Other businesses watch to see if the phone giant can push its planned merger with Time Warner through a still-undefined presidency
By Thomas Gryta,John D. McKinnon and Keach Hagey:
Few companies had more at stake in the presidential election than AT&T, which made an $85 billion wager last month that would turn the giant telephone company into one of the world’s biggest media companies by swallowing Time Warner.
When the news was announced, Donald Trump told supporters in Gettysburg, Pa., he would block the deal if elected president. “It’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” he said, calling the merger “an example of the power structure I am fighting.”
How the deal fares has become a test how of the Trump administration balances its deregulatory impulses with its populist aversion to large, powerful companies. Many other businesses are watching the merger as a signal of what’s to come…..
Source: Donald Trump vs. AT&T: A Signal Test of How Business Will Fare in New Washington – WSJ
Of more interest to me will be how many, if any, of his promises (if you can call them that) will he keep. In this respect he’s no different from all other politicians, whom we accept lie all the time, as discussed in a previous blog.
But the fascinating part for me will be whether his peculiar charisma, which has besotted so many Americans, will allow him to break all his promises and still be worshipped like the god they see him as.
Donald Trump has the opportunity and the mandate to be a great president. Whether he has the strength of character, only time will tell.
Interesting to read this 2014 interview with Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, where he sets out his global vision. There is a lot that makes good sense. Again it comes down to whether he has the character to carry it out.
p.s. Bannon makes frequent reference to Judeo-Christian values but I think this is to distinguish it from the more commonly used “Western values” which encompasses the more left-wing views of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Harry Reid, etc. Apart from his stance on abortion, I see little that has a religious under-pinning.