Trump campaign threatens KREX

KREX received a cease-and-desist letter (pdf) from President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign threatening the station over a political ad it ran called “Exponential Threat” produced by Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC.

The ad juxtaposes a montage of the many dismissive comments Trump made about the Coronavirus pandemic earlier this year with an animated chart showing the rising number of infections in the United States. It ends by saying: “America needs a leader we can trust.”

The Trump campaign sent the threatening letter to television stations across the country, suggesting it would sue the stations for defamation and urge the Federal Communications Commission to revoke their FCC licenses.

“I can guarantee everyone got it, KKCO, KJCT…”

The letters are the President’s attempt to frighten TV stations out of broadcasting any anti-Trump ads at all, but the threatened legal actions  are unlikely to go anywhere, according to Mark Joseph Stearn, who covers courts and the law for Slate. The ads are run-of-the mill campaign ads that are fully protected free speech.

Receipt of the letter was confirmed by Kevin McChesney of KREX’s Advertising Sales Department, who said they received it about 3 weeks ago.

McChesney said it’s not uncommon for the station to get half a dozen letters like this from both political parties every election year. He said the station has gotten them regularly over the 20 years he’s been there, and “they never came to anything.” McChesney said they only stop running an ad if their legal department says to, for example if a claim in the ad is unsubstantiated.

McChesney said their procedure is to send such letters to their company’s legal department and let the lawyers address them.

McChesney also said “I can guarantee everyone got it — KKCO, KJCT. I know KKCO got it, too, and they have the same process as we do — send it to corporate.”

 

  7 comments for “Trump campaign threatens KREX

  1. Having a very, very strong leader satisfies a need for many. Millions of Americans support our very strong president in spite of a few flaws. Some find fault with years-long instances of half-truths, assaults, sexual incontinence, hush money, fraud, threats, bribes, bankruptcies, race-baiting, bullying, tax evasion,…a big nothing, really. If you truly want a really very powerful, powerful leader, you just have to let Trump be Trump.

    • B,
      It is the day after April fool
      Tell me your comments are a joke
      In what way do you see trump as powerful? In his bullying?
      Do tell

    • Thank you, I dont know how President Trump gets through the day with so many hateful people against him! He is such a strong leader, and I am glad that he is able to backtrack and not be narrow minded! His statements are no worse than some of the other Presidents in my lifetime its just the way the Media Presents what they say!
      Trump 2020!

      • You know, way back, I was troubled by the president’s behavior, but I realized that all great, powerful, amazing leaders, whether they be Mr. Hitler, Mr. Stalin, Mr. Duterte, or Mr. Amin, had their little quirks. Face it, we would all trust our great president with managing our investments, trust him driving our car with family aboard, or trust him “entertaining” our young female family members, unchaparoned. Trust, that’s what it’s all about. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin had the trust of their nations. So I guess we know what’s in store for us if we put our trust in the hands of the most honest, honorable, trustworthy US president in the last thousand years, plus.

  2. Name calling, bullying, deflecting, denying and lying to his semi-literate Amerikkkan base appears to be working very well.

  3. That’s from a campaign that just sent out a letter from donaldtrump.com (official Trump’s account) starting with “Can you believe it, (recipient’s name)?

    The Radical left-wing MOB is calling for the Lamestream media to STOP airing President Trump’s daily press conferences which provide an update on the invisible enemy threatening our Nation.”

    This is the language President Trump uses to communicate with his base.

    • That’s why like like him; he speaks their language.
      The language of bigoted, racist, narcissistic, insecure fools with a 4th grade level vocabulary.

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