- Donald Trump is suing some media companies. But he’s also open to deals with them.
- That’s the suggestion a Trump ally recently made to Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns a bunch of cable channels including CNN.
- There’s no evidence that WBD has moved forward with that suggestion. But the fact that it has come up at all tells you a lot about the state of things in 2025.
Donald Trump has a long history of attacking media companies. But the man who spent years as a primetime TV star before he became president is also very interested in media companies, and the power and influence they may still have.
Which brings us to this New York magazine profile of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, written by Trump biographer Michael Wolff. It says someone “in the Trump orbit” has made some suggestions for ways WBD could make Trump happy: Offer money, programming or both.
WBD confirmed that a company representative recently reached out to the Trump orbit seeking advice about how the company might advantageously interact with the White House and improve its Trump-age odor. The reported message was to look at the example of Amazon and Jeff Bezos paying Melania Trump $40 million to participate in a documentary about herself. Don Jr. might like a hunting and fishing show on the Discovery Channel, they were told. And that CNN could have more pro-Trump voices — suggestion provided.
This is one of those stories that would have been unimaginable in other presidencies, but certainly rhymes with what we’ve seen from Trump and moguls who want to be on his good side (see: the Amazon/Melania Trump deal referenced in the excerpt; along with payouts to Trump in lawsuit settlements from the likes of Disney and Meta). And indeed, a person familiar with the details of that anecdote says it’s correct. (WBD declined to comment, and I’ve asked the White House as well — though White House comms head Steven Cheung has previously described Wolff as “a lying sack of shit [who] has been proven to be a fraud.”)
There’s no evidence that WBD has acted on any of those suggestions. But it’s certainly worth noting that last summer, Zaslav said he was rooting for a president that would allow the media business to consolidate — something Joe Biden had opposed. And that the day after Trump’s election last fall, Zaslav said he was hopeful the new administration “would provide a real positive and accelerated impact on this industry that’s needed.”
On the flip side, Trump is a frequent critic of WBD-owned CNN, and has sued the news organization — unsuccessfully — multiple times. And during his first administration, Trump’s antitrust officials sued to stop AT&T from buying Time Warner, WBD’s predecessor company. Media executives in and outside of Time Warner believe that suit, which didn’t succeed but took years to litigate, stemmed from Trump’s distaste for CNN; Trump antitrust officials insist that wasn’t the case.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to make it clear that he both consumes traditional media and gets angry when it doesn’t flatter him.
On Sunday night, following an episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Trump posted a rant on his Truth Social complaining about CBS, and commanded Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr to “impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial, for their unlawful and illegal behavior.” Carr is currently reviewing a pending sale of CBS owner Paramount, and Trump is already suing Paramount over a different “60 Minutes” episode he doesn’t like.
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