After expressing positive surprise over a Friday Washington Post story on his support among small-dollar campaign donors, President Trump complained on Twitter Saturday morning that late-night comedians like Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert make jokes at his expense:
Trump was apparently thinking of an FCC rule that broadcast (not cable) television and radio stations must give equal appearance time to competing, qualified candidates for public office during an election. As a writer for Fallon's Tonight Show quickly noted, the equal time rule does not apply to a sitting president who is not campaigning. It also does not apply to commentary by a third party, like a late-night host's monologue, but rather is limited to personal, unpaid appearances by candidates.
The president's tweets were likely inspired, as they often are, by a Fox & Friends segment that aired about an hour before the posts appeared, this one on late-night comics taking "a hard turn to the left."
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