As shocking as this sounds, it appears as if Donald Trump has created controversy. Since this is a daily occurence, it is necessary to qualify which blow up we are discussing.\u00a0 This would be Trump’s questioning of NBC’s broadcast license in light of a story that deals with remarks he made concerning number weapons.\u00a0 The story claimed that Trump allegedly wanted a “tenfold” increase in nuclear weapons.\u00a0 This is from another of those unnamed sources who seem to be multiplying like a virus during the Trump Administration.\u00a0 For this part, Trump denied the report.\u00a0 Being Trump it did not end there.\u00a0 He went on to Tweet (where else) that he might use the FCC to “challenge” NBC’s license.\u00a0 We get it.\u00a0 Providing a critical story, even a bogus one, about any president and then having that president imply that he might shut down the offending media outlet is banana republic stuff worthy of Daniel Ortega or the late Hugo Chavez.\u00a0 What is the point of freedom if people do not at times express opinions anathema to others.\u00a0 Freedom would be easy if we agreed.\u00a0 We don’t and that is why the bedrock of liberty lies in the First Amendment which Trump knows, guarantees a free press.<\/p>\n
This brought out First Amendment advocates including this from Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, an FCC Commissioner, “freed of the press is a cornerstone of the our democracy.”\u00a0 Another Democrat, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to “publicly refuse to challenge the license of any broadcaster because the president dislikes its coverage.” And Tom Wheeler, appointed by President Obama, and noted net neutrality advocate, wrote, “Broadcast licenses are a public trust, they are not a political toy.”<\/p>\n
Being the Conservative Historian, we agree with every single quote posted here.\u00a0 The history of the Republic is replete with the powerful using media to further their own ends, and subjegate dissenting opinions.\u00a0 No less than Abraham Lincoln used an executive order to jail reporters he and his local military commanders deemed injurous to the war effort under the banner of upholding the Constitution by preserving it.\u00a0 And the likes of Kennedy and Johnson, not to mention Nixon, also were not averse to using the influence of their positions to try to get more flattering stories.<\/p>\n
But the question is where were these paragons of free speech when the Obama era IRS was using its power to deny the same speech rights to conservative non-profits that they were granting to liberal ones?\u00a0\u00a0As a 2016 Forbes articles notes “Lerner responds, admitting that organizations were targeted by\u00a0beliefs, and said \u201cThey selected cases simply because the applications had [Tea Party or Patriots]\u00a0in the title. That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive.\u201d\u00a0 Additionally where were these people questioning Obama’s obvious references to conservative financed groups as\u00a0“All around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates . . . And they don’t have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are. You don’t know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation.”\u00a0 But NBC’s defenders might note that NBC is a journalistic entity, not an opinion one.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 With MSNBC and Brian Willams back in the fold?<\/p>\n
Again, this is not to advocate for NBC to lose their license, rather this is to say that Freedom of Speech is the inviolable right of our country and that it should be vigorously and constantly protected, no matter who is President.