Democrats vow political reckoning if they win midterms as campaign season heats up

Most recently, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., took to social media to highlight his most recent entry on that list.

Jeffries' comments were made in response to a post from Carr, suggesting the administration would more closely review license renewals for broadcasters perpetuating "fake news."

The struggle over political alignment isn't unique to Carr.

"Once we take power, whoever the president is, we're going to break up your companies," Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told Semafor.

"So, all the investment you did to create these mergers are going to be for naught. Your investors are going to be pissed at you, and you're likely going to end up getting fired as the CEO because you wasted so much money and corrupted yourself in the process," Gallego said.

"Paramount should enjoy its growing news monopoly while they have it, because when Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates," Murphy wrote. "All of them."

Skydance Media, the parent company of Paramount, has close ties to the Trump administration through its CEO, David Ellison - a figure who appeared as a Republican guest at the 2026 State of the Union and who has been a frequent guest at the White House.

Susan Rice, a former top official in the Biden and Obama administrations, also recently caused a stir after she appeared to vow political retribution during a Vox interview last month against companies once Democrats regain control of Congress and the White House.

"They're going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box," Rice said.

"I think whether you're a law firm, whether you're a university, whether you're a media entity, whether you're a big corporation, whether you're big tech, you need to play a long game, not this short game that has been so detrimental," Rice added.

"It sets an interesting precedent on who is subject to come into Oversight, and we will see what the next year holds for Trump Inc. and the Trump family," Aguilar said, alluding to the requests Democrats might make if they hold a majority in 2027.

The targets for Democrats extend to the private sector as well.

"The motion was to subpoena Elon Musk, who is heading DOGE who is the one who made the recommendations for these [spending] cuts," Crockett said. 

Her calls were taken up in the Senate, where Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced a very similar motion, citing Musk's closeness to the president and influence in efforts to slim down government operations.