Comcast’s Ballroom Dance

Under a cloudless Washington sky this week, excavators ripped into the East Wing of the White House. Cameras captured the surreal spectacle—machines clawing through limestone and rubble, pulling apart a building first constructed under Theodore Roosevelt. The wing had long been home to the first lady’s offices and the small theater where presidents once watched movies. Now it is being demolished to make way for Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom, a spectacle that has drawn outrage from the public and historians alike.

The images are so jarring that the Treasury Department reportedly ordered employees working next door not to share pictures. But Trump’s latest construction project isn’t being financed by taxpayers. It’s being paid for by some of the largest corporations in America: Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google, T-Mobile and others.

And for one company in particular, the decision to help fund Trump’s destruction of White House history has become a public embarrassment.

On NBC News and MSNBC in recent days, anchors have taken pains to note—sometimes with audible discomfort—that their corporate parent, Comcast, is among the donors helping bankroll Trump’s ballroom. The move has left the network’s journalists in the awkward position of covering the story of their own company’s complicity. For Comcast and its chairman and chief executive, Brian Roberts, it marks a moment of corporate humiliation, being publicly shamed on his own air for deference to Trump, the same vengeful president who has repeatedly targeted Roberts by name.

“Everyone who is giving the money, the quarter of a billion dollars to pay for this thing—with all due respect to Comcast, thank you for the hospitality—is doing so in expectation of something in return,” The Atlantic staff writer David Frum bluntly said this week on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace.” “They’re not doing it for love of ballroom dancing.”

A Comcast spokeswoman declined to comment.

The decision by Comcast and other deep-pocketed donors to finance the project underscores the grotesque dynamic between corporate America and the mercurial, transactional president: companies openly buying favor, or at least hoping to stay off Trump’s enemies list. And for Comcast, the decision is deeply personal. Trump has frequently attacked Roberts and his news outlets, publicly calling him a “lowlife” and mocking the corporation as “Concast.” The insults have continued even after the conglomerate spun off its cable networks, including the Trump-loathed MSNBC and business-focused CNBC.

“Comcast, which also has the ailing network known as NBC, is trying to stay away from lawsuits by disassociating NBC from MSNBC, but it won’t work,” Trump warned in April on his social media platform. “Comcast, the owner of both, and its Chairman, Brian Roberts, are a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting!!!”

At the same time, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has repeatedly targeted Comcast, accusing the company of “news distortion” over its reporting, and opening an investigation into its D.E.I. practices to ensure there is no “invidious forms of discrimination.”

To be clear, Comcast is hardly alone in trying to placate Trump with a check. YouTube, owned by Google, agreed to pay $22 million toward Trump’s ballroom after settling a lawsuit Trump filed over his account’s suspension following the January 6 insurrection. The list of donors also includes billionaire investors and defense contractors like Booz Allen Hamilton who hold prized contracts with the federal government.

Paying off Trump has become something of a recurring theme. Disney paid him $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos. Paramount forked over $16 million to resolve Trump’s meritless suit over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Meta paid Trump $25 million to settle his lawsuit over his Facebook and Instagram accounts being suspended. Jeff Bezos’ Amazon coughed up $40 million for the rights to Melania Trump’s vanity documentary that it’s hard to see anyone shelling out even seven-figures for. And none of these payouts have tempered Trump’s hostility. If anything, they’ve only served to further embolden him. Each check reinforces the message that resistance carries a cost, and that the easiest way to avoid trouble is to pay up.

But for Comcast, the cost may be more than financial. The network’s journalists now find themselves covering a story that implicates their own bosses. And as one of them put it plainly on air, the story should trouble more than just the media industry.

“Here’s the issue,” MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle said on her show “The 11th Hour.” “Donors are paying for it. Corporations are paying for it—Comcast, our Comcast—is one of those that are underwriting it. Shouldn’t that be more concerning to the American people? Because there ain’t no company out there writing a check just for goodwill.”