Trump Wants His MAGA-Controlled FTC Board to Use its Antitrust Powers for a Hostile Takeover of CNN by a Billionaire Tech Buddy
Donald Trump’s takeover of the Federal Trade Commission in March by firing the Democratic commissioners on the board has given him considerable personal power to meddle with antitrust enforcement. That, in turn, gives him a club to hold over the head of every big company in America, particularly media companies. He is now using that club to support a crony and to take revenge on CNN for critical coverage.
CNN reports on its own fate:
President Donald Trump inserted himself directly into the battle for control of Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday, saying, “It’s imperative that CNN be sold,” while deriding the network’s news coverage.
Trump’s comments during a White House roundtable indicated that he favors Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, WBD for short—though he did not mention Paramount by name. …
The Wall Street Journal reported that David Ellison recently “offered assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he’d make sweeping changes to CNN.” The Journal cited “people familiar with the matter.” …
The president went on, claiming the news network spreads “poison” and “lies,” and emphasizing that he wouldn’t want CNN’s current leaders to stay in charge. …
Ellison, who donated nearly $1 million to Joe Biden’s reelection campaign last year, shifted with the political winds this year and forged close ties with Trump’s inner circle.
WBD CEO David Zaslav has resisted selling to Trump’s cronies, declaring, “When the government controls the news, that is the end of democracy.”
The regulatory powers of government agencies are only compatible with a free society if those agencies remain independent of partisan politics and direct presidential control—but Trump has insisted he must have total power, precisely so he can do things like this.
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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