President Asks FCC To Punish The Phrase 'Mixed Results' After Mixed Results

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump said Sunday that NBC host Kristen Welker should be reported to the Federal Communications Commission for “rebuke or punishment” after she described his primary endorsements as having “some mixed results.”

Welker had noted that Trump endorsed a slate of candidates and specifically mentioned interim Sen. Darline Graham’s South Carolina victory. Trump answered that his endorsement record was the strongest in political history and called Welker’s description purposeful inaccuracy and a threat to the country. The national emergency was a summary containing both a favorable example and an adjective.

There were, in fact, results of more than one kind. Most Trump-backed congressional candidates won their primaries, while five of his 21 endorsed gubernatorial candidates lost, including Mike Lindell in Minnesota. Trump has said candidates he backed in impossible races received his endorsement out of loyalty, a useful accounting category that converts a loss into a gesture.

The FCC licenses local broadcast stations, not opinions, and its authority is constrained by the First Amendment. NBC said it stood by Welker. None of that stopped Trump from posting “FCC TO THE RESCUE!” after asking his appointed chairman and the commission to treat the remark seriously.

The request clarifies the administration’s preferred relationship with the press. Journalists may count the victories. They may count the defeats. The federally punishable step is placing both totals in the same sentence.