Strange Bedfellows Combine to Attempt to Block New Media Merger

Whoever said conservatives and progressives can't work together on a common purpose?

Here's what I mean by that. Nexstar is a big local television station group based in Irving, Texas. They have recently acquired a competitor, that being Tegna, now part of Nexstar. But while the acquisition was making its way through the process, leaping through the various flaming regulatory hoops, they encountered some unified opposition, from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who never saw a corporate merger she wasn't against, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, likewise. The efforts look as though, in the end, they will be unsuccessful, as the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) approved the deal in early 2026, pending the outcome of at least one injunction. President Trump reportedly personally was in favor of the deal, hoping it would help counter the notoriously leftist legacy media, at least in some markets. But in that process, there's a twisted tale of strange bedfellows here.

Here's where the "strange bedfellows" part comes in: The anti-merger cabal was joined in their opposition to the Nextstar/Tegna deal by a conservative, Newsmax top man, Chris Ruddy.

Senator Warren was among the first to object, and as you might expect if you have followed the Massachusetts Senator for even 1/1024th of a minute, she was against the merger from the get-go. New York Attorney General Letitia James, another predictably economically illiterate leftist, along with a cabal of AGs from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Oregon, and a few other deep-blue states, filed suit to try to block the merger in March of 2026. They found a tame Obama-appointed judge in California who issued a preliminary injunction against the merger.

These things are nothing new. This is how the left operates: Tangle things up with legal proceedings and try to wear the opposition down.

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But it's interesting to see a longtime Trump ally joining the effort. That Trump ally would be Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax Media, a conservative news outlet. Ruddy, apparently concerned over possible increased competition with Newsmax, broke with the Trump administration in opposing the merger, even going so far as to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee against the merger.

One of the witnesses was Chris Ruddy, the CEO of conservative outlet Newsmax, who has been one of the key figures challenging the Nexstar-Tegna deal, and the notion that broadcasters need to consolidate to compete. He testified that major station groups are still bringing in billions in revenue and use their market power to extract favorable terms from cable operators, at the expense of channels like his.

Mr. Ruddy also filed a formal petition with the FCC to try to block the merger.

Now, if you'll return your tray tables and seat backs to the raised and locked position, I'll bring all this in for a landing.

First: Yes, it seems that even the staunchest of conservatives and the most radical progressives can find some common ground sometimes. These people were, at best, allies of coincidence; Warren et al. were engaging in their usual anti-corporate horse squeeze, while Mr. Ruddy was (as he saw it) acting in the interest of his company, although I would venture that trying to leverage the force of government to reduce competition on his business isn't exactly a mainstream conservative method. This smacks more of expediency than principle, but then, Mr. Ruddy does have a duty to his shareholders and their interests, as he sees them.

Second, we should note that this wasn't a collaboration. They may have had the same goal, but they didn't work together — that we know of.

It looks like the merger will, in time, go through. As of this writing, the Nexstar/Tegna merger is technically complete, but full integration is pending the resolution of the legal cases. But, yes, in opposition to what should have been a simple and unchallenged business transaction, right and left worked for a common purpose. How remarkable.

Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

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