Trump Warns Networks Could Lose Licences Over Negative Reports On A Late-Night Rant

In an extraordinary late-night Truth Social barrage, US President Donald Trump publicly attacked The Late Show host Stephen Colbert and urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to consider revoking broadcast licences for networks that he claims offer 'almost 100% negative' news and late-night coverage of him, MAGA and the Republican Party.

Trump's series of posts, posted in the early hours of 24 December 2025, stresses the intensifying confrontation between the White House and major broadcasters over perceived bias, raising constitutional and regulatory questions about free speech and the scope of federal authority.

'Dead Man Walking' And Licence Threats

In the first of several Truth Social posts just after midnight, Trump described Stephen Colbert as 'a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success,' and claimed that the host's ratings were 'nonexistent.'

Trump asserted that Colbert had 'actually gotten worse' since being 'terminated by CBS' and should be 'put ... to sleep' as a 'humanitarian thing to do.'

Minutes later, Trump broadened his ire beyond Colbert to all major broadcast networks, asking: 'Who has the worst Late Night host, CBS, ABC, or NBC??? They all have three things in common: High Salaries, No Talent, REALLY LOW RATINGS!'

In the final posts, Trump made an unprecedented suggestion that networks whose newscasts and late night shows are 'almost 100% negative' towards him and his political allies should face revocation of their valuable broadcast licences. 'Shouldn't their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!' he wrote.

Trump concluded the sequence of posts with a holiday greeting hours later, accentuating the volatility of the moment.

Stephen Colbert is scheduled to host The Late Show until its planned end in May 2026 after CBS announced in July that the programme would conclude as part of broader changes in late-night programming. CBS characterised the decision as 'purely a financial decision' amid changing audience habits and high production costs.

Constitutional And Regulatory Context

Under US law, broadcast licences are granted to individual television stations by the FCC, a regulatory agency created by the Communications Act of 1934 to manage spectrum use and ensure stations serve the 'public interest, convenience, or necessity.'

The FCC's authority is limited. Although it can revoke licences for violations of specific statutory requirements, such as willful or repeated breaches of FCC rules, it does not legally possess the power to revoke licences solely on the basis of one party's claim of political bias or dislike of coverage. The First Amendment and the Communications Act prohibit the government from censoring broadcasters for the viewpoints they express.

Academic and legal analyses emphasise that the FCC cannot punish broadcasters for viewpoint-based content. Even where the Act speaks of serving the 'public interest,' it stops short of granting the commission the authority to rescind licences for broadcast content that a political actor disfavors.

The FCC's own publicly stated guidelines confirm the agency's limited role with respect to content regulation, noting that action on programming complaints is infrequent and rarely extends to punitive measures against licence holders based on editorial stance.

FCC chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, criticised networks and suggested licence scrutiny over comments made on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, raising concerns about the politicisation of regulatory authority.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez has criticised the notion of revoking licences for political reasons and defended the independent role of the commission, highlighting internal tensions within the agency.

A Broader War On Media Coverage

Trump's overnight attack is the latest in a pattern of confrontations involving broadcast media. Earlier in 2025, ABC temporarily suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! after a monologue about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's death triggered backlash and FCC-related pressure; the suspension itself sparked debate about government influence over editorial decisions.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert cancellation, meanwhile, was seen as part of a tumultuous period for late-night television, with broadcasters grappling with both political pressure and economic challenges.

Trump's attack on late-night hosts and news coverage, including his suggestion to use government authority over licences as a tool of compliance, has alarmed civil liberties groups, who warn that weaponising broadcast regulation against critical coverage would set a dangerous precedent for press freedom.

A president's threat to strip media licences over critical coverage confronts constitutional limits and ignites a constitutional clash over free speech that could reshape the boundaries of executive power in American democracy.