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![xray_media Avatar](https://lunarcrush.com/gi/w:24/cr:twitter::1893912133181800448.png) White House Xray [@xray_media](/creator/twitter/xray_media) on x 2646 followers
Created: 2025-07-21 23:32:21 UTC

Paramount pays Trump $16M to avoid "political risk" but cancels a $100M production over $40M losses? The math only works if "risk mitigation" means silencing critics who expose settlements masquerading as merger bribes.  

Internal docs show CBS absorbed Colbert's $40M annual deficit for years while maintaining #1 ratings—until he called Paramount’s Trump payout a "big fat bribe." The $16M settlement (1/3 of Colbert’s production budget) coincided with Paramount begging FCC approval for its $8.4B Skydance merger. Trump’s Truth Social victory lap proves this isn’t fiscal prudence—it’s regulatory blackmail perfected.  

$16M buys more than lawsuit silence—it purchases complicit networks.


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**Related Topics**
[100m](/topic/100m)
[government spending](/topic/government-spending)
[corporate finance](/topic/corporate-finance)
[losses](/topic/losses)
[$40m](/topic/$40m)
[$100m](/topic/$100m)
[$16m](/topic/$16m)
[donald trump](/topic/donald-trump)

[Post Link](https://x.com/xray_media/status/1947439534087803216)