The Shakedown Presidency
Paramount becomes the latest media giant to pay Trump's ransom.
Let me get this straight.
Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle a bogus $10 billion lawsuit he filed because 60 Minutes ran an interview with Kamala Harris he didn’t like. Why? Because they’re afraid Trump will block a deal to sell their company.
That’s not a settlement. That’s a shakedown. And it sets a dangerous precedent.
Paramount’s settlement comes after META agreed to settle a frivolous lawsuit from Trump in January for $25 million and ABC News settled a lawsuit with him for $15 million in December.
The latest news also continues a dangerous pattern of Trump’s efforts to silence the media. Last week he threatened to sue the New York Times for reporting on U.S. intelligence that showed his bombing campaign did not destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. And this week he threatened to prosecute CNN for reporting on an ICE tracking app that’s available to any iPhone user.
Where does it end?
We now live in a country where CEOs, law firms, news organizations, universities — even foreign governments — have to kiss the ring of a sitting president to get contracts, deals, and regulatory approval, or to escape unwarranted government scrutiny. This ain’t democracy. It’s extortion disguised as leadership.
And the man running this racket? The same guy who screamed about “Crooked Hillary” and Hunter Biden’s laptop. Trump has more than doubled his net worth since taking office, raking in over $2 billion this year alone. He’s selling sneakers, fragrances, Bibles, crypto coins, real estate, and phone service. And he’s getting a $400 million private jet from Qatar’s royal family. And the other members of the Trump Crime Family are doing everything they can to profit off of the presidency.
What happened to drain the swamp? Trump is the swamp.
He’s turned the presidency into a for-profit enterprise — where truth gets silenced, corruption gets rewarded, and billion-dollar corporations bow to a convicted felon just to stay in business.
If the people in power are too afraid to stand up, then it’s up to the rest of us to raise hell and defend our democracy.
As abhorrent as I find this behavior, even more disgusting are those who are applauding this criminal syndicate as a shrewd business man. Thus, here we are late-stage capitalist greed led by a grifter in chief. It will eventually implode on itself because the billionaires’ greed is insatiable. It’s unsustainable. It just sucks to be alive during this part of history and residing in this country. I wonder if this is what it felt like to be Roman during the fall of Rome. Early days still…