President Trump frequently demonstrates his disdain for journalists. He expresses his admiration for authoritarians almost as often.

Tuesday showed how intertwined those two instincts really are.

Trump repeatedly objected to press questions during an Oval Office photo op with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, whose country does not have a free press.

He lashed out at an ABC correspondent, Mary Bruce, after she invoked the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.

The president said his ally, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, should “look at” punishing ABC over its news coverage.

“I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong,” he asserted.

Trump misstated how FCC licenses actually work, but his message was clear: He’d like his government to retaliate the way a dictator would.

The president also called Bruce “insubordinate,” a word he rarely ever uses, while sitting next to the son of the Saudi king.

According to Reporters Without Borders, which tracks press freedom all around the world, “independent media are non-existent in Saudi Arabia, and Saudi journalists live under heavy surveillance, even when abroad.”

“Despite societal reforms, journalists are still being detained and media outlets operate under strict state control,” the organization says.

Trump has no such control over the American media, but he acts like he wants to have it.

In his comments on Tuesday, Trump was “reflecting his belief that the press is there to be subservient to him, to shut up when he demands they shut up when he finds the question embarrassing,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, a non-profit founded by Khashoggi in 2018.

Here’s the multi-part question from Bruce that triggered the tense exchange:

“Is it appropriate, Mr. President, for your family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia while you’re president? Is that a conflict of interest? And, your royal highness, the US intelligence (community) concluded you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust you? And the same to you, Mr. President.”

Before Bruce could complete the question, Trump repeatedly asked, “Who are you with?”

“I’m with ABC News, sir,” she said.

“Fake news,” Trump claimed, deriding one of the best-known news brands in America as “one of the worst in the business.”

“But the question is important, sir,” Bruce said, unfazed.

Trump went on to claim that he has “nothing to do with the family business,” then spoke dismissively about Khashoggi, calling the dissident journalist “extremely controversial.”

Prince bin Salman said Khashoggi’s murder has “been painful for us in Saudi Arabia” and defended the Saudi investigation into the crime.

Karen Attiah, who edited Khashoggi’s columns for The Washington Post, wrote on Bluesky that Trump’s comments about the slain journalist were “absolutely vile.”

Minutes later, when Bruce asked an unrelated question about “the Epstein files,” Trump berated her for having an unpleasant “attitude.”

“It’s the way you ask these questions,” he said. Circling back to the Khashoggi question for the prince, he said, “You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question. And you could even ask that same question nicely.”

Then he tore into ABC, calling it a “crappy company,” and raising the specter of government retaliation.

The FCC regulates the licenses of local TV and radio stations nationwide, including those owned by ABC. But the national network is not licensed.

Trump has repeatedly spoken of wanting to revoke licenses, which would break with decades of precedent and likely spark lengthy legal battles.

Sen. Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, wrote on X, “Trump again directs the FCC to rescind a broadcast license over a reporter’s question. Thin-skinned. Weak. Un-American. Authoritarian.”

ABC had no comment about his latest threat. But some of Bruce’s colleagues at ABC and fellow members of the White House press corps cheered her persistence in posts on social media.

The National Press Club warned in a statement that Trump’s minimizing of Khashoggi’s murder can have “real-world consequences” because such statements “can embolden those who wish to silence reporters, and they can undermine the essential principle that journalists must be able to work without fear of violence or retribution.”

Liam Reilly contributed reporting.