❓WHAT HAPPENED: Congressional members are distancing themselves from a letter supporting Newsmax owner Chris Ruddy’s plan to protect his media empire.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Chris Ruddy, President Trump, and various Congressional members.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The original letter was published in December; recent distancing occurred following Trump’s Truth Social post last week.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I can’t imagine anyone would want to stay on [as a signatory].” – Congressional member.
🎯IMPACT: Members are requesting their names be removed from the letter, and Ruddy’s stance is unpopular with the public.
Top television executive and Newsmax owner Chris Ruddy suffered fresh humiliation this week as it transpired that Congressional members who had originally signed a December letter backing a plan to protect his Newsmax empire were now distancing themselves from the position.
“I can’t imagine anyone would want to stay on [as a signatory],” one Congress member told The National Pulse, after President Trump directly rejected Ruddy’s entreaties in a Truth Social post from last week.
Newsmax had published a draft of the letter in December, claiming that 40 Republicans backed Ruddy’s plan to keep stifling government regulations on TV broadcasters, in his attempt to avoid competition in the marketplace.
“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” Trump wrote last week, concluding “GET THAT DEAL DONE!” in reference to the Nexstar-Tegna merger, which Ruddy has publicly opposed and personally lobbied the President and Congressional members over.
“The letter is from December, during which time Ruddy visited dozens of Members asking for a signature,” a Congressional source told The National Pulse, adding that Members were now requesting their names be removed. But Ruddy’s Newsmax has not altered or updated its story, nor has it amended the letter to reflect these changes.
Recent data from Trump’s pollster shows Ruddy’s position, explained in detail here, is fundamentally unpopular with the American public, who value competition and options.
