The Trump Admin Democrat Urging Media to ‘Stiffen Its Spine’ |
When Disney settled with Donald Trump for $15 million over his defamation suit against ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, the corporate maneuver was seen as good for business — if not for the First Amendment. Trump had just won the 2024 election and made no secret of his desire for retribution in office, and the broadcast network, which is subject to Federal Communications Commission oversight, could potentially be in his crosshairs. But the settlement didn’t lead the FCC to relent: The agency under FCC chair Brendan Carr probed Disney and ABC over DEI initiatives, pressured broadcasters to take action this past fall after Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about Charlie Kirk, ordered eight ABC-owned local stations to apply for early license renewal, and investigated The View. Last week, Carr announced the FCC was taking public comment about whether The View qualifies as a bona fide news program, an exception it has long operated under.
Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC, sees Disney’s recent defense of The View as evidence its learned a lesson — one she’d like other media giants to take to heart. “Capitulation doesn’t really buy you protection,” she said. “It might buy you some time, but the administration would keep coming back and demanding more.” Gomez took the unusual step earlier this month of writing directly to new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro about the Trump administration’s “sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control” against the Disney-owned network. Her letter, she said, was to “encourage Disney to basically stiffen its spine. Because if Disney in fact carries this through to the end and continues to fight back, it will win. Because Disney has the First Amendment on its side.”
In an interview, Gomez discussed Stephen Colbert’s CBS finale, why the FCC should scrutinize the David Ellison-owned Paramount’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery on foreign investment grounds, and how Carr’s targeting of The View resembles “policymaking by mob.” Plus, Gomez opens up about her role as, arguably, the administration’s harshest internal critic, and explains why she could remain on the FCC board even after her term expires next month.
Your colleague FCC chair Brendan Carr has cited Stephen Colbert’s exit as evidence that Trump is “winning” against the “fake news media.” But how did you feel watching Colbert sign off last week?
For me, it was a little bittersweet. He is a singular talent, and what I’ve tried to say, and this is a role that he really played so well, is that satire is a really good way to make political machinery accessible to regular people. It makes it more human, and sometimes by making it laughable it actually can cut through more so even than straight news. So I’m sad to see him go, but I’m looking forward to whatever he does next.
Did you catch him over the weekend on Only in Monroe?
I did. It was very funny.
Paramount was initially trying to enforce some copyright actions but backed away from it, so those clips have been getting around. The other clip was Donald Trump throwing Colbert in a dumpster. We’re sort of accustomed to this by now, but seeing Trump post an AI video literally dumping one of his critics into a dumpster I think just reinforces this idea that what he and the FCC under chair Carr are trying to do is to silence critics. Can their actions be perceived otherwise when Trump is literally taking a victory lap?
pic.twitter.com/LU644jFVH2— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 22, 2026
pic.twitter.com/LU644jFVH2
Yeah, I mean we’ve heard from Paramount about what their motivation for not renewing the contract was, but you’re right, this administration is celebrating that fact and in fact not just claiming victory but appearing to say, “Hey, we had a hand in this.” I don’t know if we’ll ever know, [whether] it’ll ever come out that in fact it was due to pressure from this administration. But it is very telling that they seem to believe they had a hand in it.
[Editor’s note: Paramount had said canceling Colbert’s show was a purely business decision, but the timing — days after the host blasted its $16 million settlement with Trump as a “big fat bribe” and as the company sought FCC approval to merge with Skydance — raised suspicions.]
This administration cannot tolerate any viewpoint that isn’t exactly what it wants it to be and certainly cannot tolerate any critics. All of its actions against the media at large, all of the complaints about reporters, all of the banning of certain news organizations, all of these things that are happening are to pressure broadcasters to conform and to capitulate. And I thought Colbert really went out on his own and that was good to see. And I hope the........