Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Extortion

Paramount, parent of CBS, settles a lawsuit with Trump. It is a win for Trump. 

One could call it use of leverage. Or hardball. Or sharp business. I think the most honest word for it is extortion. 

It sends a chilling message. That is the point.

Trump accused the TV show 60 Minutes of unfairly editing an interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris. He sued for $10 billion, then changed it to $20 billion. The lawsuit was ridiculous on its merits, and easily defendable as a matter of First Amendment free speech and freedom of the press. The Freedom of the Press Foundation called Trump's lawsuit "beyond frivolous." But after his election, Trump appointed a new head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brenden Carr, who promptly announced a probe of a CBS-owned New York affiliate TV station. That probe gummed up the works of a multi-billion dollar planned sale of Paramount, the corporate parent of CBS and 60 Minutes, to Skydance Media.

That was the squeeze. 

Paramount capitulated. Settling the lawsuit had nothing to do with the merits of the case. It had everything to do with Trump using the government regulatory power to interfere with the planned sale of the parent company. The extortion was so naked, and Trump's legal claim so weak, that the payment was widely described as a simple bribe, a $16 million payment to Trump for nothing other than an action by his government. 

This billboard ran in Times Square, depicting Paramount owner Shari Redstone, handing cash to Trump.


A deal this flagrant needs a perfunctory cleanup. Paramount issued a statement claiming the settlement was "completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process." No one believes that. The bribe issue was addressed by making the settlement checks to Trump's attorneys and to the Trump presidential library. See? No money to Trump, at least not directly. Trump's spokespeople helped with a pretext of their own: "CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle." No one believes that, but we aren't supposed to believe it. It is just for-show.

This is a big win for Trump in the form of money for the Trump presidential library, but more importantly for the precedent and chilling effect. Every media organization intersects with government regulators somewhere -- in TV licensing, in financial transactions, in antitrust matters -- so everyone is vulnerable. Trump demonstrated that he will make pretextual claims backed by the power of the federal government. The fact that Trump's 60 Minutes claim was frivolous is a feature, not a bug. It shows that there is no "safe harbor." Trump could strike anywhere and over nothing, and he has the tools of the Justice Department and cooperation of the regulatory agencies. 

We see a pattern here. Random, pretextual, apparently arbitrary use of presidential power is a feature. In immigration detention, ICE picks up and in a single day deports a long-standing,well-behaved resident who is thoroughly integrated into her community. Why her? It sends a message that no one is exempt. There is no safe harbor. 

With universities, the sudden announcement of cuts of medical research grants sends a message. There is no university program so valuable and popular in the public mind that cutting it is beyond Trump. So, universities need quick action: Examine your system clean them up. Rename and cut programs that mention diversity or inclusion. There is no safe harbor. If Trump will try to squash Harvard he would go after anyone.

Federal employees -- even already understaffed FAA flight controllers and forest fire fighters -- can suffer instant new reduction in force orders. One need not have done something controversial like enforce an environmental rule or deny a drilling permit or perform an IRS audit on a friend of Trump. Anyone can be fired. Keep your head down. Don't risk coming to Trump's attention. His department heads are on the lookout and they want to be pro-active. There is no safe harbor. 

Cruelty, fear, and arbitrariness are features. Even if it is an admitted mistake of identity or guilt, you might get sent to a hellhole in El Salvador or Alligator Alcatraz, and Trump will try to keep you here under some sort of colorable pretext. He will claim whatever he wants, and there will be hell to pay.

Don't disappoint him. Anticipate his whims.



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Tuesday, July 1, 2025

The Jim Crow compromise on immigration

Only a minority of voters want immigrants here illegally to have a path to citizenship.

Most Republicans want immigrants deported. 

I wrote today's post after reviewing a report  published by the Pew Research Center on June 17. They sampled Americans on their opinions relating to immigrants. The Pew people have a good reputation for non-partisan fairness.


I came of age in the 1960s. The Civil Rights revolution was the great social triumph of my youth. I experienced it as American redemption. We had failed to live up to our ideals of liberty, justice, and equality for all, and then America changed itself. We overcame our past, with new laws and new social norms on the treatment of Native Americans, Blacks, Asians, and women. No more second class citizens. The Pew poll is a wake-up call to me. 

 A significant minority of my fellow Americans are comfortable with deporting immigrants who are here illegally. Republicans who want deportation of all immigrants are a majority of a political party which commands a majority of both chambers of Congress and the White House. They have electoral legitimacy. Trump has the power to do mass deportations. There is also a significant swing group of voters, people "in the middle," who want to deal with immigrants by keeping them as non-citizens. That may explain why Trump and Republican politicians advocate a change in birthright citizenship. It fits a larger idea. If adult immigrants are perceived as best kept as a non-citizen underclass, then their children can be as well. Immigrants from Latin America and Asia aren't really "us," and never can be, so let's not make them "us" by some unfortunate language in the 14th Amendment. It is the 21st century's version of the Dred Scott decision.

Trump is conspicuous in using presidential power to please his team, not the whole of the country.  Let his team drink liberal tears; they love it. Some 59 percent of Republicans want undocumented immigrants deported. An additional 22 percent want to keep them here, but as a permanent non-citizen workforce. That totals some 80%. 

Only 36 percent of Americans want what Democrats speak of as their goal for immigration peace, a "path to citizenship." Democrats mis-read Hispanic voters on this issue. A significant number of Hispanics share the Republican position; 14 percent of Hispanics want deportation, and another 36 percent want permanent non-citizenship. 

The chart below records growing public disappointment with Democratic policy on immigration between 2017 and the present.

Trump succeeded in shaping the public worry about mass immigration from countries other than Western Europe. He described immigrants as replacing us. They are changing our blood, changing our language and culture. They are parasites. His attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion lays bare the racial/ethnic component. He positioned this as White people under seige. Assert their centrality as the people who own and control the country, while they still have the numbers to do so, a majority that is slipping away. If there is work to be done, let it be done by the people already here, or by hired hands on contract, not by people who invite themselves in as partners..

The Pew poll gives us a sense of the country's mood. I am probably an outlier, more pro-immigration than are most Americans.  As always, there is lots to dislike about Trump, but he isn't out of touch on this issue, not with his Republican base.



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