President Donald Trump raged at NBC News journalist Kristen Welker over the weekend after she questioned the worth of his electoral endorsements, and a conservative commentator said his threats betrayed a deeper anxiety.
The "Meet the Press" host reported on the "mixed results" in his recent endorsements in GOP primary races, and the 80-year-old president accused her of “purposeful inaccuracy” and threatened that she would “be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment," which conservative Jonah Goldberg described as a telling admission.
"I do think everyone's missing the actual political angle on this, though," Goldberg told "CNN This Morning," "which is, I agree with you the analogy, the Selzer poll is a good one, but specifically on this thing where Trump called [Bill] Maher or when he's freaking out at Kristen Welker, Trump is terrified that he's losing control of the Republican Party, and the idea ... of his unilateral imperial control over it, that it's the Trump party, and if the idea that his endorsements in primaries don't matter as much as they used to, that is the only thing that keeps a lot of Republicans in line is terror of him endorsing a primary opponent."
"If it gets out that, oh my gosh, he's a lame duck and his endorsements inside his own coalition don't matter as they once did," Goldberg added. "That's why he's freaking out."
Goldberg also argued the episode undermined the purpose of the Federal Communications Commission.
"I think it's time for the FCC either to be dismantled or at least seriously re-evaluated how it does its job," Goldberg said. "It was built for an era of radio; it was updated for TV. It doesn't cover stuff on the internet already, and you know, with people under 30, they're basically getting everything through the internet already. So, like, figure out what the mission should be and maybe don't make and maybe redesign it. So a president can't do any of this stuff because it's gross."
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