Donald Trump threatened ABC News' broadcast license after his widely criticized performance in Tuesday's debate against Kamala Harris.
The former president went on "Fox & Friends" the following morning to clean up after the vice president called out his false claims on abortion, immigration and other topics during their debate and he struggled to land any attacks, and Trump complained the moderators were biased against him for fact-checking a pair of obvious lies.
"ABC took a big hit last night," Trump told Fox News. "I mean, to be honest, they are a news organization, they have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that."
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The Republican nominee's comments alarmed many social media users, who also noted that the threats showed Trump believed he had not performed well.
"Totally normal response to losing a debate," said journalist Mehdi Hasan. "Not authoritarian or dictatorial at all. Btw, this is the free speech champion that [Elon] Musk keeps hailing."
"'I was great! I won! It was amazing! What a triumph for me!'" tweeted journalist Michael Musto, channeling Trump. "He obviously then caught wind of the feedback. It was an unmitigated disaster for him. 'ABC News should lose their license!'"
"He was fact-checked on immigrants eating dogs, and after-birth abortions – both are hideous and complete lies," said architect Leonard Riccardi.
"Trump essentially just threatened to revoke ABC's broadcast license should he be re-elected," said cybersecurity expert Jackie Singh. "Believe him when he 'jokes' about becoming a 'dictator on day one.' Dictators don't believe in freedom of the press; they target journalists to limit their inconvenient speech."
"Last Night I told you all, you will know that Trump got destroyed in the Presidential debate if they start blaming the moderators and ABC News," said social media pundit Brian Krassenstein. "Well, here you have it."
"Unhappy with how the debate went, Trump threatens to take away ABC’s broadcast license," tweeted online activist The Tennessee Holler.
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