Establishment Republican Ken Buck, Who Aided Democrats in Congress, Seeks CNN Gig

Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who has opposed the impeachment of Joe Biden and spent his time as ranking member on the influential antitrust committee pushing the derided Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) — corporate welfare for the legacy media — seeks to exit Congress and join CNN as a contributor.

When Rep. Buck first ran for national office, in his 2010 bid to be the Senator from Colorado, he presented himself as a Tea Party firebrand, a conservative stalwart. Yet in the past few years, he has joined Democrats in their efforts to bail out their cronies in the legacy media, and opposed the impeachment of a historically scandal-ridden president.

Now he’s looking to join CNN, a network that has become synonymous with smearing conservatives and protecting Democrats. In the latest humiliation for the network, it was forced to admit that all of the accusations driving House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)’s impeachment inquiry were factually accurate.

In comments to the New York Post, Buck confirmed his ambition to be a CNN talking head, or another “center-left” network.

Via the New York Post:

Buck, 64, confirmed to The Post he’s exploring his options and said it would be “great” to join CNN.

“I am interested in talking to folks at CNN and other news organizations — on the, I don’t want to call them left, but sort of center-left — and having an opportunity to do that full-time or do that as a contributor would be great also,” Buck said in a phone interview.

Buck attempted to qualify his comments, saying he hasn’t “only” talked to networks on the left, but a source said it was unlikely he would join any right-leaning network.

A source familiar with Buck’s considerations scoffed at the prospect of him working for either Fox News or Newsmax, arguing that Fox “doesn’t need” him and that the smaller network likely would pay poorly.

In addition to opposing Rep. McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry, Rep. Buck also aided Democrats in their efforts to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), which Breitbart News has covered extensively.

One of the first bills introduced by Democrats during their time holding the majority in the House, the bill allows some of the nation’s largest legacy media companies to form a legal cartel, immune from antitrust law, to pressure tech companies for special favors.

The cartel could force tech companies, through arbitration, to funnel massive amounts of ad revenue to media companies owned by the likes of Hearst and Gannett — giant corporations with billions of dollars in revenue.

In other words, the bill is corporate welfare for the same fake news media that pushed hoaxes like Russiagate on the American people, ignored the Hunter Biden laptop story, and created the narrative that peaceful Trump supporters are “insurrectionists.”

Following the passage of a similar bill in Canada, Facebook and Google blocked news links across the country, with little impact on their own traffic or usage. When it looked like the JCPA might pass through the defense bill in 2021, Facebook said it may have to do the same in the U.S.

The Speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), has said that despite Democrat efforts, the JCPA is “dead in the House.”

The bill has numerous other Republican opponents, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Steve Daines (R-MT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Ben Cline (R-VA).

Buck, who became the leading Republican voice supporting Democrats in their attempts to pass the bill in the House, is now seeking a highly-paid gig with the same corporate legacy media he spent so much time trying to bail out.