And so it has begun. Trump is going after the free press in an obviously authoritarian way.
Trump is very unhappy that NBC News is doing its job of reporting the news to the people and tweeted out that the time is now to take away their broadcast license.
Earlier today, NBC News reports that in a July meeting Trump told his people he wanted to increase our nuclear arsenal tenfold after viewing a slideshow on how we’ve reduced our stockpile over the years. This is the incident where “supposedly” Rex Tillerson called Trump a moron.
Apart from watching ‘Patton” a dozen times, Trump obviously has no knowledge of our military history or the problems and issues they’ve dealt with for decades. Since he has no patience or mental capacity to learn anything, this is the type of behavior he exhibits and what the world has to deal with.
Two officials present said that at multiple points in the discussion, the president expressed a desire not just for more nuclear weapons, but for additional U.S. troops and military equipment.
Any increase in America’s nuclear arsenal would not only break with decades of U.S. nuclear doctrine but also violate international disarmament treaties signed by every president since Ronald Reagan. Nonproliferation experts warned that such a move could set off a global arms race.
The article also reports that his lack of focus throughout is detrimental to our foreign policy as well as the safety of the nation.
At a meeting in the Situation Room the president was so non-present his advisers wanted, “a smaller setting where the president could perhaps be more focused. “It wasn’t just the number of people. It was the idea of focus,” according to one person familiar with the discussion. The thinking was: “Maybe we need to slow down a little and explain the whole world” from a big-picture perspective, this person said.”
Anyway, Donald was not happy with this reports as he is unhappy about any negative press coverage so he then threatened to try and revoke NBC’s broadcasting license.
With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017
Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a “tenfold” increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017
Trump doesn’t have the actual power to do so by himself and neither does the FCC, but he would if he could.
The FCC, an independent federal agency, issues broadcast licenses to stations and oversees license holders. It does not license networks. NBC is owned by Comcast, which holds broadcast licenses for several stations. NBC also airs on affiliate stations owned by other companies.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle responded.
Dear @realDonaldTrump – we stand by our reporting and appreciate you taking the time to watch. https://t.co/0FShKwrPcu
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) October 11, 2017
What Trumps’ constant attacks on the national media do is inflame his die-hard supporters, like he’s doing with the NFL so that they react with anger.
That type of anger makes people turn away from “mainstream news” and embrace conspiracy theories from black helicopter groups and the Fox and Friends state-sponsored propaganda have been peddling.
This is detrimental to a free society, but by his reactions to the press, free is something Trump would love to do without.
