Trump trolled for 'silliness' as he calls for 'taking away' NBC and CNN licenses for snubbing Iowa speech

ATKINSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE: In a fiery response, former President Donald Trump criticized NBC and CNN, demanding the pulling of 'their licenses or whatever they have' after they failed to broadcast his entire Iowa caucus victory speech, reported The Hill.

Speaking at a rally in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, January 16, a day after his resounding victory in the Iowa Republican caucus, Trump accused the news networks of being "crooked" and "dishonest."

"We were talking about her show and how corrupt the press is, and last night it was amazing," the GOP frontrunner said.

"NBC and CNN refused to air my victory speech. Think of it — because they are crooked. They're dishonest, and frankly, they should have their licenses or whatever they have: Take it away."

He added the networks aired the speeches of Nikki Haley, who came in "a distant third," and Ron DeSantis, who came in "a boring second."

However, there were criticisms from the DeSantis campaign that the media, including CNN and NBC, projected the frontrunner's victory even before the caucus ended.

Amid his ongoing defamation trial in New York, Trump is campaigning in the Granite state ahead of the primary on January 23, facing tough competition from rival candidate Haley.

CNN and NBC aired the first few minutes of Trump's speech

Both CNN and NBC refused to air the former President's Iowa victory speech in full despite his insistence. CNN aired around nine minutes of his 22-minute speech. However, DeSantis's less than 4-minute speech was fully aired, and only the first 11 minutes of Haley's.

According to The Daily Beast, NBC aired the initial five minutes of Trump's speech, then resumed coverage a few minutes later for another five minutes.

Responding to a decision not to air the ex-president's speeches, NBC's Rachel Maddow said, "There is a reason that we and other news organizations have generally stopped giving an unfiltered live platform to remarks by former President Trump. It is not out of spite. It is not a decision that we relish. It is a decision that we regularly revisit, and honestly, earnestly."

Emphasizing the decision as not easy, she added, "There is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things. And that is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are."

In many instances, Trump's campaign speeches have received backlash for making remarks on dictators like Adolf Hitler and echoing his anti-immigrant rhetorics.

Internet reacts to Trump's remarks

Netizens mocked the GOP frontrunner for slamming the news networks for not airing his complete speech. Social media reactions suggested Trump was silly for complaining CNN and NBC did not air his "whinings."

One user remarked, "Just silliness."

Another user wrote, "Trump has never delivered a real speech. He just rants using his 150 word vocabulary."

"By the way, the guy doesn't even know networks aren't licensed," added third user.

A fourth user said, "They didn’t want to scare their audiences!"

"I don't know.. maybe people are tired of getting fines and defamation lawsuits because of things Trump said," read a witty remark.

Another user wrote, "If he gets elected they’ll be one station. Trump TV. Nothing else."

"Also it’s the same speech over and over. Whining and lies," read another response.

One user questioned, "Is there anything he doesn’t whine about?"

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.