Government Judgment by Fiat

Donald Trump doesn't really understand much about the law, about due process, or about the legal system. While his most recent speeches are being noted mostly for threats to sue every woman who has claimed he assaulted them ("Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign"), this little bit is all the more interesting in a potential chief executive:

'Donald Trump expressed that he would not approve the AT&T and Time Warner merger if elected president. "Deals like this destroy democracy," said Trump during a rally in Gettysburg, Pa., on Saturday, where he discussed what he would do in the first 100 days of his presidency. Trump also said he would like to break up the Comcast-NBCUniversal merger.'

A few observations:

1. My gut reaction — as a run of the mill normal civilian who has no direct influence over the merger — is that this merger is, like the Comcast-NBCUniversal deal, an awful idea for everyone except AT&T and Time Warner shareholders and officers. Further reducing competition in an already not-very-crowded semi-monopolic market seems counter-indicated.

But that's me, a private citizen. I don't have any power to dictate this. I can file a comment with the appropriate examining agency, but that's about it. I can shoot from the hip here just as much as I can say, "Hey, that guy is probably guilty of that crime," and my opinion has no weight in determining his guilt in a court of law. And that's a good thing (my own impeccable judgment notwithstanding).

2. Trump's outrage about the idea seems simple demagoguery. He's shown no interest in regulation or consumer protection. This just feels like an attempt to hitch on to a populist "down with big business" sort of atmosphere, which doesn't feel very Trumpish.

The only interest I can think of that Trump has here is that if he is looking at getting into media content production, this might make the market harder for him.

3. We live in a nation of laws, not men. The various government agencies that deal with big acquisitions of this sort — from the FCC to FTC to the DoJ — have processes that they use to determine what the impact of such a deal would be. They then, based on that analysis, make the determination as to whether it should be allowed to go through. There are rule all around this, hearings, opportunities for public comment, expert examination of the facts of the matter. The President, in all of this, has limited ability to significantly intervene, and when doing so, acts with the input of that administration examination.

But not Donald Trump. He knows what he wants. And he's happy to use whatever power the President has to dictate it. He doesn't need testimony and public comment to figure this out. He's the President, dammit, and what he says goes.

This is, to say the least, not the sort of thing that we probably want in a President. For all that Obama has been attacked for executive orders and the like, Trump's statement here — that he's already "ruled" on this merger (and, heck, on a previous merger, too), and what he says, goes — is far worse than any "Imperial Presidency" label assigned to the current tenant at the White House.

Trump's apparent willingness to simply dictate the way things should be ought to worry anyone. And it should worry anyone about those who are willing to still support him.

Donald Trump Says He Would Block AT&T-Time Warner Merger as President
“Deals like this destroy democracy,” said Trump during a rally in Gettysburg, Pa., on Saturday.

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