Typically, the FCC chairs who regulate broadcasting don’t spend very much time in front of the camera, but as current-chair Brendan Carr has waged a battle to censor media critical of President Donald Trump, he’s enjoyed an unusual amount of time in the spotlight. And according to his latest interview with the Financial Times, “enjoyed” is the right word, as he is openly thrilled at working to support Trump’s ideological mission.
Speaking with the Financial Times, Carr describes Trump as “the political colossus of our time" and notes “there’ll never be another one like it." The Financial Times interviewer suggests Carr “speaks about the president with something close to awe” as he “describes flying on Air Force One and playing golf with him at Trump International near Mar-a-Lago — under the watch of Secret Service drones and snipers — as major ‘life experiences.’”
But Carr — “the son of a Washington lawyer who once represented Richard Nixon after Watergate” — isn’t just along for the ride, having established himself as Trump’s key censorship enforcer. As the Financial Times explains, “In Trump’s second term, Carr has become his chief antagonist of the press. Carr insists he is simply reviving public-interest obligations that regulators abandoned decades ago. Critics see something more ominous: the use of broadcast licenses, merger approvals and regulatory pressure to chill the press, dragging the US towards authoritarianism.”
This has involved several high-profile battles, such as his attacks on Jimmy Kimmel via threats against the late show host’s boss, Disney, which even conservatives have criticized. Of all people, longtime Kimmel antagonist Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has dressed Carr down for attempting to “operate as the speech police.”
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr had warned Kimmel, prompting Cruz to compare him to a mob boss.
When asked about Cruz’s comments, Carr was evasive, saying, “Well, I think Democrats really misconstrued and misinterpreted — ” When the interviewer interrupted him to remind him that Cruz is not a Democrat, Carr replied, “No, I know. But I think the Democrats did.”
Besides working to repress speech Trump doesn’t like, Carr also participates in amplifying some of the president’s more inflammatory social media statements, reposting his attacks on the media. According to the Financial Times, he sees nothing wrong with any of this.
“I think everything I post is appropriate,” he says. “I think everything the president posts is appropriate.”