{"id":44555,"date":"2020-03-26T16:15:10","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T23:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44555"},"modified":"2020-03-26T16:23:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T23:23:51","slug":"wannabe-dictator-trump-threatens-to-revoke-licenses-of-stations-that-air-critical-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44555","title":{"rendered":"Wannabe Dictator Trump Threatens to Revoke Licenses of Stations that Air Critical Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As Americans sees the rising number of their fellow citizens becoming victims of COVID-19 (coronavirus), they are simultaneously <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44525\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">losing confidence in the <em>&#8220;leadership&#8221;<\/em> of Donald Trump<\/a><\/strong>. From the beginning he downplayed the threat that the virus represented, insisting that the number of those affected was small and that it would shortly be zero. He could not have been more wrong. On Thursday the number of cases in the U.S. surpassed China.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tyrant.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator\" width=\"550\" height=\"296\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-35821\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsCorpse\/posts\/3413780365303401\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Advs\/fb-share-tn.jpg\" width=\"274\" height=\"20\" class=\"aligncenter\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And while the virus infections and fatalities go up, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44514\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Trump&#8217;s mental state spirals down<\/a><\/strong>. He is sinking into a defensive posture that resembles closely the behavior of paranoid authoritarians who perceive enemies all around them. And one of the most common reactions by such persons is to clamp down on what they believe is a hostile media. Thursday&#8217;s Coronavirus Task Force (which <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44505\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">he really has no business attending<\/a><\/strong>) opened with Trump accusing the press of being <em>&#8220;corrupt.&#8221;<\/em> That&#8217;s nothing new for someone who has repeatedly referred to the media in Stalinist terms as <em>&#8220;the enemy of the people.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>More troubling is that now Trump is going after a progressive group that produced an ad recounting Trump&#8217;s failure to respond to the budding pandemic. Priorities USA compiled some of Trump&#8217;s own dismissive statements and juxtaposed them with a chart showing the virus&#8217;s rate of growth. This upset Trump and resulted in a <em>&#8220;cease and desist&#8221;<\/em> from the Trump campaign organization. Here&#8217;s the ad that triggered President Snowflake:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Donald Trump issued a cease and desist letter to stop our ad from running because he doesn\u2019t want Americans to know the truth about his failed leadership. Help keep it on the air by donating here<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZeRIriA3Y8\">https:\/\/t.co\/ZeRIriA3Y8<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Jdh1GY9HHS\">pic.twitter.com\/Jdh1GY9HHS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Priorities USA (@prioritiesUSA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prioritiesUSA\/status\/1243115190230663169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s bad enough that Trump would try to intimidate a political group by infringing on their First Amendment rights. But it&#8217;s even worse than that. The Trump campaign is actually threatening to revoke the broadcast licenses of any television station that airs the ad. That&#8217;s a fascist strongman&#8217;s solution to pesky critics who dare to speak out. According to a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2020-03-26\/trump-campaign-s-threat-on-tv-licenses-may-be-mostly-bluster\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">report in Bloomberg News<\/a><\/strong>, Trump&#8217;s campaign warned that&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;Failure to remove the ad &#8216;could put your station\u2019s license in jeopardy&#8217; before the Federal Communications Commission, the campaign said in the letter. &#8216;Your station has an obligation to cease and desist from airing it immediately to comply with FCC licensing requirements.'&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>First of all, let&#8217;s establish the fact that the stations do not have any obligation to comply with the Trump campaign&#8217;s request that they do not air the ad. That request has no legal standing, and would likely fail to succeed if tried in court. The ad is comprised of Trump&#8217;s own words, and they were presented in a manner that reasonably represents their meaning. However, the campaign appears to suggest that the campaign has some ability to influence the FCC, a federal regulatory agency whose members are appointed by the President. That would be a wholly improper arrangement and an unlawful abuse of power on the part of the White House. What&#8217;s more&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;The FCC doesn\u2019t appear to have grounds to act against the stations for airing contentious ads, said Jack Goodman, a Washington broadcast attorney, said in an interview. The ad &#8216;is core political speech&#8217; protected by First Amendment guarantees of free speech, Goodman said.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The primary complaint by Trump&#8217;s campaign concerns an audio clip of him referring to criticism from Democrats, saying that <em>&#8220;This is their new hoax.&#8221;<\/em> Trump asserts that he wasn&#8217;t referring to COVID-19 itself, but to the Democrats criticism. However, in the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/02\/28\/trump-says-the-coronavirus-is-the-democrats-new-hoax.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">full context<\/a><\/strong> of his remarks he is itemizing events that he considered to be hoaxes. They included the investigation of Russia&#8217;s efforts on behalf of his 2016 presidential campaign, and his impeachment over his attempts to coerce the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. In both of those incidents his allegations of a hoax referred to the charges themselves, not criticism from Democrats. So why would his meaning be any different for the third item in that list?