The President of the United States said on Sunday that reporters covering his war on Iran should be charged with treason — a crime punishable by death.

Let that sink in for a second.

Donald Trump posted a nearly 400-word rant on Truth Social accusing Iran of working “in close coordination with the Fake News Media” to spread false information about the conflict, then wrote that “those Media Outlets that generated it should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information!”

Under federal law, treason carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of death.

The specific target of Trump’s rage was the Wall Street Journal, which reported Saturday that an Iranian attack on a Saudi airbase hit and damaged five U.S. military refueling planes. Trump claimed the story was false, saying four of the aircraft were still in service “with the exception of one, which will soon be flying the skies.”

He also pointed to an AI-generated video showing the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier “burning uncontrollably in the Ocean” — a video that was, in fact, debunked last week by AFP and multiple U.S. news outlets. Trump used the existence of that fake video to tar all American media as treasonous.

Here’s the thing: no major U.S. outlet actually fell for the fakes.

“I have not seen any U.S. news outlets that have fallen for those videos,” CNN’s Brian Stelter said Sunday night. “To the contrary, real news outlets are debunking those lies, but Trump sounds confused by the chaotic information environment.”

Confused is generous. The 79-year-old president isn’t confused — he’s furious that the press is covering his war at all.

“Quite frankly, Trump does not want this scrutiny,” Stelter said. “He would prefer a propagandistic, pliant press in the United States, but he’s not going to get that.”

During a gaggle on Air Force One, Trump doubled down, telling reporters to their faces that their coverage was “pretty criminal” because “our media companies, who have no credibility whatsoever, are putting out information that they know is false.”

He also admitted the war isn’t over. “They’re decimated, but… I think that we’ve done damage to them right now,” he said. “If we left right now, it would take them 10 years and more to rebuild. But I’m still not declaring it over.”

So the war grinds on, and the president’s solution to bad coverage isn’t better strategy — it’s threatening to execute journalists.

He wasn’t done. Trump called ABC “one of the most corrupt news organizations on the planet” and refused to take further questions from the outlet. When a female reporter asked why the U.S. is sending 5,000 marines and sailors, he snapped, “You’re a very obnoxious person,” and turned to a male reporter instead.

This is the same man who told a female journalist “Quiet, piggy!” last year.

And while Trump raged, his FCC chairman Brendan Carr was doing the quiet work. Carr has already been threatening to revoke broadcasting licenses of networks he feels aren’t covering the Iran war in a way that meets the “public interest” — which apparently means covering it the way Trump wants.

“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr said. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”

Trump said he was “thrilled” to see those threats.

So let’s be precise about what’s happening here: The president started a war, doesn’t like how it’s being covered, accused the free press of treason — punishable by death — and his hand-picked FCC chairman is threatening to yank broadcast licenses from outlets that don’t fall in line.

That’s not media criticism. That’s authoritarianism with a Truth Social account.

Trump also used his rant to go after late-night hosts, calling them “the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings, and never get, as I used to say in The Apprentice, ‘FIRED.'” The man is waging a war in the Middle East and posting about TV ratings.