Hours before Nexstar pulled the plug, Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, had implied that stations could face licensing consequences if they let Kimmel’s show air. (“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said, memorably.) He was quick to thank Nexstar for doing “the right thing,” and has since openly endorsed its bid for Tegna, even though the F.C.C.’s review of the deal is ongoing. So, too, has Donald Trump. “We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” he wrote, earlier this month, on Truth Social. “GET THAT DEAL DONE!”journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter