Reactions on both sides of the aisle poured in on social media following reports that NBC and ABC will not air President Donald Trump’s address to the nation on Thursday night. While many praised the networks’ decision not to amplify his continued pushing of debunked election conspiracies, many conservatives lashed out at the broadcasters. Some MAGA-aligned individuals suggested the decision was indicative of the networks somehow being party to a grand conspiracy to silence whatever Trump was supposedly going to reveal during the address. Other conservatives called for the FCC to revoke the networks’ broadcast licenses.“Fine, don’t cover it, pull their license,” former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said on Thursday. “The key to the license is do public good, by covering major news events and major events that are for the good of the nation. If they’re not gonna do that, just pull the license. Pull it, let’s see what tough guys they are when you do that.” HuffPost has reached out to the FCC for comment on NBC and ABC’s decision, but has not received a response. Several outlets reported that the networks had decided not to air Trump’s speech on their broadcast channels. Both will reportedly air the address on their respective streaming services.“ABC News will run President Trump’s speech on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio with comprehensive, anchored coverage,” the network said in a statement to HuffPost. The statement added that the network will cover the speech in its regular nightly newscasts. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt teased the content of Trump’s address during Thursday’s press briefing. “President Trump will deliver a major address to the nation on protecting the integrity of our elections. And we encourage every American to tune in,” Leavitt said. She added that the speech “will shock you if you have an honest eye listening to the president tonight.”Multiple outlets reported that Trump’s speech will likely rehash debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. When asked on Tuesday if he would talk about “election machines and integrity” during the address, Trump said it would “concern that subject” and “we’ll have a couple of other things to say also.”Read more reactions here: A retributive president is asking the broadcast networks to air a speech that may recycle lies about the 2020 election and sow doubts about this year’s midterms.So will the broadcasters preempt their prime-time programming to show Trump’s 9pm speech?Execs have been locked in…— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 16, 2026NBC and ABC should lose their license for not airing the presents speech. They are trying to keep truth from getting out. Little do they know it’ll be massive news no matter how hard they try to stop it from coming out.— 🇺🇸 MAGA Michelle S 🇺🇸 (@MAGAMichelleS69) July 16, 2026The radical left media is silencing the President of the United States. They don’t believe in truth, they believe in pleasing leftist donors! https://t.co/J2Sy5Cp38i— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) July 16, 2026The Mainstream media (A DISGRACE) is again Derelict in their duty to report the unbiased facts and TRUTH as ABC & NBC are now refusing to air the President’s speech tonight on ELECTION INTERFERENCE in 2020.At today’s briefing, I asked Karoline Leavitt:“Why do u think the… pic.twitter.com/9YuerMgnSX— Cara Castronuova (@CaraCastronuova) July 16, 2026ABC, CNN & NBC will not broadcast President Trump's speech tonight on election fraud. This is the bright red line.Now everybody knows: the legacy outlets are controlled by our corrupt intel agencies.The Trump Admin must cancel their broadcast licenses.— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) July 16, 2026I’m glad that neither NBC nor ABC is airing Trump’s speech tonight. He’s going to ramble, lie, and attempt to lay the groundwork to challenge the midterms. He’s a loser— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) July 16, 2026🚨 NOW: President Trump's 9PM address tonight will involve CHINA and might be "the most important Oval Office address since the Cuban Missile Crisis," per Sen. Bernie MorenoNO WONDER ABC and NBC REFUSE TO AIR ITMORENO: "I was just briefed by the White House on what to expect… pic.twitter.com/LiAkqbgN3a— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 16, 2026Imagine the outrage if Fox refused to air a Democratic president’s election speech live.ABC and NBC may believe they are preventing misinformation, or even running cover for the Democrat narrative, but refusing to broadcast the speech creates a different problem: it allows… https://t.co/FOts7iSbEu— Jack Lombardi (@JackLombardi_ii) July 16, 2026RelatedDonald Trump2020 electionNBCABC