There was another meltdown at the Washington Post after owner Jeff Bezos moved again to moderate the newspaper’s message, which has plummeted in readership. Bezos told the editors that he wanted the newspaper to advocate for individual liberties and the free market. The message sent the left into vapors and led to the resignation of Washington Post opinion editor David Shipley. Outside the paper, another round of calls for boycotts and subscription cancellations followed.
In the announcement below, Bezos declared, “I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.”
He added that a newspaper should be a voice for freedom — “is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.” He noted that:
“There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.”
For those of us in the free speech community, the return of the Post as a champion of free speech and other individual rights would be a welcomed change. Notably, staff did not object when prior owners aligned with their views on editorial priorities.
Obviously, we will need to see how this new directive is carried out. I would be equally opposed to the Post purging liberal views in the way it moved against conservative and libertarian views for the last decade. I do not see such a directive in this announcement. Bezos wants his newspaper to be a voice for individual freedom and free market principles. That should not mean that the newspaper will not run any dissenting views on policies and programs. It does mean that the newspaper will continue to be an outlet for voicing extreme views calling for the curtailment of free speech and other individual rights.
What is striking is that many on the left expect Bezos to run the newspaper like a vanity project, losing millions of dollars to bankroll a far-left agenda. This is an announcement that goes to the position of the newspaper, not any intrusion into reporting. It also does not bar a diversity of opinion on the op-ed pages which still have a vast majority of liberal writers.
The thought that the Post would now focus on advocating for individual rights and the free market led Jeffrey Evan Gold, who posts as a legal analyst for CNN and other networks, to declare that it was the “last straw” and post his cancellation.
Jeff Stein, the publisher’s chief economics reporter, denounced Bezos as carrying out a “massive encroachment” that makes it clear “dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there.” For many moderates and conservatives, it was a crushingly ironic objection given the virtual purging of conservative and libertarian voices at the newspaper.
Amanda Katz, who resigned from the Post’s opinion team at the end of 2024, offered a vivid example of the culture that Bezos is trying to change at the Post. Katz said the change was “an absolute abandonment of the principles of accountability of the powerful, justice, democracy, human rights, and accurate information that previously animated the section in favor of a white male billionaire’s self-interested agenda.”
Just as a reminder, Bezos simply stated that the newspaper would advocate for freedom and free markets.
However, the most telling condemnation came from Post columnist Philip Bump, who wrote “what the actual f**k.” Not surprisingly, Bump wrote the condemnation on Bluesky, a site that promises a type of safe space for liberals who do not want to be triggered by opposing views.
Bump previously had a meltdown in an interview when confronted about past false claims. After I wrote a column about the litany of such false claims, the Post surprised many of us by issuing a statement that it stood by all of Bump’s reporting, including false columns on the Lafayette Park protests, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and other stories. That was long after other media debunked the claims, but the Post stood by the false reporting.
We have previously discussed the sharp change in culture at the Post, which became an outlet that pushed anti-free speech views and embraced advocacy journalism. The result was that many moderates and conservatives stopped reading the newspaper.
In my book on free speech, I discuss at length how the Post and the mainstream media has joined an alliance with the government and corporations in favor of censorship and blacklisting. I once regularly wrote for the Post and personally witnessed the sharp change in editorial priorities as editors delayed or killed columns with conservative or moderate viewpoints.
Last year, that culture was vividly on display when the newspaper offered no objection or even qualification after its reporter, Cleve Wootson Jr., appeared to call upon the White House to censor the interview of Elon Musk with former President Donald Trump. Under the guise of a question, Wootson told White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “I think that misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign issue…it’s an America issue.”
There was a time when a reporter calling for censorship of a political opponent would have been a matter for immediate termination in the media. Instead, the newspaper that prides itself on the slogan “Democracy dies in Darkness,” was entirely silent. No correction. No qualification.
The call for censorship for disinformation is ironic given the Post’s publication of a series of false stories and conspiracy theories. When confronted about the columnist’s demonstrably false statements, the Post simply shrugged.
The Wootson controversy was consistent with the embrace of advocacy journalism at the Post. We previously discussed the release of the results of interviews with over 75 media leaders by former executive editor for The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward. They concluded that objectivity is now considered reactionary and even harmful. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”
The former Post editor, Downie, recounted how news leaders:
“believe that pursuing objectivity can lead to false balance or misleading “bothsidesism” in covering stories about race, the treatment of women, LGBTQ+ rights, income inequality, climate change and many other subjects. And, in today’s diversifying newsrooms, they feel it negates many of their own identities, life experiences and cultural contexts, keeping them from pursuing truth in their work.”
