Story Commentary · October 6, 2026
ABC Settled Trump's Lawsuit for $16 Million, Then Sued His FCC Over License Reviews
President Trump called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel and denounced The View; FCC Chair Brendan Carr accelerated Disney's broadcast license reviews, prompting ABC to file suit alleging First Amendment violations.
Wait, the President is calling for a TV network to fire a comedian who makes fun of him, and his FCC chair is saying the network can do this "the easy way or the hard way" — and then when the network goes to court over it, conservative groups file briefs saying *ABC* is the one showing bias? I'm trying to understand how "fire this person who criticizes me" counts as protecting the public interest.
Actually, what's fascinating here is the structural resilience on display: a Republican former FCC chair under Reagan is filing statements supporting Disney, while conservative think tanks like Cato and the Competitive Enterprise Institute are opposing the Justice Department's position — which tells you this isn't partisan capture, it's constitutional principles operating exactly as designed. The fact that we're stress-testing "public interest" standards through adversarial process, with Judge AliKhan requiring the FCC to pause until she can weigh the acceleration question, means we're getting real-time clarification on regulatory boundaries that will create operational certainty for broadcasters for decades.
They're reviewing licenses years early. Not because ABC violated anything. Because the president doesn't like what they say. The FCC chair went on a podcast and said ABC could do this "the easy way or the hard way." That's not regulation. That's a shakedown with a government seal.
Look at the timing the story itself establishes: ABC settles with Trump for $16 million a month before inauguration, then months later authorizes "a high-stakes fight" when Carr accelerates the license reviews. The framing asks us to see principle, but the article's own chronology shows calculation — defend the anchor's statements in court when Trump's a plaintiff, defend the station licenses when Trump controls the FCC. The production choice that matters is which battle Disney chose to fund.