Cowardice

When you have all the money you could ever want, but you are quivering like jello on a rickety freight train, you really are not cut out to own a newspaper. I mean, did you not even watch Citizen Kane

I just can’t even.

Trump whips Jeff Bezos

I have resisted the entreaties to just flush the corporate media outlets, mainly because I believe their journalists do enough great reporting, as long as I just avoid the asshattery of the Opinion writers, I can make peace with tossing a buck seventy¹ or so a year at them.

And, they often provide grist for my “Human Garbage of the Week” or “This Fucking Guy” posts (ah, Kathleen Parker, we hardly knew ye).

But this week, two major market outlets chose to not endorse any candidate in the coming presidential election. Both the LA Times, and the Washington Post’s über wealthy owners applied pressure to their editorial staff to sit it out. Ostensibly to “remain neutral” and to … I don’t know what the fuck other rationale they offered.

But it is clear that the oligarchs are petrified that if Trump emerges victorious, he is going to go on a revenge tour, and the juiciest targets are the ultra wealthy.

The Bulwark’s JVL had a special “extra” edition of his Triad (free, no paywall) that probably captures the calls it well. First, the link is here: The Guardrails are Already Crumpling. I do recommend that you read it.

The relevant passage is below, and you can almost grant Jeff Bezos some slack (ok, fuck that guy with his penis shaped rockets):

The year was 2003, and the scene was Russia, where Vladimir Putin, still in his first term as president, had not yet let the mask slip.

Putin was carefully consolidating power and he realized that the same oligarchs who had supported him initially were also a source of danger. Their money and control of important industries—especially the media—gave them independent bases of power. And every autocrat knows that dictatorship only works when his subjects understand that the only power they may have is the power he grants them.

At the time, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the wealthiest man in Russia. He controlled Yukos, a massive oil company he cobbled together from formerly state-owned assets. He had the kind of wealth and power that made him untouchable, and he started making noises about getting more involved in politics—maybe even running for office.

So Putin had him arrested.

You may not remember this, but the Khodorkovsky case was a major piece of international news at the time. In the West, people weren’t quite sure what to make of it. Khodorkovsky’s people waged an aggressive PR campaign on his behalf claiming that his arrest was politically motivated and that Putin was becoming a thug.

Putin’s side portrayed it as an anti-corruption move, since Khodorkovsky was no angel.

So, what happened to Khodorkovsky?

Khodorkovsky was convicted and sent to a labor camp in the Russian Far East while the government confiscated Yukos and redistributed it to Putin’s cronies. Khodorkovsky’s money, his power, his connections—none of it could protect him from Vladimir Putin.

The rest of the oligarchs got the message. If Putin could get to Khodorkovsky, he could get to anybody.

And so the oligarchs fell in line and ceased to be a source of concern to Putin. Instead of alternative power centers, they became vassals.

Bezos is clearly worried about a similar fate, but instead of a trip to a labor camp, he would be snatched by Navy Seals, and whisked away to a CIA Black site where he would be subjected to “Enhanced Interrogation” methods. NO more playboy lifestyle, lots of ED meds, and young models hanging all over him.

Then there is the outstanding Lyz Lenz and her weekly “Dingus of the Week” column, this time lampooning the billionaire owner of the LA Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong.

This one is worse. The editorial staff had penned a fine endorsement of Harris/Walz, and the owner just shit all over it and forced it to not be published.

At least the head of editorials, Mariel Garza showed her toughness and quit over this:

This week, Mariel Garza, head of editorials at the Los Angeles Times, resigned after the paper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, blocked the editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president.

In her resignation letter, Garza noted, “It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist. How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger—who we previously endorsed for the US Senate?”

Soon-Shiong argued on Twitter that the editorial board was to blame and that he, a reasonable man, had given them a choice to simply outline the pros and cons of each candidate. 

Note that the billionaire owner took to Twitter to lay out his rationale. Gee, get that man a binky and a comfort blankie.

But Lyz’s way with words is a chef’s kiss. She does this banger of a pro/con argument that is both a delight to read, but also depressing as fuck:

But Soon-Shiong wanted them instead to list the pros and cons of running democracy off a cliff. Sir, what would that look like? 

Pro: You don’t have to stand in line to vote anymore. 

Con: That’s because you won’t be allowed to vote if you are not a land-owning white man, because it’s what our founding fathers wanted.

Pro: Rachel Maddow will keep her job for the next 4 years. 

Con: She will be reporting from federal prison. 

Pro: Your taxes will decrease.

Con: You will die of dysentery because you can’t afford health insurance. And when you try to ford the river on the way to urgent care your oxen will also die.

Pro: The male loneliness epidemic will end.

Con: Because you are wearing an ankle bracelet that delivers an electric shock when you walk more than 3 yards away from the off-brand Charlie Kirk assigned to you by JD Vance.

Pro: The borders will be more secure.

Con: You can never leave.

Pro: Good for Russia.

Con: There is no downside. At all. Why would you even ask that?

(This newsletter is sponsored by Russia Today.)

Pro: Your taxes are lower.

Con: You’ll need the money to care for all the children you are being forced to have. Also, JD Vance will be in the delivery room measuring your baby’s head with calipers. It’s all in Project 2025.

Pro: We won’t have to deal with Donald Trump when he loses.

Con: We have to deal with Donald Trump when he wins.

I guess you have to hear both sides?

Lastly, I will quote from Daniel Drezner, a sober voice, who does outstanding political analysis. His even keel is bent in this post this afternoon. “The Cowardice of the Washington Post”

He is totally worth reading, but his closing clip is a banger of all time:

In response to Bezos’ decision, Bob Kagan resigned from the Post’s editorial board today. If I was still writing there, I would have joined him. As another member of the board told Semafor’s Maxwell Tani, “If you don’t have the balls to own a newspaper, don’t.” (emphasis mine)

First, good on Bob Kagan. But this is a dagger. There was a time when the media moguls understood their inherent power, and weren’t afraid to use it. The old adage “never pick a fight with someone who orders ink by the rail car load” meant something in the days of WR Hearst.

Todays moguls are chickenshit cowards who could help prevent something awful, but won’t.

At least the NY Times (so far) has been solid. Their editorial today, “Donald Trump is Saying All You Need to Know” (gift link) is not cowering from The Donald.

Alas, this pusillanimous stance by the Post has caused me to cancel my subscription that I have had for a decade. I will miss the deep reporting, and Jen Rubin. Jeff Bezos can go fuck himself with a cactus.

1. The Washington Post upped the price of a digital subscription to $170 two years ago from $150