Infringing upon personal, educational, constitutional and corporate rights has become a hallmark of Trump’s second term—with violent assaults on sitting members of congress, violations of private-institutional sovereignty and numerous other attacks. This week in August, a corporation fought back: ABC and its parent company, Disney, sued Brendan Carr‘s FCC for “coercive” and “retaliatory” attacks on the company.
Steve Benen for MaddowBlog:
The conflict between Disney’s ABC and Trump’s Federal Communications Commission has been intensifying for months, leading to questions about whether the network might take the matter to court.
On Tuesday morning, ABC filed a case in federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing the FCC of trying to interfere with the network’s First Amendment rights. From the court filing:
‘Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech — the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air. Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech’
‘Government censorship,’ the suit added, ‘is deeply un-American’
Steve Benen, MaddowBlog
As TrumpFile readers will recall, ABC capitulated early to Trump’s ascendant-fascist regime in late 2024 when Disney settled a defamation case that many legal observers said ABC would (and should) win. ABC later “suspended” veteran journalist Terry Moran for posting mild critiques of Trump’s associates—which later led to the network not renewing his contract. Later, CBS and parent company Paramount followed suit, settling a nonsense claim about selective editing on 60 Minutes.
Carr has used mafia language in the past when a Jimmy Kimmel monologue raised the ire of Trump’s regime. And as Benen adds, Carr even launched a “probe” into ABC’s flagship chat-show “The View” that smacked of government policing language:
Worth noting for context that Carr’s FCC also recently launched an investigation into “The View,” a popular ABC talk show, sparking related accusations of government censorship. Time will tell what becomes of the litigation, but one of the key lessons of the Republican’s second term is that news organizations that fight back against the administration’s abuses have had far more success than those that have tried to appease the White House.
Steve Benen, MaddowBlog
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
Donald has declared war on so many different institutions, companies and imaginary demons that one needs a Carrie Mathison bulletin board just to track it all. But I believe what we’re seeing now is a turning point, a shift in tides that media companies (hopefully any party illegally threatened by fascists) are not gonna take this crap anymore. The normally chatty Carr’s reaction to Oliver Darcy’s questions is quite telling indeed:
Carr, who usually relishes in providing Status with colorful comments trolling legacy media companies, did not respond to my text messages about the lawsuit on Tuesday. But an unnamed spokesperson for the FCC suggested in a statement that its probe into Disney is merely about ‘claims that Disney engaged in illegal D.E.I. discrimination.’ Of course, that claim is absurd—and there is a long trail of comments and actions from Carr himself indicating that the FCC’s campaign against Disney is really about its news programming and commentary critical of Trump.
Oliver Darcy, Status.News
When a propaganda operation known to lie about everything gets an unnamed grunt to provide comment to an outlet to which they normally boast, it’s a sure sign they know the crusade is nonsense. And it reminds me of the mishegas around Donald’s plan to rehash 2020 “Stop the Steal” grievances in a “primetime” “address,” which, for the first time in Regime 2, did not get all networks to clear schedules.
Caving to fascists is the beginning, not the end, of capitulation. I sincerely hope this is the start of a new trend. Disney’s modeling courage, finally, is a great way to build momentum into November’s Midterm elections.
SOURCES
- MS.NOW
- ABC’s court filing (PDF)
- Status.News
