The Washington Post published “A note from our owner” in its opinion section Monday night, in which billionaire Jeff Bezos says, "Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election … What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. … Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”
"I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here,” he says.
His note has gotten 13,000 comments as I type this.
And more than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions to the Post as of midday on Monday, NPR reports.
Margaret Sullivan writes in her Substack newsletter about her experience working at two newspapers owned by billionaires — one of them the Post.
And she says in her column in The Guardian of the no-endorsement decisions by Bezos and by the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, "The papers’ leaders have made it clear that they either want Trump (who is, after all, a boon to large personal fortunes) or that they don’t wish to risk the ex-president’s wrath and retribution if he wins.”
The Bulwark, a conservative website that opposes Trump, says his planned use of federal tariffs would "mean a massive increase in the president’s discretionary control over various parts of the economy through the distribution of waivers and exclusions.”
"To punish Harris-backing CEOs, all Trump has to do is hurt their companies with onerous new trade policies, then decline to pick up the phone when they petition for relief,” the Bulwark says.
A separate Bulwark article cites Judd Legum, who writes the newsletter Popular Information.
Legum says, "Bezos believes that former President Trump's hostility toward the Washington Post, which produced critical coverage of Trump's presidency, cost his companies billions in government contracts."
In addition to Amazon, Bezos founded and owns Blue Origin, the private space exploration company.
Legum says: "In a few months, it is possible that Trump will be president again. This time, Bezos faces an even more acute threat to his business interests. Elon Musk, who owns Blue Origin's chief rival SpaceX, has aligned himself closely with Trump, spending tens of millions in support of Trump's campaign and making appearances in swing states on Trump's behalf.
Hours after the announcement of the Post's non-endorsement, "Trump was seen meeting with Blue Origin CEO David Limp. Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign's chief spokesman, embraced the suggestion that the meeting and the announcement of the non-endorsement were linked,” Legum says.
Meanwhile, The Hill reports that more 200 U.S. news outlets owned by Gannett — including longtime, respected outlets The Arizona Republic, The Des Moines Register and the Detroit Free Press — won't endorse presidential candidates.
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