Trump Calls On CBS to Lose its Broadcasting License: ‘THEY ARE A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!’

AP Photo/Mary Altafferonal

Former President Donald Trump ratcheted his attack on CBS Thursday morning, insisting that the broadcaster should lose its license and arguing that all licenses should go to the “highest bidder.”

At issue is a recent interview conducted by B ill Whitaker with Vice President Kamala Harris , which took place at the Naval Observatory over the weekend and aired Monday night. Trump has been angry that the taped interview was edited for concision and time—a time-honored post-production practice—and floated the conspiracy that CBS News was somehow in cahoots with the Harris campaign.

At issue is Harris’s answer regarding US foreign policy, which first surfaced Sunday on Face the Nation, specifically as to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s not listening to the United States diplomatic outreach.

Harris replied, “Well Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.”

However, the response to the same question aired in 60 Minutes was quite different: “We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end. “

One can argue that the different answers are materially different and perhaps question journalistic standards, but to suggest it is illegal and should receive a death penalty by taking away its broadcasting license? That is absurdly harsh.

It also overlooks the fact that nearly all of Trump’s taped interviews that have appeared on Fox News have also been edited for time and concision. Politicians are prone to prattle on, and there is limited time in the 44 minutes of programming that comprise an hour-long show, which I explain in great detail in a recent column covering Trump’s call for an investigation into CBS.

Nevertheless, Trump smells a rat and on Thursday insisted that he believes CBS should be punished severely.

Trump posted on social media:

60 Minutes is a major part of the News Organization of CBS, which has just created the Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History. CBS should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS — and maybe even WORSE!

Later, he ramped things up by calling them a “THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!”:

With me, 60 Minutes does the exact opposite! They take everything I say, realize how totally BRILLIANT it is, and take it out. So, with Kamala they add, with “TRUMP,” they delete. Like the Democrat Party, THEY ARE A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!

Trump is currently in a neck-and-neck race for president, and given recent polling numbers in swing states, they may now even be a slight favorite to win over Harris. So while this unhinged attack on CBS — and the First Amendment itself — can be easily dismissed as setting bait for the media to distract with, it’s still an utterly bizarre and dangerous allegation that undermines the integrity of one of the most essential pillars of American democracy, the fourth estate.

When reached for comment, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told Mediaite: “60 Minutes was exposed for misleadingly editing Kamala Harris’ answers in a blatant attempt to cover up her nonsensical, word-salad answers. She had no clue how to answer some of the most basic questions, and so they had to splice and chop her answers in order to try to formulate a coherent sentence, and they even failed at that.”

CBS refused to comment when Mediaite reached out.