Why CEOs Are Clamoring Desperately For Donald Trump’s ‘Bat Phone’
Like the teleprompter on any good news broadcast, this week’s episode of The Daily Beast Podcast featured a buffet of hot-button topics—fitting for “Beast of The Week” Stephanie Ruhle, the MSNBC anchor who landed one of the first interviews with Kamala Harris following the vice president’s announcement earlier this year that she would run for the presidency in Joe Biden’s stead.
Kicking things off, podcast co-host Joanna Coles asked Ruhle about Jeff Bezos’ recent trip to Mar-a-Lago, and the power plays taking place on president-elect Donald Trump’s club’s patio. “Listen, he’s going down there to do what everyone else is,” Ruhle said.
“I’m not going to say kiss the ring, but they’re playing ball.” She explained that business leaders are drawn to Trump’s transactional nature: “They lived through his first term. They know he doesn’t have strong views on most things... He’s pro-whatever gets him what he wants.”
“They don’t care about his business acumen. What they care about is access. These people have infinite wealth but not infinite power,” Ruhle continued. “Having a bat phone into the Oval Office? That’s worth millions.”
Also worth millions? The eight-figure settlement Trump recently reached with ABC News, having sued the company for defamation in what many see as the first attempt the incoming administration is making to muzzle the press. Ruhle described the move as pragmatic on ABC and the network’s parent corporation The Walt Disney Company’s part. “Disney is a $200 billion company. $15 million is pocket change for them,” she said. “Settling allows them to avoid embarrassing emails or prolonged distractions from their core business.”
But Ruhle followed this with a timely warning: “For local news outlets or smaller companies, this kind of litigation creates a chilling effect. Fighting defamation suits, even baseless ones, can bankrupt you.”
The discussion then turned to social media’s role in the political climate. Ruhle dubbed today’s discourse as about “the business of rage,” explaining, “Forever we thought sex sells. Now, it’s rage.” She cited recent incidents including the romanticization of Luigi Mangione, charged last week with the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“A human being was gunned down, and people are treating him like a folk hero,” Ruhle said of Mangione. “We shape narratives to fit our biases,” she continued. “Despite the fact that we have the most prosperous country in the world, people said, ‘I’m voting for something different.’ And now it’s sort of like, ‘Alright, Republicans, you’ve got the ball. What you going to do?’”
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