President* Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that NBC’s broadcast license should be pulled as punishment after NBC News published a report stating that the president sought a dramatic increase in the nation’s nuclear arsenal."Bad for country"? Criticizing Trump is bad for the country? He isn't the fucking country.
“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!” Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning, equating the two TV news outlets he has most often lashed out against. “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!”
First off, I'm extremely confident that Trump said that he wanted a ten-fold increase in the amount of nuclear weapons. It's just the sort of off-the-cuff stupid shit that he says.
Second, he has no understanding of how television stations are licensed. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge in the field knows that the individual stations have broadcast licenses. There is no "network broadcasting license". The network company can own stations, but those stations are still individually licensed.
Third, this is yet another Trump Attack on American Freedom. If he doesn't respect the First Amendment, can you be confident that he'd respect anything else in the Constitution?
The only good thing, of course, is that Trump is such an incompetent putz at governing that he's effectively a legislative eunuch. He can't get shit done, because he can't function in an environment where he has to work with equal partners. Trump's stock in trade is flaunting his wealth and bullying; neither of which is effective when it comes to dealing with Congress. Plus, by now, everyone knows that Trump's promises are worth as much as Major Strasser's.[1]
Trump's main talent, as president, has been in alienating political allies at home and turning international allies into potential adversaries. It has become abundantly clear to everyone, other than Trump himself, that he has ended the period of time in which the United States was viewed as the leader of the Free World.
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[1] Major Strasser: After this disturbance it is not safe for Laszlo to stay in Casablanca
Ilsa Lund: This morning you implied it wasn't safe to leave Casablanca.
Major Strasser: That is also true, except for one destination: occupied France.
Ilsa Lund: Occupied France?
Major Strasser: Under safe conduct from me.
Ilsa Lund quote: Of what value is that? You may recall what German guarantees have been worth in the past.
Give credit where it is due: He's also pretty good at distracting attention away from things he doesn't want it paid to.
ReplyDelete-Doug in Oakland
I did say at election time that this was what I expected from Trump, and that I preferred this to Competent Hillary.
ReplyDeleteHowever, until someone else is appointed LotFW, he is still it.
That mantle has passed to Angela Merkel. I remember when they met months ago, many of the photos were recaptioned: "The leader of the free world, and Donald Trump."
ReplyDeleteAnd, again, blame the GOP and DNC. They couldn't find a person that was more appealing than Trump.
ReplyDeleteNo. I blame the voters who purposely overlooked his narcissistic, sexist, elitist, selfish, money-grabbing, and racist traits and would NOT overlook Hillary's narcissistic, elitist, selfish, money-grabbing traits. Still no buyer's remorse?
ReplyDeleteDale
3383, LoTFW is not just a postiion based on military strength. It's also based on the moral high ground. Which Trump has abdicated.
ReplyDeleteB, there is some truth to that. But as Dale said, the Right, especially the Evangelical Right, was completely willing to overlook Trump's abysmal track record of ethics and morality.
As far as I'm concerned, Franklin Graham is a whore. And so is his mother, wife, and offspring.
Merkel is barely leading Germany, let alone anyone else.
ReplyDeleteThere is some pressure applied (in conjunction with France and a very few others) to EU member states, but that doesn't strike me as leadership.
DTWND is mostly correct, except the odious but ineffective Trump is preferable to the odious and effective Clinton.