Late Venezuelan populist demagogue Hugo Chavez must have cheered in his grave when President Donald Trump made a veiled threat to pull NBC off the air for spreading news he dislikes. That’s exactly what Chavez did, and what most Third World dictators do.
Trump’s Oct. 11 statement on Twitter raised the possibility of not renewing NBC’s licence, much like Chavez did when he shut down Venezuela’s RCTV network in 2007, claiming that it was airing fake news.
“With all the fake news coming out of NBC and the networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their licence?” Trump asked. Later that day, Trump escalated his attack, writing that “network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked.”
These may be