Trump keeps focusing on the real issues—like college football

Laser-focused on making life better for the American people as his dumb war crushes the economy, President Donald Trump decided Friday was the day to do a flashy executive order signing demanding TV networks not to air any other football games at the same time as the Army-Navy game. Surrounded by uniformed Navy members, Trump mumbled that the expansion of the college football playoffs—which might air at the same time—would “encroach on the sacred four-hour time slot” when the Army-Navy game airs. It’s honestly sort of astonishing how much time Trump has to devote to the most trivial things instead of getting a grip on the war that he started. Per Naval Academy Athletic Director Michael Kelly, showing any other college football game during the Army-Navy game would hurt the military. “Maintaining its exclusivity ensures the country can come together to recognize the sacrifice, commitment, and readiness that are essential to our military,” he said. And per the executive order itself, showing other games would “weaken the national focus on our Military Service Academies and detract from a morale-building event of vital interest to the Department of War.” Surely it’s just a coincidence that CBS Sports, now owned by Trump ally David Ellison, holds the broadcast rights to this game. And surely it’s just a coincidence that this move would knock out any competition for eyeballs, which might just help CBS reverse the 17% drop in viewership for last year’s game compared to 2024. CBS definitely needs protection from the college football playoffs, where even some of the first-round games drew nearly twice the viewership of the 2025 Army-Navy game. Last year’s college football championship landed 30.1 million viewers, and the overall average of all 11 games that aired clocked in at 16.3 million. In contrast, the Army-Navy game came in 32nd on the list of most-watched football games in 2025. Respectable, sure, but nothing compared to the big college games. You won’t be surprised to learn that CBS rival ESPN has the broadcast rights to those games. Pretty neat trick for CBS to use the weight of the federal government to protect its ratings. But never one to stay on script, Trump used the signing as an opportunity to brag about how healthy he is—healthier even than the Navy midshipmen standing behind him. He also veered into lengthy praise of GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was at the signing to perform his usual role of agreeing with Trump that his health is the very bestest. There’s no question that Trump cannot—just by signing a piece of paper—force the networks to adjust their broadcast schedules to protect the sacred Army-Navy time slot. But hey, Trump’s pet bulldog Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, says it’s totally fine, so forget the First Amendment. Besides the federal government trying to dictate what TV networks can and cannot air, the executive order tasks Carr with “reviewing the public interest obligations of broadcast licensees to determine whether those obligations would require that the Army-Navy Game remain a national service event.” This sounds benign, but it isn’t. It’s an instruction to Carr to threaten the broadcast licenses of TV stations operated by other networks to force them to comply. Carr doesn’t see his role at the FCC as regulating communication; he sees it as a platform to push Trump’s agenda and punish everyone who won’t sign on. He’s tried to force late-night hosts off the air because they make fun of Trump, threatened to pull the broadcast licenses of stations that cover Trump’s shambolic war in a critical way, and enforced the equal time rule—but only against liberal shows—demanding that they include Republicans whenever they feature a Democrat. The media landscape that Trump envisions is one of state media, where no one airs anything he doesn’t like and his rich pals profit. And Carr is all in to help. We’ll just have to wait and see if other networks will take their chances and dare to encroach on the sacred time slot.