The decline of the Post has followed a familiar pattern. The editors and reporters simply wrote off half of their audience and became a publication for largely liberal and Democratic readers. In these difficult economic times with limited revenue sources, it is a lethal decision.
Robert Lewis, a British media executive who joined the Post earlier this year, reportedly got into a “heated exchange” with a staffer. Lewis explained that, while reporters were protesting measures to expand readership, the very survival of the paper was now at stake:
“We are going to turn this thing around, but let’s not sugarcoat it. It needs turning around,” Lewis said. “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”
Other staffers could not get past the gender and race of those who would oversee them. One staffer complained, “We now have four White men running three newsrooms.”
So, let’s recap: The Washington Post’s owner has been pushing the newspaper to shift back toward the middle and restore greater balance on its pages. He is unwilling to bankroll a far-left echo chamber of advocacy journalism.
Washington Post opinion editor David Shipley resigned in protest rather than agree to emphasize individual rights and free markets in editorials that speak for the newspaper.
Shipley previously fought to reverse Bezos’s decision not to endorse presidential candidates in 2024 or later elections. Some of us have long argued that newspapers should end such endorsements as inimical to journalistic neutrality and objectivity. The editors reportedly encouraged Bezos that, if he wanted to end such endorsements, he should wait until after endorsing Harris in this election cycle — a remarkable position devoid of any cognizable or controlling principle.
There was a time when advocating for editorials to champion freedom would not have been controversial. The staff’s hyperventilation only reinforces the need for such an intervention. These same voices supported the Post adopting “Democracy dies in Darkness” to oppose what they viewed as an attack on democracy from Trump or the right. However, advocating for freedom in editorials is simply unacceptable.
Perish the thought that a newspaper would commit itself to advocating for individual rights and the free market. (Warning foul language below)
Perhaps the Post could adopt a new slogan: “Freedom dies in Silence.”
Here is the announcement from Jeff Bezos:
I shared this note with the Washington Post team this morning: I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.
I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.
I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t “hell yes,” then it had to be “no.” After careful consideration, David decided to step away. This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision.
We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction. I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.
Jeff
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
IMO Bezos wants to salvage his investment, which is currently at risk at the WP. Period, end of story. He apparently feels the need to dress that up as something it is not. This Bearing Arms column asks a very good question: will Bezos’ alleged advocacy for liberty at the Washington Post extend to 2nd Amendment rights? I am just as skeptical as they are.
Will Bezos’ Pledge to Promote ‘Personal Liberties’ in Washington Post Opinion Pages Apply to 2A Rights?
https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2025/02/26/will-bezos-pledge-to-promote-personal-liberties-in-washington-post-opinion-pages-apply-to-2a-rights-n1227803
Tell Mr. Bezos that I’ll gladly be his Opinion Editor.
“IMO Bezos wants to salvage his investment”
In a backhanded way, Bezos might have used the WP to help his Amazon brand. Many states caused the closure of many small business competitors and made delivery services more popular
Off topic:
Actor Gene Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa and dog are found dead?
In the movie Nevada Smith, actor Steve McQueen corners Hackman and Hackman says “Finish me, you haven’t got the guts.” “For God’s sake get it over with.”
That’s not Gene Hackman, that was Karl Malden in Nevada Smith.
Oh yes, it is was actor Gene Hackman getting shot by actor Steve McQueen in that film.
NO stunts or stand in actors!
“For God’s sake get it over with.”
Actually, Margot Ballhere is correct, Gene Hackman doesn’t even starred in that movie. That is, at least, according to IMDb, that is. Perhaps you are confusing Gene Evans with Gene Hackman.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060748/reference/
As a sidenote, the manner in which the bodies of Gene Hackman and his wife were found is a bit grotesque. Apparently, they had been deceased for at least a few days before they were discovered by some maintenance workers as decomposition had set in.
ff
Professor Turley,
Bezos wants to use the “pillars” to force his opinion writers to take certain perspectives, and he is clearly telling us that, because of the internet, there is no need to offer a diversity of opinions. Bezos is telling us that the Post will not allow its opinion writers to offer pro-union perspectives, for example.
You seem to SUPPORT this, but you attacked pre-Musk Twitter for taking the same approach. Here is an example piece you wrote in 2022: https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/3270514-twitter-faces-the-nightmare-of-being-forced-into-free-speech/. There, you criticize then-CEO Parag Agrawal for wanting to regulate content as “reflective of things that we believe lead to a healthier public conversation.”
