'Pay the consequences': Trump's bullying has a new target

President Donald Trump is reportedly threatening Netflix to fire Susan Rice, a former UN ambassador under President Barack Obama, or else “pay the consequences.”

“President Donald Trump is not the sort of old-fashioned Republican who believes businesses should operate unfettered from government interference,” reported The Week. “Instead, he is now telling Netflix to fire a prominent board member who once worked for the Obama administration.”

Trump is upset at Rice because, when talking about Netflix’s attempt to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) over a competing bid from Paramount, commented on the fact that the Paramount owners, billionaires Larry and David Ellison, explicitly want to fire anyone at WBD who criticizes Trump.

Democrats will not “forgive and forget” companies that capitulate to Trump, Rice said during a recent podcast appearance. Her remarks referred to the massive backlash against Disney when they suspended talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for anti-Trump comments that displeased the president. In addition to ordering Netflix to fire Rice, Trump said in December that he would use his power to try to stop Netflix from buying WBD unless pro-Trump personnel changes occurred at CNN. This is in spite of the fact that, according to Axios, Trump lacks “direct authority to kill media deals”; he could instead use his comments to negatively “impact on investors and regulators.”

Trumpism “closely resembles state-run capitalism,” Steve Benen said at MS Now, stating that the president uses his power to determine “what private companies charge, their profit margins, the salaries of their executives” and even personnel matters. If Trump wants to derail Netflix’s bid for WBD, “he is in a position to do so.”

Countering Trump’s pressure, the public has rallied behind entertainers and other public figures who lose their jobs because of Trump’s actions.

"You may have read in your colorful newspapers my country’s president would like to shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored," Kimmel said in September after he was restored to the air due to public protest. "The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden we were off the air."

He then described how "millions and millions of people stood up and said: ‘No, this is not acceptable’ ... Our show came back stronger than ever. We won, the president lost and now I’m back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician on earth a right and richly deserved bollocking."

Despite the backlash to his anti-Kimmel efforts, Trump insisted that it is “imperative” for CNN to replace its leadership with more sympathetic personnel. Because the Ellisons who run Paramount are pro-Trump, they argue that they should be allowed to purchase the company despite WBD’s opposition because they will have an easier time “getting regulatory approval” than Netflix, even though they are being financed through three Middle East sovereign-wealth funds (along with Jared Kushner).

Trump has also used his power with the Ellisons to revive his favorite movie franchises. After Paramount merged with Skydance, he reportedly ordered the company to make a fourth film in the “Rush Hour” series. Deadline described the first film as "a buddy-cop comedy starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker that blended physical comedy, martial arts and gags about racial stereotypes."

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