When the Netflix bid for part of Warner Bros business hit the headlines, I wondered why Donald Trump warned of problems with the takeover bid.
On Monday, it emerged that Paramount Studios was launching a competing hostile bid financed by a consortium of various parties, sourced in the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s finance vehicle was also a key mover of the Paramount bid.
Trump stated on Sunday that he would be personally involved in making the decision on the Netflix bid. But he then told reporters on Monday that he had not spoken with Kushner about Warner Bros Discovery, adding that neither Netflix nor Paramount “are friends of mine”.
Would anyone be surprised if the greedy, amoral occupant of the White House sought to determine personally whether his son-in-law, Kushner, should be part of a successful bid – which, one way or the other, has major implications for diversity in US media ownership?
We should not forget that Kushner was sent to Moscow last week to try to persuade the Russians to vary their sweetheart deal to cripple and dismember Ukraine, a deal already negotiated by his businessman envoy with Vladimir Putin’s representatives.
Nor should we forget that Kushner was the originator of the plan to flatten the Gaza Strip, evacuate its entire population to neighbouring Arab states, and turn it into a “riviera” resort, with investment from the same sources who would finance the Paramount bid.
Let’s remember, too, that Trump has overtly threatened to forfeit the broadcasting licences of the CBS and ABC networks. He has also launched lawsuits claiming billions of dollars from the media, and has even threatened a $5 billion lawsuit against the BBC.
It isn’t just a matter of withdrawing White House passes from journalists or demeaning them publicly with veiled threats or abusive adjectives like “piggy”.
Trump is a volatile, narcissistic personality intent on self-enrichment. In the last two weeks, he renamed a non-profit think tank previously known as the US Institute of Peace after himself, having earlier garrotted the institute by withdrawing its funding and ousting its board.
A White House spokesperson said: “The United States Institute of Peace was once a bloated, useless entity that blew $50 million while delivering no peace. Now, the Donald J Trump Institute of Peace, which is both beautifully and aptly named after a President who ended eight wars in less than a year will stand as a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability”. She added: “Congratulations, world.”
If this was dreamed up by The Onion or the writers of The Simpsons, it might merit a laugh. Sad to say, these events are but the tip of the iceberg into which American democracy itself has been steered – and is now sinking.
Apart from being a shameful rejection of everything that the founding fathers of the United States aspired to – and vindication of their fears of substituting home-grown despotism for Hanoverian monarchy – liberal democrats across the world should shudder at the close political, social and economic approximation now emerging between today’s United States and Putin’s crony-oligarchy.
And if the penny hadn’t already dropped, recent revelations in a Washington paper on US foreign relations strategy makes it abundantly clear that Trump views the European Union with disdainful contempt, and regards a working relationship with Moscow as more important than the Europe’s political cohesion or economic viability.
Trump seems to be actively pursuing an Orwellian world future in which Russia can dominate the European East, while United States can dominate and exploit a fragmented western Europe. None of this is fanciful; it is grim, political reality.
If Russia regains control of Ukraine, as Putin demands, the next stop will be Moldova and energy dependence for Hungary and Slovakia. The Baltic States will, at best, be turned into complaisant Russian satellites enjoying the same “neutrality” once imposed by Moscow on Finland. Trump’s administration is openly encouraging “weak” and “decaying” European fragmentation by backing many populist movements that oppose the EU.
While Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was received warmly in Downing Street, Trump is actively plotting his downfall. To what end?
At some point, European leaders will have to abandon their diplomatic tactic of humouring Washington’s idiot king. American voters need to know the truth. European voters as well.
As for his claim to be a peace maker and his bid for the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump is more aptly termed a “piece taker”: Russia wants a piece of Ukraine. The United States wants Greenland. The United States wants the Panama Canal. Israel wants a piece of Gaza. An aircraft carrier force sits menacingly offshore of Venezuela’s oilfields. Is that “global stability”?
Meanwhile in Ireland, the nascent political new right are largely sneaking regarders for Trump, backed by a cohort of Putin’s useful idiots.
As 2025 draws to a close, there is little reason to hope for a happy new year. The only glimmer of hope lies in the autumn US midterm elections and in the vanishing possibility that American voters will at last call a halt to Trump’s madness.