<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time that Trump has tried to use the courts to prohibit free speech. He is currently <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44353\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">suing the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN for defamation<\/a><\/strong>. Trump is known for filing lawsuits &#8211; or threatening to &#8211; to harass his foes. But this time he has the power of the presidency to bolster those threats with punishment from agencies that are beholden to him. It&#8217;s the sort of authoritarianism that he so admires in his pals Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. But it is anathema to American democracy and he must not be allowed to get away with it. So feel free to circulate the ad above, far and wide.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><strong>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00QSSMOES\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=newscorpsecom-20&#038;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a><br \/>\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Americans sees the rising number of their fellow citizens becoming victims of COVID-19 (coronavirus), they are simultaneously losing confidence in the &#8220;leadership&#8221; of Donald Trump. From the beginning he downplayed the threat that the virus represented, insisting that the number of those affected was small and that it would shortly be zero. He could [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,1,1200],"tags":[42,1397,554,1135,95,79,241],"class_list":["post-44555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-press","category-general","category-politics","tag-cnn","tag-coronavirus","tag-donald-trump","tag-free-press","tag-media","tag-new-york-times","tag-washington-post"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tyrant.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-bAD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44238,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44238","url_meta":{"origin":44555,"position":0},"title":"Are Trump&#8217;s Cult Rallies Breeding Grounds for the Coronavirus?","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/27\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"On Wednesday Donald Trump held a press conference wherein he typically underplayed the risks of the spreading coronavirus (Covid-19). He repeatedly portrayed it as being effectively under control, which is not remotely true. He even contradicted the officials he introduced as the team he was putting in charge of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump Virus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44440,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44440","url_meta":{"origin":44555,"position":1},"title":"Russia or Fox News? U.S. Intelligence Warns of Disinformation About Coronavirus","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/16\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The American people have been struggling with the stress and uncertainty of a growing pandemic unlike anything we have seen before. The hardship that this is causing for many people is difficult enough without Donald Trump and his propaganda mouthpiece, Fox News, spreading lies faster than the coronavirus spreads itself.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Fox News, Coronavirus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-fox-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-fox-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-fox-virus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45638,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=45638","url_meta":{"origin":44555,"position":2},"title":"Trump Vows to Expose His Own Followers to the Coronavirus to Spite the Media","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/15\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A callous disregard for human life has become the hallmark of the Donald Trump presidency. He has made repeated attempts to terminate and\/or sabotage Obamacare. His economic and tax policies have punished millions of working people, while benefiting corporations and the wealthy. He has presided over the decimation of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump Virus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44473,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44473","url_meta":{"origin":44555,"position":3},"title":"It&#8217;s Time to Quarantine Trump From the Coronavirus Briefings","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/19\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"What's a malignant narcissist to do when his primary source of personal gratification is deemed too perilous to continue. That's the dilemma that Donald Trump is facing as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis puts an end to the cult rallies that feed his ravenous ego. For many weeks Trump denied the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump TV Set","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tv-set.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tv-set.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tv-set.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46046,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=46046","url_meta":{"origin":44555,"position":4},"title":"The Coronavirus is Killing Trump Supporters, So Now He&#8217;s &#8216;Concerned&#8217;","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/27\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Much is being made by some the more milquetoast members of the media of what they are spinning as a \"pivot\" by Donald Trump with regard to his position on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. They have observed him wearing a face mask for the first time after four months of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Coronavirus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus-fear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus-fear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus-fear.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46053,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=46053","url_meta":{"origin":44555,"position":5},"title":"Twitter Lets Trump Get Away with Dangerous Lies About the Coronavirus","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/28\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week Donald Trump announced that he would be reviving his Coronavirus Task force Briefings (aka Trump reelection campaign photo-ops). In the few public session he's held since then he has struggled to stick to the script prepared for him on his Teleprompter. But the effort has earned him some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump Virus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-virus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44555"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44561,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44555\/revisions\/44561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}