Bezos owns the Post and he can force them to do whatever he wants in the name of corporate speech. This is also true of online media, like Twitter, whether it is run by liberals like Agrawal or Musk.
Your opinions, however, on this are incongruent. The only throughline is that you support the Post’s conservative “pillars” but rejected pre-Musk Twitter/Blue Sky’s liberal regulation of content.
That is intellectually dishonest.
What is “intellectually dishonest”, is to ignore the fact that Parag Agrawal wasn’t giving a paycheck to posters to write opinions on Twitter. Bezos, thru WAPO, is paying his opinion writers, and if he is tired of their Dem/Left bullsh!t, then he doesn’t have to pay for it. Particularly when readership is down because ex-readers went away, due to the constant barrage of woke propaganda and loss of trust.
Agrawal absolutely was providing a paycheck to the content moderators on his team. This had economic value for Twitter, as identified by the way Musk tanked said value.
Also, Twitter’s value stems mainly from advertising, the revenue from which is generated when use of the platform increases. After Musk took over, usage dropped, hurting the platform’s value.
So, no, your comment does not make sense because Turley’s criticism does not align, in both cases, with profit maximization.
Hmmm, why did the advertising revenue drop??? IIRC, there was a story there. . .
Still, Prawag was NOT paying the individual posters who tweeted, Twitter did offer the forum, but then treated invitees differently, according to stupid criteria. Yeah, nice public forum, as long as you exclude half the forum.
Those of you on the left keep making this stupid argument – which is based on a small note on the value of Twitter shares held by a tiny minority shareholder of a company that is not publicly traded.
Twitter is doing fine.
Elon Musk paid approx $40B for twitter. That is what it is ATLEAST worth – because that is what Musk paid for it, and he does not appear to be looking to sell it for that or any other amount.
No Twitters value is NOT based on advertising. It is based on whatever those who wish to buy or sell twitter decide.
It is increasingly evident that though Musk will almost certainly make a great deal of money from Twitter, that he did not buy twitter as a financial investment. He paid $40B because that is what a true free speech platform was worth to him.
Advertising is just a way to pay the bills.
Separately value is subjective – YOU can only determine what value means to YOU.
Each individual decides what value means to them and they act in the marketplace accordingly.
The sum of all these individual choices gives us the market value of something.
That is the sum of indiviusals subjective choices.
@Anonymous
I don’t disagree. Generational liberalism is akin to generational anything else – the Professor said the same about Biden’s inauguration speech at the time; it is a disconnect curious enough to warrant study in the future, and it plagues many otherwise intelligent people, even those that know history. It is bloody insane. The modern left are whole hog, globalists teetering on the edge of Soviet Communism. This should not be hard to understand, but for the faithful, that don’t seem to understand JFK was murdered by the same, it is. 🤷🏻♂️ *Nothing* will dissuade them.
My current assessment is that previously such folks were so accustomed to assuming control they can’t fathom their party is indeed that shallow and captured by the people in question. It wasn’t a ‘voting mistake’, it is the state of things. Support the modern left at your own peril, black brown, white – makes no difference. They do not care about you, only about themselves and their legacy.
ATS – the dishonesty is YOURS.
Bezos has decided that only about half the op ed page of WaPo can be left wing nut nonsense.
The free market REQUIRES that even bat$hit crazy ideas can be publicly expressed – even on the WaPo editorial page – so long as they reflect the views of a significant portion of readers.
What Bezons has ended is the lefts power to silence oposition.
Not the lefts power to speak.
“Your opinions, however, on this are incongruent.”
The only thing incongruent is your comparing apples to oranges.
WaPo is a newspaper. Twitter is a social networking site that claimed to be an open forum for varying opinions.
“Bezos owns the Post and he can force them . . .”
Bezos is not forcing them to do anything. It’s called the terms of employment — which one is free to accept or reject.
Free speech my ass.
Bezos only lets people post things he likes.
How many resignations has the Post had in the past 3 months?
Probably as many as the number of trump lawyers that are either have lost or will soon loose their law license.
Disgusting.
Free Speech? My ass.
Oh the horror, WaPo is going from falling off the left edge of a flat world, to only half falling off the left edge of a flat world.
And left wing nuts are fleeing their “safe Space” becuase they might have to share editorial space with people who do not share their views.
The horrow of it all – after all isn’t the left free to force its monoculture on everyone ?
