Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump shows he's no fan of fair fights

In 2009, the late right-wing political radio host Rush Limbaugh wrote to President Barack Obama and urged him — in the interest of fairness — to oppose the adoption of an FCC regulation that Limbaugh said would be “the death knell of talk radio.”

“I would encourage you not to allow your office to be misused to advance a political vendetta against certain broadcasters whose opinions are not shared by many in your party,” Limbaugh wrote.

The FCC’s “Fairness Doctrine” required broadcasters to give contrasting viewpoints on controversial issues. It had not been enforced for decades, because it was hard to enforce in a manner that did not create a First Amendment conundrum or at least an impression of unfairness, contrary to its name.

But some Democrats favored it, and Republicans opposed it. Obama and Limbaugh found themselves on the same side.

In 2020, President Donald Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Limbaugh, his political trailblazer and ideological doppelganger. But, in contrast to Limbaugh’s advice to Obama regarding fairness, Trump has no problem using his office to pursue political vendettas against broadcasters and anyone else who does not do his bidding.

Last week, Trump renewed his calls for the revocation of the broadcasting licenses of NBC and ABC. Last year, he called for CBS to lose its license. And he has rescinded $1.1 billion of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A negative story by any of the major networks continues to send him into tirades on Truth Social.

Trump has called for Texas legislators to redraw the state’s congressional districts before the midterm elections — out of the regular order and possibly in violation of the Texas constitution. The current congressional districts in Texas and the other states were drawn after the 2020 census and were expected to remain in place until the next census in 2030.

In Texas and in other states where Trump thinks he can manipulate the districts, he has no interest in a fair fight. He will change the maps wherever he can to avoid losing the House of Representatives again — as he did halfway into his first term.

Democrats have joined the battle. California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on social media in response to Trump’s Texas strategy, “Two can play this game.”

Earlier this month, Newsom wrote to Trump, telling him, “If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states. But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.

“You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make. This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy.”

Both Texas and California — and other states — are now moving forward with plans to redraw their congressional districts.

It wasn’t always this way. Throughout our history and at all levels of government, political control has shifted from one party to the other, usually without chaos. The party in power did not want to be treated unfairly when the day came, inevitably, that they found themselves in the minority again. That is something worth remembering.