“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
This was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s line at the end of a rant about CNN in today’s Pentagon press conference. David Ellison, of course, is the failson progeny of Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who is now in the midst of building a private sector pro-Trump state media operation which brings together Paramount, CBS, (soon) CNN, HBO and much more. CNN is already a done deal, though the takeover itself is still in process. None of this is secret. But seldom do we see it spelled out quite so clearly as Hegseth did yesterday. And it brings home what we talk about here again and again: in the Trump universe, only independent media organizations can actually be … well, independent, not be puppeteered either by Trump and his stooges or big corporate owners who want to keep on Trump’s good side.
That’s where organization’s like TPM come in. We depend solely on you. More than 90% of our funding comes from TPM readers. That means that as long as you’re satisfied with us, we’re good. It doesn’t matter what Trump thinks or the CEO or Comcast or Proctor & Gamble or Paramount or anyone else. That’s why it’s so important that if you think what we do is important that you subscribe and become a TPM member. If you’re not a member please click right here and join us.
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