Jonathan: Did you see DJT’s first Cabinet meeting yesterday? Quite a clown show. DJT allowed Elon Musk to dominate the conversation declaring: “President Trump has put together the best Cabinet ever…literally…and I do not give false praise”. And this is coming from the richest person on the planet who has never held elected office and has yet to be confirmed by the Senate to any position in the government! But there were 3 other billionaires in the Cabinet who glowed in Musk’s praise. It’s pretty clear now that the billionaire class is running the government.
RFK, Jr., the new head of HHS, gave a few brief remarks at the Cabinet meeting. Regarding the measles outbreak in Texas he claimed it was not “unusual to have measles outbreaks everywhere”. That’s a lie! In 2000 measles was officially declared eliminated in the US. Since then RFK, Jr. has been preaching against the measles vaccine. In 2021 he he declared “America and the global consumers of measles vaccines will learn that they have been misled by the pharmaceutical industry and their captured government agency allies into believing that measles is a deadly disease”. Some parents in Texas believed RFK, Jr.’s lies and refused to have their children vaccinated against measles. And yesterday one child died from measles. More will probably follow. Is RFK, Jr. concerned by the outbreak of measles in Texas? Nope. Did anyone else around the Cabinet table raise concerns about the measles outbreak? Nope. That’s the kind of “leadership” displayed at DJT’s Cabinet meeting yesterday!
And DJT finally took Qs from the compliant WH press corps at the Cabinet meeting. He again declared that Canada should become the 51st state. No raised eyebrows by other Cabinet members nor any attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment over that insane remark. Then a reporter asked DJT whether he supports cuts to SS, Medicare and Medicaid. He again repeated that there would be no cuts to those programs. That was also a lie because the MAGA House just passed a resolution to make $880 billion is cuts to Medicaid, school lunch programs, etc. And DJT supports the House resolution. No one in attendance at the Cabinet meeting corrected DJT or pointed out his other lies. Don’t expect this Cabinet to show any independence during the next 4 years!
Dude, seriously, get a grip. First of all, Trump was answering questions–unlike the previous president who only answered scripted questions. And why would a Cabinet show independence? They, um, are subordinate to the President.
You know, Mr. Stupid, you sound a lot like one of those aging homosexual men, you know, the Old Queen-types, who don’t look boyish anymore, and they have health problems, and need those little blue pills and poppers to perform at all, and probably have to pay for a RentBoi, and constantly worry about losing sphincter control, because of all the physical abuse back there over the years — so they turn all nasty and snarky and sarcastic, and make negative comments about everything, because nobody likes an Old Queen, and they are bitter and lonely, and they have to take it out on the world, when they are sober enough to speak at all. That is what you remind me of.
Whew! I felt the shockwave of that slap way over here, through the Internet! Good one!
Welcome back Squeeky! I feel like with you around here, my work curbing the Left is done
just as a PSA for men on here
….little blue pills and poppers to perform at all….
ED drugs like Viagra (little blue pill) are CONTRAINDICATED with poppers (amyl nitrites). Taken together these can cause sudden and profound hypotension (lowering of blood pressure) with possible death.
– End PSA –
SqueekyFromm- Wow I am impressed. I must say that was brutal. I would not have had the nerve. I have seen people that you describe like that in my practice, not many but some.
You do make things more interesting.
Dennis – Measles cases in the US spike with illegal immigration – which is WHY they are spiking in TX,
They spiked this time in 2024 and 2023 and .. too.
How exactly is it you plan on elminating measles from the US while allowing millions of people into the country unvettted many of whom have not been vaccinated and come from places with lots of measles?
You are brain dead and clueless.
Cutting fraud is not cutting benefits.
And yes, given that the poor students in this country are suffering from epidemic obesity – free luches should go.
“In 2000 measles was officially declared eliminated in the US.”
In 2019 alone there were some 1,200 measles cases in 31 different states.
You can always count on DM for this: A new day, a new lie (and smear).
What a weak ass idiot, he needs praise to bad he tells the press to praise him. Why doesn’t the idiot just do something that helps people instead of surrounding himself with people that want to kiss his ass?
Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt thanked members the press for attending the hour-long meeting, with Trump piping up and saying: “Thank you very much, Pulitzer Prize!”
He noticed Jones leaving and added: “Lawrence! Look at Lawrence! This guy’s making a fortune! He never had it so good!”
He then urged Jones, perhaps jokingly, to give him a good review. “Lawrence, say we did a great job, please. OK? Say it was unbelievable!”
