Former President Trump is coming under intense criticism for a social media post late Sunday in which he threatened to investigate Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, NBC News and MSNBC, over the outlet’s coverage of him should he be elected president again.
“They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.
NBC has not commented on Trump’s threat, but his remarks have sparked a wave of backlash in media and political circles.
“Let’s just think about the last three days where we’re at here. Donald Trump mocked a disabled veteran, called for the execution of Gen. Mark Milley, has called for the complete shutdown of the government unless they defund the prosecutions against him. He’s asked for all Senate Democrats to resign over the [N.J. Sen. Bob Menendez] case. And, you know, he’s talking about using government power to retaliate and shut down NBC for criticizing him,” said Charlie Sykes, a political commentator who makes regular appearances on MSNBC.
The progressive political organization Occupy Democrats also blasted the former president’s social media post, which it called a “deranged rant.”
“There you have it, folks. While Trump and his Republican enablers love to falsely accuse Democrats of ‘weaponizing’ the government against Trump, Trump himself is now openly threaten to weaponize the presidency to completely remove entire news channels from the airwaves simply because they expose his rampant criminality,” the organization said.
President Biden’s White House, which has itself not shied away from publicly criticizing media coverage it does not agree with, issued a statement of its own Monday, blasting Trump’s rhetoric toward NBC and the press more generally.
“President Biden swore an oath to uphold our Constitution and protect American Democracy. Freedom of the press is a fundamental Constitutional right,” a White House spokesperson said. “To abuse presidential power and violate the Constitutional rights of reporters would be an outrageous attack on our democracy and the rule of law. Presidents must always defend Americans’ freedoms — never trample on them for selfish, small, and dangerous political purposes.”
Other observers noted Monday what they say is a lack of outrage on the political right in response to Trump’s threat to scrutinize coverage of an independent media organization.
“Of course, Glenn Greenwald and all the [right-wingers] who complain about Democrats’ lack of respect for free speech said nothing yesterday about Trump calling for investigations of TV networks and threatening to pull NBC’s broadcast license because of their speech,” the journalist and author James Surowiecki wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Greenwald is an independent journalist who is frequently critical of corporate media outlets and Democrats.
On Monday, Greenwald in a social media post wrote of Trump’s comments on Comcast: “Yeah, that’s wrong. It’s also like the 2016 “Lock her up” chant that never happened, versus the “lock them up!” chants of 2023 that are.”
“To defend Dems, media often relies on “almost-happened” (“Trump almost went to war with Iran”, Trump said he’d do this but didn’t, etc.),” Greenwald wrote.
“It is always concerning when politicians seek to politicize reporting, rather than addressing policy issues,” said Katherine Jacobsen of the The Committee to Protect Journalists, an outfit that tracks threats against media members and advocates for press freedoms around the world. “Casting journalists as the enemy creates a dangerous permission structure for attacks against the press.”
The Hill has reached out to Trump’s spokesperson.
Trump has long attacked media and press organizations that are not, in his view, supportive enough of him.
As part of his threat against Comcast and NBC, he again referred to the media as the “enemy of the people.”
Trump has spent the last several months ridiculing conservative media juggernaut Fox News, which he has repeatedly accused of boosting his primary opponents and trying to stymie his bid for the White House in 2024.
Trump’s most recent attack on NBC came just days after the former president participated in a wide-ranging interview with journalist Kristen Welker that aired as part of her first broadcast moderating “Meet The Press,” the network’s longtime Sunday morning show.
Trump’s relationship with NBC goes back years. The network helped him become a household name in the early 2000s with its hit show “The Apprentice.”
Today, a number of MSNBC’s leading stars are sharply critical of the former president, including prime-time pundits Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid and morning talk show host Joe Scarborough.
NBC is also reportedly in the running to host an upcoming GOP primary debate.
Trump did not participate in last month’s first GOP debate, which aired on Fox News, and has said he does not plan to attend this week’s second GOP debate on Fox Business Network, citing his large lead in most primary polls and what he says is a “hostile” relationship with the network airing it.
Updated at 10:24 a.m. ET