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Trump Pledges Weakening U.S. Media ‘Power Structure’ | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Republican U.S. presidential candidate businessman Donald Trump speaks during the second official Republican presidential candidates debate. REUTERS, Lucy Nicholson


Pennsylvania- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promised on Saturday to foil a proposed deal for AT&T to buy Time Warner if he wins the Nov. 8 election, arguing it was an example of a “power structure” rigged against both him and voters.

Trump, whose candidacy has caused ruptures in his party, listed his policy plans for the first 100 days of his presidency in a campaign speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

He also defiantly raised personal grievances, describing how, if elected, he would address them from the White House in a way he said would benefit Americans.

He promised to sue nearly a dozen women who have come forward in the last two weeks to accuse him of sexual assault, calling them liars.

He added a new threat to his repeated castigation of media corporations, which he says cover his campaign unfairly to help elect his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

“They’re trying desperately to suppress my vote and the voice of the American people,” Trump told supporters in his speech.

“As an example of the power structure I’m fighting, AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” Trump said.

Telecommunications Company AT&T Inc. has agreed in principle to buy Time Warner Inc., one of the country’s largest film and television companies, for about $85 billion.

“Deals like this destroy democracy,” he said in explaining his apparent deviation from the traditional Republican position that seeks to minimize the taxation and regulation of American companies.

Although Trump on Saturday described his plans at least in part as a response to his belief media organizations had treated him unfairly, he argued that less wealthy voters had even greater cause to worry.

“When a simple phone call placed with the biggest newspapers or television networks gets them wall-to-wall coverage with virtually no fact-checking whatsoever, here is why this is relevant to you,” he said.

“If they can fight somebody like me who has unlimited resources to fight back, just look at what they could do to you, your jobs, your security, your education, your health care.”

Trump, who has said he may not accept the election’s outcome if he loses, is trailing Clinton in most polls — although he has narrowed the gap, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Friday.

Clinton maintained her commanding lead in the race to win the Electoral College, however, and claim the presidency, a Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project poll released Saturday showed.

In a statement, Clinton spokeswoman Christina Reynolds described the speech as “rambling, unfocused, full of conspiracy theories and attacks on the media, and lacking in any real answers for American families.”