The job of the federal government is NOT to help people – that is the role of charity.
The role of govenrment is to establish the rule of law.
That allows free people to thrive optimally on their own – without govenrment help.
https://www.facebook.com/RonaldReagan/videos/833525902273580/
Pretty sure Bezos was well aware of the tantrums and hysterics this would cause.
Pretty sure Bezos made sure that those tantrums and hysterics got lots of coverage in other news-reporting as well.
Bezos: clever, conniving, -the Adam Schiff of publication news.
Let’s make no mistake. Bezos would never have turned Pravda aka WAPO in another direction had Harris/Walz snagged the election.
likely true.
Jonathan: By all means “Bravo, Mr. Bezos” for taking a wrecking ball to the Post’s editorial independence. Now it will only be about promoting “free markets and personal liberties”. That’s Orwellian doublespeak for censorship. Unfortunately, you did not read the fine print. Bezos made it clear that dissenting viewpoints will no long be published in the Post.
From a “hands off” owner Bezos has now decided to grovel at the feet of DJT–just like Fox News. In January Bezos took a “hands on” role in blocking the publication of a satirical cartoon by Pulitzer prize winner Ann Telnaes that depicted Bezos and other billionaire media company owners kneeling at the feet of a giant figure of DJT, offering bags of money. That started the descent into censorship under Bezos.
The actual “Bravos” should go to opinion editor David Shipley who resigned rather than accept Bezos’s censorship. And it’s even more bizarre you would hail Bezos as “champion of free speech” when he is doing just the opposite. You say that under Bezos’s new policy “I would be equally opposed to the Post purging liberal views”. It’s clear you didn’t bother to read the fine print!
Denny-poo could be replaced with AI (Artificial Imbecility).
Boy, you are really Mr. Stupid, aren’t you??? You are just mad that you lost another Echo Chamber! Which, I wrote a poem about that years ago – how comforting your little secret places where you can go, and pretend that you are smart or something:
The Echo Chambers of Yesteryear
A Poem by Squeeky Fromm
The Echo Chambers of Yesteryear
Are calling to me now.
The comforting sounds of my own voice
To soothe my weary brow.
Voices echoing my own thoughts
Reverberate around.
I lay my head upon my hands
And listen to the sound.
And nary one discordant note
Is plucked within this womb.
No flats, no sharps, unless in key
Are heard within this room.
And here, my mind in safe repose
In silken threads is twirled,
As Echo Chambers of Yesteryear
Cocoon me from the World.
ChatGPT writes interesting poems.
Did they have ChatGPT like eight years ago??? You can apologize now!!! Thanking you in advance!!!
Love and Rockets!
SqueekyFromm
Girl Reporter
Just scroll down a few comments, here:
https://jonathanturley.org/2017/05/09/trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/
Good one Squeeky!
Thank you Upstate Farmer!!! I am glad you liked it!!!
The post is not purging progressive views, it is merely abolishing the monopoly the left has on them.
The editorial independence of ANY media outlet – as you are learning right now, is based on its ability to operate profitably.
Bezos is shelling out a couple of hundred million each year to keep WaPos doors open.
He is betting that is he restores the market place of Ideas to WaPo rather than a safe space for left wing nuts, that he may not have to shell out half as much do.
WaPo is not a charity or a sinecure for left wing nuts.
Bezos has given those on the left way more than a chance to cut their losses and to find some way of operating profitably – they failed.
In failing -= they LOST their privilege of editorial independence.
Dennis for significantly more than a Decade Bezos has Funded WaPo as it went from a center left media outlet to a far left outlet and loses more and more millions each year.
And now you are ranting because in the hopes of hemoraging fewer millions – Bezos has told the left wing nuts they must share the editorial page with people they do not agree with.
The Journalists at WaPo can have infinite journalistic independence in the unemployment line.
Yes Bezos is giving WaPo staff the choice – share the editorial page with people who disagree with you – or leave.
WaPo is not turning into Fox – though Bezos would be perfectly within his rights to do so.
From an independent senior lay American male perspective, there is no provision in the US Constitution for a two major political party system. There is no Democratic agenda; there is no Republican agenda; there is only a ‘constitutional’ agenda. There are no liberal Americans; there are no conservative Americans; there are only real Americans and aliens. If any news outlet doesn’t adhere to those principles then it is not an American news outlet, it is just another intellectually bankrupt source of political gossip. Res ipsa loquitur.
