Should Trump Pull NBC's Broadcasting License?

No. Of course not. What kind of stupid is happening now?

[A basement, deep underneath 30 Rockefeller Center]

Trump: It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it’s told.
NBC: Mister, we’ll pay cash. Whatever ransom you’re asking for, we’ll pay it.
Trump: It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again. Yes it will, Pence-y, it will get the hose.
NBC: OK, OK. Mister, if you let me go, I won’t press charges, I promise. See, my network is real important. I guess you already know that.
Trump: Now it places the lotion in the basket.
NBC: PLEASE. WE JUST THOUGHT MEGYN KELLY TODAY WAS A CUTE JOKE!
Trump: PUT THE F**KING LOTION IN THE BASKET!
NBC: AAHHHHHHH. ARRGGHHHHHHH!

We do not have a free speech “debate” in this country. We have Nazis and racists who have co-opted the First Amendment and deployed it for their own nefarious purposes. We have whites who stand slack-jawed as Nazis and racists take over our political discourse. We have blacks who would not like to get shot by police officers, and NFL owners who don’t like it when their uppity field-hands speak out of turn or teach themselves to read. We have corporate behemoths like ESPN and CNN who would gladly take blood money to prop up their failing business models.

And we have Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, two snowflakes who hear “and your penis is small” at the end of every criticism.

Team Trump is not “for” free speech, it’s “against” dissent. Whatever you think about the moral validity of punching Richard Spencer in the face, whether he gets a mic or an ice pack is IRRELEVANT to the speech battle Trump and Sessions are bringing to your doorstep. Here again today, Trump threatened to do something far more sinister than a student screaming “boo” while listening to Nazis at the University of Wisconsin.

 

Sponsored

If you want to make a First Amendment argument, PLEASE, save it for the president who wants to retaliate against unfavorable news coverage, and don’t bother me, the guy who wants to retaliate against Nazis.

Of course, Trump is unlikely to actually do anything with the broadcast licenses of NBC or any major network. It wouldn’t be in his interests. Not because the free speech crowd would rise in protest. As we keep seeing, those guys mostly only get going once you threaten to take away a person’s Tiki torch.

No, it wouldn’t be in Trump’s best interest because if there’s one thing we know about Trump’s people, it’s that they’re dumb. And dumb people really don’t like it when you mess with “the” TV. Sure, they’re not watching NBC Nightly News with “that black guy, now.” But what do you think happens when they find out that The Voice cannot be brought to them because Donald Trump threw a hissy fit? What do you think happens when they can’t find Sunday Night Football? Even black people who couldn’t be bothered to vote in Michigan because Facebook served them some ads from Russia about the 1994 crime bill might find their way to the polls if This Is Us is taken away because Trump didn’t get a good enough blow job from Chuck Todd on Sunday.

NBC will be fine. But that doesn’t mean the network won’t be scared. Giant corporations are more afraid of Donald Trump than they ever were of Teddy Roosevelt.

Look for NBC execs to appease the president very soon: “This is Lester Holt coming to you LIVE from Trump Tower. In accordance with the traditions of our ancestors, when the Sun’s rays hit the top of this building, I will be ritually sacrificed so that our broadcast license can rise again. Joining me are Dr. Ben Carson and Omarosa Manigault, who won’t help me.”

Sponsored

Trump Threatens NBC Over Nuclear Weapons Report [New York Times]


Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.