Brendan Carr, the Project 2025 co-author whom Donald Trump tapped to lead the Federal Communications Commission, has eagerly used his powerful position to advance the White House’s interests. The president, however, apparently intends to put this to the test in new and radical ways.
On Sunday morning, for example, Trump used his social media platform to lash out at NBC News’ Kristen Welker — whom the president referred to as “the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of “Meet the Press” — because he’d heard the host tell viewers that Trump has a “mixed” record on 2026 endorsements.
“How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves?” the Republican asked, indifferent to the existence of the First Amendment. He added, “Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment. … The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation, and I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously.”
It’s genuinely difficult to know where to start with such brazen nonsense, but let’s begin with the fact that Trump’s endorsement record really is mixed, whether this accurate observation hurts the president’s feelings or not. Let’s also note that journalists are “allowed” to make observations like these because this is the United States.
But the idea that Welker’s off-hand comment (which wasn’t part of the program, but which was referenced in passing during a live shot on NBC’s local D.C. affiliate) represents a “Threat to our Country,” worthy of an FCC investigation, reflects an inherently authoritarian worldview — one in which media professionals are supposed to fear federal investigations for telling the public the truth.
But as it turns out, the president also has another task in mind for the Federal Communications Commission. Also on Sunday morning, Trump published a separate all-caps item to his platform that read, “The fake polls used by our crooked media are out of control, and something must be done about it. FCC to the rescue!”
The missive came five days after the Republican concocted a deeply weird conspiracy theory alleging that the national surveys conducted by major independent news organizations, universities and research institutions have been secretly being coordinated by Democratic officials, as part of a fiendish and undisclosed plot to make GOP voters feel discouraged.
There are, according to the president’s same pitch, a series of undisclosed polls, which paint an entirely different picture about public attitudes, but which we’re apparently not allowed to see for reasons Trump hasn’t explained.
If the underlying idea of an FCC investigation into pollsters sounds at all familiar, it’s probably because in May 2025, Trump also called for a probe into leading polling outfits, falsely accusing them of trying to commit “election fraud,” despite the inconvenient fact that there was no election cycle underway at the time.
In context, he apparently wanted the Federal Election Commission to scrutinize pollsters — that did not happen — though he now seems to have shifted his attention to the Federal Communications Commission.
Time will tell whether Carr and his colleagues take the president’s directives seriously, but let’s not miss the forest for the trees: Confronted with data showing his broad unpopularity, Trump can either (a) change course; (b) accept the fact that his presidency lacks public support; or (c) pursue investigations into journalists and independent entities that have dared to present him with information he doesn’t want to see and hear.
The fact that he’s choosing Door #3 isn’t surprising, but it does offer a timely reminder about his twisted perspective.
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