by
David
Becker/Getty
Images)
We told
you
this
was
coming
months
ago.
The
Trump
Department
of
Justice
(DOJ)
says
it
has initiated
a
broad
investigation of
Netflix’s
business
practices
and
it’s
planned
$82.7
billion
merger
with
Warner
Brothers.
The
Trump
DOJ’s
pretense
is
that
they’re
just
suddenly really
concerned
about
media
consolidation
and
monopoly
power (you’re
to
ignore
the
U.S.
right
wing’s
generational
and
indisputable
quest
to
coddle
and
protect
monopoly
power
across
telecom,
energy,
air
travel,
banking,
and
countless
other
industries):
“Questioning
how
Netflix
competes
with
rivals
suggests
the
department
is
looking
at
whether
its
planned
Warner
deal
could
entrench
its
market
power,
or
lead
to
a
monopoly
in
the
future.
U.S.
law
gives
enforcers
broad
power
to
oppose
mergers
that
could
lead
to
a
monopoly.”
In
reality,
the
Trump
administration
has
made
it
extremely
clear
they’re
hoping
to
scuttle
the
Netflix
deal
to help
Larry
Ellison
acquire
Warner
Brothers,
CNN,
and
HBO. If
they
can’t
kill
the
deal,
they
aspire
to
at
least
leverage
the
merger
approval
process
to
force
Netflix
executives
to
further
debase
themselves
before
the
Trump
administration,
which
I
suspect
they’ll
all
be
happy
to
do.
It’s
part
of
a
longstanding
trend
by
Trumpism
to pretend
that
they’re
engaged
in
populist
antitrust
reform,
claims
historically
propped
up
by
a long
list
of
useful
idiots across
the
partisan
spectrum,
and
parroted
by
a
growing
coalition
of
right
wing
propaganda
outlets.
This
bogus
populism
helps
obfuscate
what’s
really
just
some
of
the
worst
corruption
America
has
ever
seen
(which
is
really
saying
something).
The
original
(paywalled)
Wall
Street
Journal report (and
this aggregated
Reuters
recap)
dutifully
help
sell
the
claim
that
the
DOJ
is also “investigating”
Ellison’s
Paramount/Skydance,
whose
Warner
Brothers
acquisition
bid
was
repeatedly
rejected
by
the
Warner
board
over
worries
about
dodgy
financing
and
Saudi
money
involvement:
“The
WSJ
reported
that
the
DOJ
is
also
reviewing
Paramount’s
proposed
acquisition
bid,
which
Warner
Bros’
board
unanimously
rejected
by
labeling
it
“inadequate”
and
“not
in
the
best
interests”
of
shareholders.”
The
outlets
fail
to
remind
you
that
there
is
generous
reporting
discussing
how
Larry
Ellison
and
Trump
have had
extensive
meetings
discussing
who
Larry
Ellison
would
fire
on
Trump’s
behalf
should
he
take
control
of
CNN.
They
also
fail
to
remind
you
that
the
right
wing
“press,”
with
Trump’s
help,
has
been
engaged
in
a
broad
effort
to
undermine
the
Netflix
merger
chances
using
false
claims.
After
Warner
Brothers
balked
at
Larry’s
competing
bid
and
a hostile
takeover
attempt,
Larry tried
to
sue
Warner
Brothers.
With
that
not
going
anywhere,
Larry,
MAGA,
and
the
Heritage
Foundation
(of
Project
2025
fame)
have
since
joined
forces
to
try
and
attack
the
Netflix
merger
across
right
wing
media,
falsely
claiming
that
“woke”
Netflix
is
attempting
a
“cultural
takeover”
that
must
be
stopped
for
the
good
of
humanity:
More
recently
that
included scripted
questions
provided
by
the
Heritage
Foundation
at
a
Congressional
hearing,
where
lawmakers
like
Republican
Senator
Josh
Hawley
resorted
to bogus
trans
panic
attacks
to
try
and
paint
Netflix
as
some
sort
of
vile
leftist
cabal.
As
we
keep
noting,
ideally
a
functional
regulator
would
block all additional
media
consolidation,
since
these
megadeals
are
consistently
terrible
for
labor,
consumers,
and
product
quality
(see:
Warner
Brothers
entire
corporate
history
since
2000).
That’s
clearly
not
happening
under
a
Trump
administration
that
has
lobotomized
all
key
regulators.
So
ideally,
while
not
great,
Netflix
acquiring
Warner
Brothers
is
the
best
of
a
bunch
of
bad
options.
It’s
arguably
notably
better
than
furthering
Larry
Ellison’s
obvious
plan
to
gobble
up
CBS,
TikTok,
and
CNN,
and
turn
what’s
left
of
America’s
already
dodgy
corporate
media
into Hungary-esque
state
television that
lavishes
hollow
praise
on
our
mad
idiot
king.
Because
we’ve
already
let
media
consolidation
run
amok
(thanks
to
the Trump
administration’s
attack
on
bipartisan
media
consolidation
limits),
our
shitty
corporate
press
is
incapable
of
explaining
to
the
public
that
the
Trump
DOJ
inquiry
into
Netflix
isn’t
being
conducted
in
good
faith.
It’s
a
perfect
circle
of
greed,
regulatory
capture,
and
corruption
that
will
ramp
up
in
the
weeks
to
come.
Trump
DOJ
Launches
Bunk
Investigation
Of
Netflix
Merger
As
a
Favor
To
Larry
Ellison
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