Press freedom red alert: Trump’s White House has discussed which specific CNN hosts Larry Ellison should fire

We know that CNN Plus didn’t work out well. One of the world’s richest men is apparently mulling its opposite: CNN Minus.

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell is out with a story this morning reporting that semiquincentibillionaire Larry Ellison is White House officials’ preferred candidate to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN (along with HBO, TNT, TBS, and a host of other assets). Ellison just bankrolled his son David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount, where the family’s pro-Trump leanings are already in evidence at CBS. And now Paramount is bidding for Warner with Larry’s money; bids from all interested parties are due today.

That Ellison would be Trump’s favorite is unsurprising; after all, the same favor is why he’ll likely end up with a bargain-priced chunk of TikTok, should that tainted sale ever occur. But Lowell reports one distressing detail:

Senior White House officials have discussed internally their preference for Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros Discovery in recent weeks, and one official has discussed potential programming changes at CNN with Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount.

The discussions, according to people familiar with the matter, come as Paramount portrays itself as the best bid for Warner Bros Discovery, after it announced last month it was open to offers, because it would have an easier time getting through regulatory review.

Ellison often speaks to connections at the White House but, in at least one of the calls, engaged in a dialogue about possibly axing some of the CNN hosts whom Donald Trump is said to loathe, including Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, the people said.

The conversation also touched on floating names to replace Burnett and the possibility of running CBS assets like its flagship 60 Minutes program on CNN air — proposals that have animated the White House, the people said.

One might think that a president would have plenty to keep him busy — busy enough, at least, to keep him from a side gig as American television’s programming chief. But we know Trump and his FCC minion Brendan Carr somehow keep finding the time to play executive producer. Just ask Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, or Seth Meyers. Or PBS. Or 60 Minutes. Or ABC News. Or, just in the past week, BBC News and ABC News again.

But having the Trump White House negotiating the firing of specific CNN hosts he doesn’t like? With the billionaire whose purchase of the network will have to be approved by his government? That’s beneath even this administration’s subterranean standards.

It also puts the Stephen Colbert situation in a new light. In that case, just as the Ellisons were finalizing their purchase of Paramount, CBS shockingly announced that it was canceling the No. 1 show in late night, days after Colbert had criticized Paramount’s settlement of a bogus Trump lawsuit as “a big fat bribe.” CBS insisted the move was purely financial, in no way related to the Ellisons’ impending purchase, which would have to be approved by Trump and Carr. But now we hear that, before the Ellisons’ next big media acquisition, Larry’s on the phone with the White House discussing which CNN anchors Trump wants out. We’re supposed to believe that Ellison’s happy to chat up the administration about firing Brianna Keilar, but that politics were definitely not a factor in canning Colbert, that “no-talent guy”? Please.