Trump Warns Netflix About Democrat Ties During Bid To Buy Warner Bros
It's no secret that Netflix is a devout propaganda platform for the political left. Some critics would argue that the sudden and disturbing surge in woke ideology injected into streaming entertainment started with Netflix and shows like Orange Is The New Black, "Dear White People" and Jessica Jones. No one remembers such content anymore because it's forgettable tripe, but Netflix was definitely at the helm of the of far-left programming trend just as the Obama Administration was coming to a close.
In fact, multiple prominent Democrats from the Obama regime ended up working closely with Netflix, either as lobbyists or as members of the corporate board. Barack and Michelle even signed an ongoing production deal with the company in 2018.
Ferial Govashiri, former Personal Secretary to President Obama in the White House, joined Netflix in a senior role as Chief of Staff to the Chief Content Officer.
Perry Apelbaum, a longtime Democratic lawyer/staffer from the House Judiciary Committee is now a lobbyist for Netflix.
A high percentage of Netflix's lobbyists (around 70%) have prior government experience and most are Democratic-leaning. Leadership figures like co-CEO Ted Sarandos and executive chairman Reed Hastings have hosted fundraisers or donated heavily to Democrat candidates (Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Obama, Clinton, Biden, etc).
Finally, there's Obama-era national security adviser Susan Rice, who is still closely tied to the Obamas and is currently a member of the Netflix board.
Donald Trump has warned Netflix to remove Susan Rice from its board or “face the consequences”, while the streaming platform is locked in a corporate battle to take control of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). In comments posted on his Truth Social platform, the US president described Rice – who served as national security adviser to Barack Obama, UN ambassador and White House adviser under Joe Biden – as a “political hack."
He said in an interview with NBC News that the justice department would handle the takeover of WBD, having insisted previously he would be involved in reviewing the deal. Any takeover of WBD will have to be approved by federal regulators.
The underlying concern, of course, is that the Netflix acquisition of WBD would result in a far-left super-conglomerate with substantial resources that could be used to saturate entertainment media with the DNC agenda. To be clear, there is no such thing as a conservative counter-programming corporation in the media space. Warner Bros. was essentially collapsing under the weight of it's own woke failures when a bidding war between Paramount and Netflix was launched.
That said, a merger could very well result in yet another Disney; a monstrosity of a company controlling a huge catalog of IPs with agents of the Democrat Party basically steering the ship (Disney is loaded with DNC elites from the Clinton Admin, Obama Admin and Biden Admin).
The deal requires DOJ approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (Anti-Trust scrutiny). The DOJ opened a probe in early 2026, examining Netflix's business practices for potential "monopolistic" effects on content creation, distribution, and theaters.
Reports indicate the DOJ may soon announce intent to block it, citing anticompetitive leverage over filmmakers under the Sherman Act. As President, Trump can direct or influence DOJ leadership (e.g., via appointees) to sue and halt the merger, meaning he does have the power to disrupt the deal should Netflix refuse to remove Susan Rice.