Donald Trump Calls For Punishing ABC Over Fact-Checking At Debate

Donald Trump is obviously unhappy about reactions to his terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad debate performance Tuesday night ― and he’s placing the blame on ABC.

The GOP presidential nominee told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday that the network should face repercussions because of how ABC News’ moderators behaved in his televised showdown against rival Kamala Harris.

During the debate, David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked Trump repeatedly, such as when he falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions “after birth.” Afterward, CNN’s Daniel Dale noted that Trump “made at least 33 false claims” at the event, while his opponent made “at least one false claim” in addition to some misleading ones.

On “Fox & Friends,” Trump attacked Muir and Davis’ fact checks, suggesting that they scrutinized him unfairly and neglected to correct Harris. But he offered a possible solution that only a wannabe authoritarian could love: targeting their network’s ability to broadcast.

“ABC took a big hit last night. I mean, to be honest, they’re a news organization. They have to be licensed to do it,” he said. “They ought to take away their license for the way they did that.”

Trump to Fox & Friends: "ABC took a big hit last night. I mean, to be honest, they are a news organization, they have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that." pic.twitter.com/yN6HCo4ilh

— Media Matters (@mmfa) September 11, 2024

Many people thought that threatening a network because two employees (checks notes) pointed out more false statements by one candidate seemed a little ... extreme?!?

Totally normal response to losing a debate.

Not authoritarian or dictatorial at all.

Btw, this is the free speech champion that Musk keeps hailing. https://t.co/aT0y6xP5tg

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 11, 2024

He was fact checked on immigrants eating dogs, and after birth abortions- both are hideous and complete lies.

— Leonard Riccardi (@LeonardRiccardi) September 11, 2024

"I was great! I won! It was amazing! What a triumph for me!"

He obviously then caught wind of the feedback. It was an unmitigated disaster for him.

"ABC News should lose their license!"

— michael musto (@mikeymusto) September 11, 2024

So he says let’s shut down an entire broadcast company and pull their license because they were mean to me. The fact right wingers still continued to normalize this blows my mind.

— The Hillbilly Resistance (@YellowDogKY) September 11, 2024

They asked him questions and fact checked his lies. If he didn’t want his lies to be fat checked, he shouldn’t have told them.

— Bluedog (@HereLiesBlueDog) September 11, 2024