Comcast silent on attack from Donald Trump while Josh Shapiro cashes in on the ire

Donald Trump’s two-pronged messaging in his bid to win back the White House – he’s the best and everyone else is terrible and/or treasonous – was aimed this week at Comcast Corp. and Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Trump, who often casts himself as a both a protector and victim of free speech, on Sunday took to Truth Social to declare that Philadelphia-based Comcast and its networks NBC and MSNBC “should be investigated” for “country-threatening treason.” If he becomes president again, Trump said, he would seek to stop NBC and MSNBC from broadcasting, calling them “a true threat democracy” and “THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.”

Then, Monday, he went after Shapiro for announcing last week that eligible Pennsylvanians will now be automatically registered to vote when they get a state driver’s license or ID card.

Trump attacked automatic registration — something already standard in 23 states — as “a disaster for the election of Republicans” and called it unconstitutional, demanding that GOP legislators and party officials in Harrisburg and Washington oppose it.

Comcast and Shapiro took very different approaches in response.

Comcast stayed silent. Shapiro cashed in on the attention.

Comcast’s corporate communications team did not respond to Clout’s emails about Trump’s threats.

Shapiro on Monday swiftly sent a fundraising pitch to supporters, defending automatic voter registration while knocking Trump for “more of the same baseless nonsense that Trump’s been peddling ever since he lost Pennsylvania in 2020.”

While the Comcast C-Suite was incommunicado, Joe Scarborough, the irascible host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, on Wednesday compared Trump’s threats to Nazi conduct in World War II.

“This is not a reach,” Scarborough said. “And if people can’t start drawing the parallels, well you’re just stupid or you have your head in the sand or you’re one of them.”

Trump undoubtedly will now portray any reporting by NBC or MSNBC that he does not care for as retaliation for his pending threats.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.