So all Trump’s got is his usual threats, because it isn’t like he’s ever going to change course. Unlike ABC and CBS, which have caved to Trump and offered financial settlements and editorial changes in response to his tantrums, NBC will hopefully stand strong.

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