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On Wednesday night at 9 PM Eastern, President Trump delivered a prime time address to the nation that was aired by all major broadcast networks. It preempted the season finale of “Survivor” on CBS, one of the network’s most highly-rated shows, the season finale of “The Floor” on Fox, and holiday specials on ABC and NBC.
Typically, networks will interrupt their primetime schedule for presidents to address wars, crises, or very significant new policies. In his remarks on Wednesday, Trump delivered his standard talking points, bragging about his mass deportation policies and tariffs and attacking Democrats and the Biden administration. The only crisis was Trump’s sagging approval ratings.
“Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history,” Trump said during the speech. “There’s never been anything like it.”
Trump blamed the Democrats for the increased cost of health insurance. “You see that now in the steep increase in premiums being demanded by the Democrats, and they are demanding those increases, and it’s their fault,” he said. Millions of Americans will see their insurance rates increase after Republicans refused to extend government subsidies that will expire at the end of the year.
The speech's partisan political content was not a surprise.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump would address the country “about all of his historic accomplishments over the past year” and “all that he’s done to bring our country back to greatness.” Specifically, Leavitt stated that Trump would likely discuss “border security and lower gas prices.”
The networks decided to break precedent and air it anyway.
The networks have declined to air prime time speeches from the last two Democratic presidents, claiming they were too political. In 2022, for example, broadcast networks declined to air a prime time speech by former President Joe Biden where he warned about threats to democracy, deciding the speech would be too “political.” Instead, NBC ran a rerun of “Law & Order” and CBS aired a rerun of “Young Sheldon.”
In 2014, major networks also refused to air a speech by former President Barack Obama about immigration reform, claiming it was too partisan. The speech outlined a plan to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation, which the Washington Post called “the most significant presidential intervention to alter the U.S. immigration system in nearly three decades.” But instead of airing the speech, CBS opted to air “The Big Bang Theory” and NBC aired “The Biggest Loser: Glory Days.”
The Obama White House made a comparison to a decision by networks to air a 2006 speech by former President George W. Bush that also covered immigration policy, but networks argued that Bush’s announcement was “bipartisan,” while Obama’s speech was an “overtly political move by the White House,” a network insider told Politico at the time.
But major broadcast networks did air a 2019 speech by Trump about the border wall, which did not have bipartisan support. Network officials argued that the speech should be aired because of its “newsworthiness.” One official told the Washington Post that while the Obama speech was “very political” and had “no crisis around it,” Trump’s speech happened during the “backdrop of the crisis of a government shutdown.”
After then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanded equal airtime, networks gave Pelosi and Schumer less than five minutes of airtime directly following Trump’s speech. The networks did not air any Democratic response to Trump’s Wednesday night address.
A pattern of capitulation
During his second term, the networks have consistently capitulated to Trump’s demands.
In December 2024, ABC settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump, agreeing to contribute $15 million to his presidential library and pay $1 million in legal fees. Trump sued ABC after anchor George Stephanopoulos incorrectly said on air that Trump was found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll, when he was actually found liable for sexual abuse. Legal experts believed Trump’s case was weak.
Another concession to Trump came in July when CBS settled a lawsuit over the editing of an October 2024 “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris for $16 million. Trump’s lawyers alleged that he experienced “mental anguish” over the interview and that it had been edited to make Harris look better.
After the settlement, Paramount, CBS’s parent company, got Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for a proposed merger with Skydance Media. The merger made David Ellison — son of billionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison — Paramount’s CEO. Since then, C