Trump Sure Seems to Be Behind Paramount’s Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. |
President Trump is almost certainly supporting Paramount’s hostile takeover bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which includes CNN.
After Netflix announced they were acquiring the media and entertainment company in an $83 billion cash-and-stock deal Friday, Paramount on Monday announced a $108.4 billion cash offer in a takeover bid that reeks of Trump’s cooperation. Trump was asked over the weekend if he thought Netflix should be allowed to make the deal, and he flat-out said he would be involved in the ultimate decision.
“They have a very big market share. And when they have Warner Bros. you know that share goes up a lot, so I don’t know, that’s going to be for some economists to tell and also I’ll be involved in that decision too,” Trump said at the Kennedy Center Honors.
Q: Should Netflix be allowed to buy Warner Brothers?
TRUMP: That's a question. They have a very big market share. I'll be involved in that decision pic.twitter.com/pEgMxKi2XP
Paramount CEO David Ellison went on CNBC Monday morning to talk about Paramount’s bid, and tried to play coy about how Trump would feel about Ellison taking over CNN, a news network that Trump has railed against over “unfair” coverage.
“We’ve had great conversations with the president about this, but I don’t want to speak for him in any way, shape or form,” Ellison said. Those great conversations have reportedly involved which CNN hosts to fire if Ellison takes over the network and putting CBS’s 60 Minutes on CNN.
Paramount’s takeover bid also involves Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, specifically his private equity firm Affinity Partners, as well as sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar. Paramount conveniently left that out of the press release announcing the takeover.
Paramount’s owners, Larry Ellison and his son David, are staunch Trump supporters and are building a right-wing media empire, having CBS in their Paramount portfolio, acquiring the anti-woke publication The Free Press, and also bringing TikTok under U.S. ownership to push pro-Israel views.
All of this suggests that Trump, through the Ellisons, is trying to force mainstream media outlets into submission and cease critical coverage. Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos may have helped his Warner Bros. deal thanks to private meetings with the president, but if it comes down to a choice between that or having the Ellisons take over CNN with his son-in-law’s help to make it pro-Trump, it’s clear what Trump would prefer.
The online MAGA-verse were at each other’s throats more than usual this weekend, as right-wing commentators Benny Johnson, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Tucker Carlson were all points of controversy.
The first tiff started on Saturday, when Yiannopoulos—who has made a name for himself as an openly gay far-right bigot—accused multiple conservative influencers like Johnson and Charlie Kirk of being closeted gay men on Tim Pool’s podcast with swindler and former MAGA Representative George Santos, who is also gay.
“One of the most distinctive things about the right-wing in this country is its homosexual overtones. Benny Johnson posts pictures of his children every two days—it’s weird. And everybody knows what went on with Benny Johnson in those lobbies and those hotel rooms at SAS. Everybody knows,” said Yiannopoulos.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Santos replied.
“Men, younger men. Not underage, at least I don’t know that. His wife was crying drunk in the lobby three SAS’s in a row about how her husband was upstairs with boys,” Yiannopoulos claimed. “Go ask her.”
“Come on, Milo, aren’t you ever scared of getting sued?” Santos asked.
Far right influencer, Milo Yannopoulos, alleged that Benny Johnson, Charlie Kirk and other top maga leaders are closet homosexuals
“His wife was in the lobby crying while he was upstairs with boys.”pic.twitter.com/vXDQuNWfch
Yiannopoulos insisted he was telling the truth, and that he’d never been sued.
On Sunday, Johnson threatened to sue him.
“I am duty bound to take action to protect my family against those who maliciously defame and attack us. More to come on that soon,” he wrote. “Pray for healing for some really sick and delusional people. Jesus is about redemption. The legal system is about justice. Happy Sunday.”
Yiannopoulos responded in a message addressed to Johnson and his wife, Kate:
“I know more about defamation than any lawyer you will hire. Benny is a public figure. Malice is a nonstarter. I have receipts, and the truth is a total defense against any claim of defamation or libel. Do you want to lose a defamation case to MILO YIANNOPOULOS OF ALL PEOPLE about whether or not you are gay? Do you want to even fight one? The people who have poured money into making you a big deal are about to lose their entire investment,” he ranted.
“I know more about your marriage than you think I do,” he continued, “and I have evidence, and I have witnesses. I know who to subpoena. I know what questions to ask. About nocturnal liaisons dangereuses with chaps in assless chaps and about being caught in flagrante delicto at conferences attended by students, some of whom may have been under 18 (I guess we’ll find out!).”
Yiannopoulos also claimed that Turning Point USA may have faked Charlie Kirk’s death.
“Do you think there is a possibility they faked his death?
Yes”
Milo Yiannopoulos @Nero claims it’s possible that Charlie Kirk is still alive and that Erika Kirk is “sinister,” alleging she’s involved in a plot with TPUSA to fake his death. pic.twitter.com/GeWdV4IhWy
Meanwhile, other far-righters—mostly Islamophobes and Zionists—were at pundit Tucker Carlson’s throat for his purchase of a property in Qatar.
“Speaking on stage at the Doha Forum in Qatar, Tucker Carlson told Qatar’s Prime Minister Al Thani that he is buying a place in Qatar this week because he’s an ‘American”; and he will live and go wherever he wants,” MAGA crank Laura Loomer posted on Sunday. “Qatar is the financier of the Muslim Brotherhood and they continue to allow HAMAS officials to live in Doha, where Tucker now wants to buy a place to live.”
“Let me explain the joke: Qatar is a bloodthirsty, terror-supporting slave state, and Tucker Carlson is........