When President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to Congress tonight, the audience will be packed with high-profile media figures, both old and new.
These include Paramount CEO David Ellison, who is seeking to pry Warner Bros. Discovery away from Netflix in a blockbuster deal; And Erica Kirk, who will attend as Trump’s guest.
It also includes Nick Shirley, the controversial conservative creative whose revelations about child care centers in Minneapolis sparked an entire news cycle in right-leaning media; And Kevin O’Leary, Shark tank Host and Marty Supreme a surprise.
Only Kirk, the widow of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was murdered last year, is the president’s guest. Ellison attends as a guest of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC); While O’Leary attends as a guest of Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.). Shirley is attending as a guest of Rep. Peter Steuber (R-MN).
While there are plenty of widely anticipated guests (NASA astronauts, Jesse Jackson’s family, Jeffrey Epstein survivors), the media-heavy guest list underscores how the political landscape is increasingly shaped by new centers of power, from digital natives like Kirk and Shirley to new-age moguls like Ellison.
Ellison, of course, is in the midst of trying to steal WBD from Netflix, with the company telling investors on Tuesday that it was warm to Paramount’s sweetened offer, which rests largely on its confidence in its ability to get the deal through regulatory approvals.
Attending the SOTU meeting as the guest of one of the Senate’s most powerful Republican senators may underscore Ellison’s confidence in getting the deal done.
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