This gladdens my heart because this proves up what the conflict really is vis a vis the Washington Post abrogating its responsibility to its readers. It’s a power struggle between billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fear of both Donald Trump and Elon Musk versus the duty of the newspaper to do what it needs to do to retain its stature. That stature may have already been destroyed today. As Warren Buffett has been quoted, “It takes about 20 years to make a reputation and five minutes to destroy it.” That is indeed the case. It’s easier to destroy than to build and destroy is exactly what Bezos has done to the paper he owns, knowingly or not. That said, ten columnists have put forth their views in Dana Milbank’s regular column.
Perry Bacon Jr.
E.J. Dionne Jr.
David Ignatius
Heather Long
Ruth Marcus
Dana Milbank
Catherine Rampell
Eugene Robinson
Jennifer Rubin
Karen Tumulty
Hear hear and more power to the individual journalists standing up for what is right and speaking truth to power. I wonder if Mr. Bezos has bothered to consider that he — and the owner of the Los Angeles Times — being cowed into silence serves as an endorsement of its own of the fascist on the GOP ticket?
I would say, “This is not America,” but it is exactly America in the Fall of 2024, ten days before the most consequential election in America history. Will we have Kamala Harris with her to-do list or will we have Donald Trump with his enemies list in the White House in January? I believe that the former will prevail. Trump got fired by over 7 million Americans in 2020 and I believe that number will increase.
We keep hitting lower bottoms every day. If a free press in this nation is intimidated — and clearly and obviously, that is the takeaway here — then we have tragically lost much ground. Much much ground. This is not the Washington Post of Katherine Graham’s era, the Pentagon Papers’ era. That much is certain.
And yes, the Los Angeles Times lost $30 million last year. Journalism is a tough business, always has been. That’s precisely why it needs to be a business bankrolled by people with enough altruistic values to realize that there are other, intangible payoffs which eclipse merely the almighty dollar. Truth and ethics have to have their value, too.
We may have had that at one point but tragically, it doesn’t look like we have it now. Democracy does die in darkness and the Washington Post smashed the lantern it was supposed to be carrying to light our way.
The best columnists prove again why people read the WP…it ain’t because Bezos is at the helm! 👏👏
Billionaires need to be banished.
Tax their money off them, they’re not doing anything with it – and spend it on things people need.
A leader dies but a single death, but a coward dies 1000 deaths daily.
What kind of pussy is afraid of space karen f.f.s.???
Spike, X-Musk has ingratiated himself with Trumpler because his space business depends on lucrative govt contracts. Bezos knows that if Trump decides to punish Jeff’s space business, it will be destroyed for the benefit of Elon. What neither of these imbecilic cowards realise is that Trump will destroy their enterprises no matter how much they kiss his ass. It’s what he does. Remember the mantra: everything Trump touches dies.
That’s true jarvis but I doubt bezos risked more than he could afford. This space venture stuff, yeah, it is costly but bezos looks very calm when discussing his space company and has mentioned there really isn’t anything else to do when you have the benjies he has. If it were risky, say he was spending other people’s money (you know, like governments do), or he was putting all he had into the venture, he’d be a lot more antsy about it. Sure, he doesn’t want it to needlessly go to waste-he doesn’t want to throw it away. But the fact is trump hates bezos with a passion anyway so any pussy move bezos does now won’t change trump’s retaliation should he somehow find himself in the w.h. again.
Now, if bezos were concerned about losing potential tax breaks (which he would when V.P. Harris becomes President Harris), THAT might be a whole different issue. I notice these millionaire/billionaire types get REAL serious about their tax breaks. Nevermind they don’t need the damned things.
Here’s one other thing nobody seems to think about: those proj. 1825 types do not want people messing about in space, thinking about life elsewhere, or having anything to do with science at all. They are all in on destroying the planet thinking it will bring about their jeebus. When you send folks into space, put them on the moon, send probes to other planets, it leads to questions, origin questions, and their little minds can’t stand that-they’re truly too ignorant to comprehend much math/science so they hide behind the G_d created it all just so they don’t have to strain their little brains. When you start thinking our planet isn’t G_d’s little footstool, you start thinking about what we’re doing to it and how we don’t have a planet B. Yeah, the con xtians and that ilk don’t want anyone thinking we can fix things on our planet and they’re willing to destroy it in order to prove….what exactly I don’t know. Point is, they’re going to end both space karen’s and bezos’ little endeavors should they get into any kind of power. One more reason to put them all up against the wall ASAP as far as I’m concerned.
to do list vs enemies list. the Harris campaign should use that.
These columnists are why I’m keeping my subscription to the WashPost. Bezos revealed his sad and decrepit truth. He has tarnished the reputation of this newspaper. It’s these writers who I count on—even George Will for their well-thought out commentary.
I have to wonder if George Will not being a signatory to the published statement is related to his conservative viewpoint – although conservative stalwarts like the Cheneys and Mitt Romney had no reservation about their endorsements.
Did I miss something? Last time I looked, Romney has refused to endorse Kamala. He’s doing what he did re Trump’s impeachments: voted for and against. He won’t endorse Trump but nor will he endorse Kamala. It’s called a blatant lack of cojones.