‘He’s Right!’ Colby Hall Says Media Has Been Tamed — And Trump‘s Person Of The Year Speech Was A Veiled Threat

Mediaite’s Colby Hall agreed with President-elect Donald Trump’s take that the media had somewhat “tamed” in its coverage of him since the election but flagged Trump’s Person Of The Year speech at the New York Stock Exchange as a veiled threat.

The analysis came after Trump appeared on Wall Street Thursday to ring the bell in celebration of being named Time’s Person of the Year. Delivering a speech at the event, the president-elect mused about the more benevolent coverage he’d been receiving.

After thanking Time for the honor, he said, “The media is tamed down a little bit. They like us much better now I think. If they don’t, then we’ll just have to take them on again, and we don’t want to do that.”

Fears of a press crackdown under Trump come following calls to revoke network licenses over critical coverage during his campaign trial and have deepened with his nomination of Kash Patel as FBI director, who said he would “come after people in the media.”

Appearing on NewsNation host Connell McShane, Hall admitted that the media had mellowed but that for all his expressed contention Trump benefited from notoriety in coverage:

As much as he loves to complain about the media, the media serves him well. They have a you know, Trump of the media have a symbiotic relationship. And it was interesting that he sort of self-aggrandizing said that like he tamed them and he and the media is I think it’s been tamed. I think he’s right that basically a lot of people have accepted the fact that, okay, he won.

Hall continued, however, with a closer look at the threatening quip from Trump that followed, echoing a point made in his op-ed published on Mediaite on Thursday:

There was a little bit of a passive aggressive thing that he said at the end there, like, I hope they don’t turn on me again or we’ll have to take them on again. That sounded a little bit like, you know, “it would be a shame if something happened to your broadcasting license.” You know, there is obviously plausible denial. And again, look, again, that’s that’s Trump’s key. Like he sort of sent a message that was like, “hey, you know, stay in line.” But, you know, he and the media, you know, like moths to flame, they love one another.

Watch above on NewsNation.