Justice Department Rules Competition Requires More Trump
The Justice Department opened an urgent antitrust investigation into ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News, protecting Americans from the dangerous concentration of market power created whenever several networks independently decide not to televise President Donald Trump. The inquiry followed a brief suspension of the shared White House television pool after CNN was removed from an assignment and CNN, MS NOW and Politico were barred from White House grounds. Officials demanded internal communications about the pause because journalistic cooperation becomes an illegal cartel when it produces a measurable decline in presidential screen time.
Trump explained that the Sherman Act was always intended to guarantee him simultaneous access to every camera in the country. “Everybody knows real competition means every network shows me at the same time, from the best angle, with tremendous lighting,” Trump said. “If five channels show five different things, that is obviously a monopoly against your president, and frankly the ratings should be investigated too.” The statement clarified decades of confusion among legal scholars, who had mistakenly believed antitrust law addressed price-fixing, market domination and restraints on commerce rather than insufficiently synchronized political coverage.
Under the administration’s revised doctrine, competition occurs when ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox broadcast identical presidential footage while using different logos. Consumers would then enjoy five distinct choices of the same remarks, plus the freedom to change channels during applause. Broadcasters may continue exercising editorial judgment, provided the judgment is “yes,” while dissenting networks could face subpoenas, document demands and compulsory enrollment in the federal marketplace of ideas, where the government supplies the ideas and journalists compete to repeat them fastest.
Justice Department officials emphasized that the investigation is not retaliation against the press. It is an impartial application of federal law prompted solely by news organizations refusing to behave exactly as the White House wanted, a distinction made legally conclusive by official letterhead. The First Amendment still protects editorial independence, and antitrust law now requires every independent editor to reach the same decision in favor of Donald Trump.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.