The Trump Campaign Calls for Breaking up Media Organizations

Supporters of Donald Trump warn that Hillary Clinton will weaken the Second Amendment. Perhaps they should worry first about the First Amendment. Read this campaign press release from Trump senior economic advisor Peter Navarro.

– OCTOBER 23, 2016 –

STATEMENT ON MONOPOLY POWER OF NEW MEDIA CONGLOMERATES

“Over a hundred years ago, a pro-business Teddy Roosevelt busted up more than 40 oil, railroad, steel and other “trusts” that were wielding their rapacious monopoly power to gouge consumers and interfere with the efficient functioning of the American economy. Donald Trump will break up the new media conglomerate oligopolies that have gained enormous control over our information, intrude into our personal lives, and in this election, are attempting to unduly influence America’s political process.
“The very corporations that have gained from shipping America’s factories and jobs offshore are the very same media conglomerates now pushing Hillary Clinton’s agenda. She is the official candidate of the multinational ruling elite.
“NBC, and its Clinton megaphone MSNBC, were once owned by General Electric, a leader in offshoring factories to China. Now NBC has been bought by Comcast, which is specifically targeting the Chinese market – even as Comcast’s anchors and reporters at MSNBC engage in their Never Trump tactics.
“AT&T, the original and abusive “Ma Bell” telephone monopoly, is now trying to buy Time Warner and thus the wildly anti-Trump CNN. Donald Trump would never approve such a deal because it concentrates too much power in the hands of the too and powerful few.
“The New York Times strings are being pulled by Mexico’s Carlos Slim, a billionaire who benefits from NAFTA and supports Hillary Clinton’s open border policies. Amazon, which controls the Washington Post, profits from the flow of illegally subsidized foreign products through its distribution channels. Lower costs mean higher margins — no matter if bad trade deals lead to massive unemployment in America.
“This oligopolistic realignment of the American media along ideological and corporate lines is destroying an American democracy that depends on a free flow of information and freedom of thought. Donald Trump will drain the swamp of corruption and collusion, standing against this trend and standing for the American people.” – Peter Navarro, Senior Economic Advisor

Even though Navarro has a PhD from Harvard, this press release has the smell of globalist conspiracy to it.  It seems to me that a free flow of information already exists and with the advent of blogging and alternative news sources, the big news organizations have lots of competition.
Navarro’s claim that CNN is “wildly anti-Trump” is just stupid. CNN has consistently and infuriatingly featured Trump surrogates or partisans in their news reporting from day one.  More than once, I have switched the channel due to the blatant lies told by Trump spokespeople which go inadequately challenged.
Threatening to intervene in the nation’s free press is just one more illustration that Trump isn’t the friend of the Constitution his supporters claim him to be.