Trump is doing it again—just because the three major U.S. television networks, with two of them absent from live coverage, he instantly lost his composure: "Revoke their licenses!"

During prime time on the evening of July 16, Trump delivered a nationwide address from the White House—but ABC and NBC's main channels completely failed to broadcast it live.

Mid-speech, Trump erupted in anger, pointing directly at the two outlets labeled as "fake news media": "Such fraudulent behavior should rightfully result in revocation of their operating licenses."

Of the three networks, only CBS’s main channel aired the speech—but even that was done reluctantly:

Anchor Tony Dokoupil began with a sharp jab: "To be honest, a lot of what Trump said about election issues is false," then added, "But reporting the news is our duty," before cutting away.

After airing for about 15 minutes, CBS voluntarily switched off to refute claims of election fraud.

CNN was even more cunning: it didn’t broadcast the speech on its main channel, instead shunting it to a paid streaming subscription channel.

Experts poured cold water on the situation, stating that under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, broadcasters have broad rights to decide what content to air; "live broadcasting of presidential addresses on major public occasions" is merely a convention, not a legal obligation.

Thus, when Trump demanded "revoking licenses," the FCC would actually need to go through formal procedures—and ABC/NBC could easily counter with "editorial independence."

But face-wise, Trump clearly lost tonight.

In his first term back in 2017, it was standard practice for all three major networks to compete fiercely to broadcast the president’s prime-time speeches. But in this second term, set for 2026, ABC and NBC’s main channels were simply empty seats; CBS aired just 15 minutes before switching off; CNN’s main channel pretended not to see it. If this had happened four years ago under Trump, merely holding his temper until the end of the speech would’ve been considered remarkably restrained.

Saying “revoke their licenses” isn’t really a threat aimed at ABC or NBC—it’s more an admission that Trump has lost control over mainstream television networks. Just as his portrait was freshly engraved on a one-dollar coin (from the previous story), now his prime-time address couldn’t even gather all three major network main channels. This "Make America Great Again" era, it seems, no longer appears so essential in the eyes of those TV headquarters in Manhattan.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1871013457211404/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.