"Democracy dies in darkness" and silence, apparently.
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Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
191–200 of 1001 posts
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
He knows Trump will hold it against him, and his probability of becoming president is nonzero.
Yes but if I was a richer than God billionaire what would I care that POTUS had a grudge. What's he gonna do, audit my taxes? There is something fishy going on.
He'd care about getting government contracts. For example, during the Trump administration the Pentagon chose Microsoft over AWS for JEDI. AWS claimed there was political interference that favoured MS.
Obviously Bezos will be rich with or without these contracts, but he'd prefer to be richer.
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
clear favorite or coin toss.
Clear favourite. It might be a toin coss still at this moment, but the odds are getting ever-so-slightly worse for Kamala for many days in a row now. So it's about the trend. On top of that, the growth of the blue firewall in PA is losing steam too early...
What data brings you to this conclusion? PA firewall is slowing, but it’s not terrible.
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#194Actively making the Democrats chance of winning less likely for your own personal interests is shortsighted. Jeff still needs customers, he needs a sane society where his businesses can operate from ? Sorry but the leader of the Republican Party is completely unhinged. Bezos might get away with a tax break or avoid some other legal scrutiny or even Trumps gestapo hit squad,but wow, you’re giving up a lot for a little…
> making Democrats chance of winning less likely
Do you vote according to what others tell you to? Or do you believe most other people do so blindly? Dem voters will stay home because they didn't read a papers opinion? Or you believe that others can't tell the stance of a newspaper regarding a candidate from their reporting on them?
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is everyone in this thread pushing the idea that Bezos is scared of Trump? It seems more plausible to me he is scared of the DoJ breaking up Amazon under Harris.
Has anyone brought that up? In the current administration? In the campaign?
what happens behind closed doors is entirely different than what makes the papers. i am positive bezos has spoken to trump, and i am positive trump assured bezos of something that harris did not
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#196[flagged]
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#197To play Devils Advocate for a moment: Why do we need, or even want, a newspaper to endorse a President? How does it not undermine a paper's journalistic ethics to be neutral and fair?
I think there's arguments either way, but I also think as a certain point there is an obligation to point out that Trump is basically an anti American who probably takes more notice of a roll of toilet paper than the constitution. I'd argue that maybe it would behoove an institution of trust to make an endorsement only rarely, but it's also long been part of the means of public discourse for papers to put out opinions and endorsements.
More so than that question, I think it's more obvious to ask "if you're going to have that argument, is the year Trump, the nation destroying clown, is running, the year to suddenly make a change after something like > 3 decades? Especially when it seems like your owner might be making the change because he wants to curry favor for contracts?"
It's a pretty pathetic look, but I don't particularly expect any civic virtue from Bezos, so not shocked.
No doubt this will be portrayed as Bezos reigning in "Democrat" conspiracies and used to normalize Trump by the denizens of that delusional universe.
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#198So many times HN posters have extolled how Bezos hasn't interfered with the WaPo and those of us who expressed concern about his purchase were chicken littles. It has never been true and it's plain as day now. He bought it for the same reason Musk bought Twitter. To have control over a media outlet he values.
Well, it might have been true until now. Certainly there's no previous good evidence for Bezos-directed coverage or editing at the Post.
But regardless: you were right. I was one of the folks who viewed him as a basically benign entity who, sure, had opinions of his own, but clearly would never put his fingers on the editorial scale. And I was wrong, and he isn't.
Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#199More interesting to me is that this is the third tech billionaire to take a decidedly different stance than he did previously. Musk is quite active, but even Zuckerberg took a much more neutral stance for 2024. Honestly I'm more surprised that Bezos even bothered. Does he really think the endorsement of The Washington Post editorial board is so significant that it's worth intervening? That seems implausible.
Thats because of the calculation: - Endorse Harris and Trump wins, Trump will seek revenge on Bezos and Amazon (he tried this in the first term) - Endorse Trump and Harris wins, Harris will not act outside the bounds of a normal government official This is capitulation to the perceived threats of a Trump presidency and is very bad.
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Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
#200it's all disagree and commit until the big boss comes and says to "just commit". didn't success and scale bring responsibility ?
i guess Bezos can bend the leadership principles back and forth the way it best fits his current needs.