So, A POTUS—excuse me, a Republican POTUS--is prohibited from running the executive branch of the federal government and is an unconstitutional dictator if he tries. And now we learn the owner of a newspaper is violating the First Amendment and every tenet of journalism and decency if he dares set editorial policy. Who coulda thunk it?
The Washington Post, owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has been losing subscribers because he has been trying to move the WaPo toward the center and traditional, responsible journalism. The blowback from Democrats/socialists/communists (D/s/cs), and his own employees—I know; one in the same—has been fierce and unhinged. Bezos has fired a withering broadside:
The blowback to this unremarkable order is revealing. Notice what Bezos said and didn’t say. He wants the opinion page focus to be on personal liberty and free markets. He did not say those are the only things that could be written. Obviously, he’s implying that’s going to be the WaPo’s focus—this is America--but again, he didn’t eliminate other trains of thought or topics. He’s certainly right that those viewpoints are “underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion.” It’s also a smart economic decision. D/s/cs are abandoning the WaPo because it’s no longer an official publication of the D/s/c Party—heavy on the “d” and “c.” If the WaPo is going to survive, it needs to appeal to Normal Americans.
Graphic: Bezos Screenshot
The Free Beacon comments:
Just as they did when Bezos declined to let his editorial board publish a meaningless endorsement of Kamala Harris that would have changed precisely zero minds, journalists at the Post and beyond were outraged in response to the memo endorsing personal and economic freedom. Shipley held an "emotional" meeting on Wednesday with staff who were "shocked and stunned," according to the New York Times.
Jeff Stein, an economics reporter at the Post, slammed Bezos's pro-freedom remarks as a "massive encroachment" on the opinion section that made clear "dissenting views" on the benefits of freedom "will not be published or tolerated there." Stein acknowledged that Bezos has never interfered with his reporting. Philip Bump, one of several openly Democratic columnists at the Post, had a more succinct reaction. "What the actual fuck," he wrote on Bluesky, the social media app for obnoxious liberals.
Just as federal employees believe the government is theirs to run without supervision and the public’s money is theirs, WaPo employees share the same delusions. It’s Jeff Bezo’s newspaper. He can’t encroach on it. That’s “the actual f**k.”
Stein’s comments are revealing of why Bezos is making changes. An American, supposedly mainstream, newspaper in our capitol openly hostile to individual liberty and free markets is a losing proposition. It’s also revealing of Stein’s—and I’m sure most WaPo reporter’s--misapprehension of their roles at the WaPo. I’m and editor and writer for American Thinker. It’s a conservative site. That doesn’t prevent me from mentioning sane, worthwhile things done by D/s/cs, but like everyone at AT, I work from traditional journalistic principles of accuracy and fairness, and should I fail or refuse to acknowledge the focus of AT or to adhere to those standards, I expect to be fired. Not so the self-imaged elite at the WaPo.
Kara Swisher, the liberal tech journalist who is trying to buy the Post from Bezos, agreed that Bump had asked "the right question." Writing on Bluesky, obviously, Swisher went on to denounce Bezos as an "utterly shameless" "adult toddler" who had "killed … the First Amendment and basic humanity in a vomitous spew of nonsense."
Wait. If the First Amendment requires and allows nothing but D/s/c viewpoints, why is conservative commentary allowed to exist? Swisher’s bias is showing. Only D/s/cs have “basic humanity?” Ah. That must be why they so willingly helped Joe Biden’s handlers dismantle the First Amendment.
Mehdi Hasan, the former MSNBC host whose show was canceled due to low ratings and anti-Semitism, argued that Bezos's support for personal and economic freedom was an attack on "progressive opinions."
Of course. The existence of opposing opinions is an attack on D/s/cs. This is revealing:
Karen Attiah, the Post columnist who was recently confronted at a book event in Washington, D.C., over her sympathy for Hamas terrorists, had this to say about working for a boss who wants to promote freedom and other American values: "Deep breaths." Attiah…defended the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack as a justified attempt at "decolonization…”
Attiah is still employed at the WaPo yet is unable to see her continued employment as evidence of Bezo’s tolerance for opposing viewpoints, even viewpoints in direct opposition to humanity and western civilization.
Donald Trump has already figured out many, if not most, of his employees are hostile to him and to the government’s mission. It appears that’s dawning on Jeff Bezos too.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.