FCC Chair Brendan Carr Claims Trump Is ‘Winning’ Against ‘Fake News Media’

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr made his fealty to President Donald Trump clear at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas, on Friday, March 27. He claimed Trump is “taking on the fake news media” and “winning,” and he named PBS, NPR, CNN, and the old CBS as promulgators of “fake news.”

“Look, President Trump, when he ran for office, he ran directly at the fake news media,” Carr told the crowd, as seen in a PBS NewsHour video. “So many other politicians and Americans simply gave way to the legacy national media — they let the legacy media set the narrative. And President Trump smashed the facade. He said, ‘You don’t get to say what we say, what we think, how we’re gonna vote inside the voting booth.’ President Trump took on the fake news media, and President Trump is winning.”

To the cheers of the audience, Carr celebrated the departures of various TV anchors, the new regimes leading TV networks, and the defunding of public media.

“Look at the results, so far,” he said. “PBS defunded. NPR defunded. Joy Reid gone from MSNBC. Sleepy-Eyed Chuck Todd gone. Jim Acosta gone. John Dickerson gone. [Stephen] Colbert is leaving. CBS is under new ownership, and soon enough, CNN is gonna have new ownership as well.”

He added, “We’re not at the point yet [of] raising the ‘mission accomplished’ flag, but President Trump is taking on the fake news media and President Trump is winning.”

X users have derided Carr over the boasts, TheWrap points out. “The fact that he’s saying that the president of the United States is winning against the media should disqualify him from having this job,” one user said. “Because clearly they only want one man to control the media in the United States. I’m glad you said it. Perfect evidence for the trial later.”

Another person wrote, “This is not a flex, dumba**. You’re just admitting that the administration is going after the free press.”

Carr has been outspoken in his criticism of talk shows lately. He seemingly threatened Jimmy Kimmel’s job hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! at ABC after the late-night host made controversial remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk. He expressed skepticism that The View was exempt from equal-time rules, and his FCC later issued new guidance, saying, “a program that is motivated by partisan purposes … would not be entitled to an exemption.” And Carr re-posted Trump’s claim that Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s Late Night, should be fired after Meyers criticized the president.

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Last month, Colbert name-dropped Carr while telling his Late Show audience that CBS lawyers made Colbert call off an interview with Texas state representative James Talarico.

“Well, FCC you,” Colbert said on air at the time, in comments addressed to Carr. “Because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself. Sir, you smelt it because you dealt it. … Let’s call this what it is: Donald Trump‘s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV because all Trump does is watch TV, OK? He’s like a toddler with too much screen time.”