Trump Blasts 'Crooked' Media Over Polls on Truth Social, Calls for FCC Action
Key Takeaways
- •Trump posted on Truth Social around 8:45 a.m. Sunday denouncing polls showing his approval at about negative-20 points since late May and calling for FCC action.
- •The FCC has no formal authority over polling firms or most print and digital news organizations, which fall outside its broadcast licensing jurisdiction.
- •ABC sued the FCC on First Amendment grounds over a demand for early review of its broadcast licenses, calling it an existential threat.
- •The FCC's pressure on ABC followed a Jimmy Kimmel joke about First Lady Melania Trump, according to PBS and the Guardian.
- •A Brookings Institution report says the FCC has repeatedly leveraged its power against broadcasters when Trump disapproved of their coverage.
President Donald Trump launched a furious attack Sunday morning aimed at his sinking approval ratings and the journalists who report them.
Posting on Truth Social at roughly 8:45 a.m., Trump threatened political journalists whose reporting has noted that the president's popularity has stagnated at approximately negative-20 points since late May.
"THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT," Trump wrote. "FCC TO THE RESCUE!"
What exactly Trump expects the Federal Communications Commission to do remains unclear. The FCC is an independent agency that regulates broadcast licensing and communications infrastructure, but it has no formal authority over polling firms or, in most cases, print and digital news organizations, which fall outside its broadcast licensing jurisdiction. The agency has nonetheless been accused by ABC News of intimidating the network into making programming changes.
Earlier this month, ABC sued the FCC on First Amendment grounds, arguing that the agency's demand for early review of broadcast licenses posed an "existential threat."
That demand came after late-night host Jimmy Kimmel infuriated the president with a joke about First Lady Melania Trump, according to PBS and the Guardian.
Kimmel remarked that Melania Trump glowed "like an expectant widow" — two days before a failed attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
The Brookings Institution reports that this was not the first time the FCC leveraged its power at Trump's behest.
"It is a bad business deal and an even worse deal for democracy," the report states. "We saw it with Jimmy Kimmel, 'The View,' and now the Iran war: When Trump doesn't like broadcast coverage of his administration, he often threatens their existence, and the chairman of the FCC joins in."
Trump's complaint about "fake polls" echoes his long-running criticism of survey research dating back to the 2016 campaign, when he frequently disputed unfavorable polling despite winning that election. His call for regulatory intervention in news coverage comes amid broader tensions between his administration and major media organizations, including ongoing litigation over press freedoms, making the FCC's next moves a point of scrutiny for press-freedom advocates and broadcasters alike.
