This week, I led a coalition of 12 state Attorneys General in taking Paramount and Warner Bros. to court to stop their unlawful merger.
Here’s the bottom line: monopolies give too much power to too few people. That’s why we have antitrust laws like the Clayton Act, which has been on the books for more than a century to prevent this exact situation — and which this proposed merger violates.
If you need proof that antitrust enforcement works, just look at California: We are the fourth largest economy in the world AND we have some of the strongest antitrust and consumer protection laws on the books. That’s no coincidence.
Antitrust enforcement is good for the economy, good for consumers, and good for businesses that play by the rules.
So if all of this is true, why is Trump’s Justice Department allowing this massive merger to continue?
More and more, the Trump administration seems to have abandoned the fight for a free and fair market and abdicated its role to hold corporations accountable to the law.
It has made it abundantly clear that it is more concerned with protecting corporate interests than protecting consumers.
And it’s no secret that Paramount has cozied up to the Trump administration. They even hosted a dinner to “honor the Trump White House” that was attended by Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche — while the Justice Department was reviewing the deal.
The American people deserve better. That’s why state Attorneys General are stepping up to fill the vacuum of accountability the Trump administration has created.
Antitrust enforcement is bigger than one merger or one corporation. It’s a check on oligarchy — on wealthy businesses seeking to game the system and cheat to knock out their competition. It’s a check on billionaires currying favor with the President so he’ll do their bidding and hand-pick winners and losers, bypassing both the law and the meritocracy that makes our economy thrive.
And it’s a check on the elite few who think they’re above the law — because in this country, nobody is above the law.
I’m ready to keep this fight going, but I can’t do it alone. Will you support my re-election campaign with a contribution today to power our work?
