Thread by @fawfulfan

Now that we know Trump personally directed the DOJ to file an antitrust suit against AT&T/Time Warner as political payback against CNN, we should really take a closer look at why the FCC moved to kill the Sinclair Broadcast Group/Tribune Media merger, too.

Many people would argue the Sinclair/Tribune merger was dangerous and needed to be killed. I'm someone who has argued that repeatedly! But that being said, nothing about the details of the FCC's decision made any sense, except through the lens of Trump seeing a competitor to Fox.

Look at the facts. Ajit Pai is a fanatical deregulator. He was clearly ramping up to approve the merger. He made several decisions, including lifting market ownership limits on local news and restoring the UHF discount, that were tailor-made for facilitating the Sinclair merger.

But then all of a sudden, conservative national broadcasters started raising objections — not because the merger would harm local news, but because it would encroach on their own territory.

And a few months later, Pai just out of the blue said, we're referring this to an ALJ.

I feel like there's a good chance that what happened is, Murdoch didn't want Sinclair to challenge him, he told this to Kushner or Hannity or someone else who had Trump's ear, they told Trump, Trump told Pai to take his foot off the gas, and Pai did.

Congress should investigate.

Look. I'm a big advocate of breaking up monopolies. I think we don't use antitrust law enough, and we should start policing vertical mergers aggressively.

But antitrust law has to apply fairly and consistently. It is not a tool to reward or punish the POTUS' friends and enemies.

And *especially* when you are talking about antitrust actions against media companies, you are getting into serious First Amendment issues if these actions are in any way personal.

Trump has been honest about his goal. He wants to sue media companies that report too much on him.

There was a time when everyone in America, regardless of politics, agreed that laws, not men, govern.

If you still believe this, then Trump's regulatory actions against media companies should be a five-alarm fire for you.