I think what we are seeing is a return to normalcy and a new age of transparency and accountability in the government. The past decade or so, starting with the Social Justice Warrior non-sense giving rise to wokeism and then the radical leftist policies will be written as a dark time in American history, where violent, un-vetted illegal immigrants who committed crimes, de-fund the police, decriminalization of crime and hard drugs, mutilation of children and pornography in elementary schools. People like Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos will be pointed to a clear signs of the return to normalcy. These facts will be backed by the voters, the electoral and the re-election of Trump. More American’s approve of Trump, Musk and DOGE efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the government. As long as Democrats continue to try to play to identity politics, DEI, and against DOGE, they will continue to lose support of not just Republicans and Independents but of their own Democrat base.
UpstateFarmer
Unfortunately the Ivy League and some other universities will probably take as least another generation before the catch up to the changes
GEB,
I am of the opinion they believe in their own intellect, think themselves as intellectually superior and their arrogance of the two shine through and through. What they do not seem to comprehend, we actually dont really need them. At least not the ones in academia. The ones who earned their degrees and are actually out there, doing real work. Of course we do still need professor’s like Professor Turley whom point out the failings of academia in their own echo chambers.
Upstate Farmer-it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Either outcome is possible but I would not play the odds.
Maybe if they had to build or repair a house outside of their experience they might learn some humility or try doing one of those menial jobs they so despise. That can be a true moment of lucidity.
@Upstate
I would certainly like to think so, and I agree. The people fighting against it are more or less writing their own epitaphs, IMO. It is truly astounding. I’m glad though – they have no choice but to defend indefensible positions now, it’s all they have left through their own machinations, and nobody but the insane or bubbled will say, ‘Ok.’. And they are very much a minority, whether in their minds they think so or not.
James,
Well said!!
@Upstate
Oh, and it’s important, IMO, to remember that there are some people in positions of authority that are too young to even remember what we are even discussing, and they sure has heck haven’t been taught about it. This is just a fact in 2025. And they are certain they are correct. And then they are making decisions for you.
James,
That is a scary thought.
Two thoughts. First, Jonathan used the term triggered discussing Left aversion to Right competing views. Triggered. Why does the Left run to a gun part for its rallying cry while professing to hate the Second Amendment? That speaks to the clothes in the emperor’s wardrobe. It sets up the Bezos initiative as “I’ll see your trigger and raise you one high capacity magazine.” Second, l see a lot of discussion that flirts with billionaires as villains. The American Dream is to be a billionaire. They put their pants on one leg at a time like we all do, male and female. There are bad ones and good ones. When we think about the American Dream, we might think about Henry Ford who said he wanted to pay his people enough so they could buy what they were making.
To be an oligarch is The American Dream? That’s the Russian dream. Not the American Dream.
The American Dream means that anyone, regardless of the circumstances they’re born into, can achieve success through hard work and determination, which translates to things like homeownership, financial stability, and personal freedom. It also includes the pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment.
The American Dream is not about becoming the .01% of the population who control other people’s lives.
“The American Dream”
I do not completely agree with either of you. My understanding of “The American Dream” is that it is to have the liberty for your ability to take you as far as it can, or as far as you want it to, unhindered by any institutionalized restraints imposed by government or “society”.
Hilarious. Bill Burr’s X account has been flagged after he made fun of Musk. Free speech my ass.
What did he post that got him flagged? like, specifics, not just “hur dur flag = facismus!”
His account was flagged for inappropriate content even though Burr posted nothing there. Burr’s comments happened on his own podcast. But I’m sure the Trumptards will manufacture some explanation so that they can still claim Musk is all about the sacred right of free speech.
Was it flagged due to pressure from the government?
Yes, from Musk.
“Free Markets” would put Ford Motors, GM and domestic car manufacturers out of business. These American companies would no longer exist. The CEOs of these auto companies publicly admitted this reality.
Right now, China wants to build factories in Mexico and sell EVs (all-electric vehicles) for about $10,000 to American consumers. Currently, the USA is way behind China in this new technology. China controls more than 70% of the entire supply chain for EV technology.
Genuinely free markets, would bankrupt many other American companies and destroy the Middle Class incomes of most Americans.
Most voters simply want government to benefit them. Free Markets alone harms most voters.
The free market is about protecting competition, not protecting individual competitors. Even if certain car companies would go out of business, that does not show that anything is wrong with free markets. It probably means the market is working the way it is supposed to. Incidentally, a free markets is the only mechanism in history to have lifted billions of people out of grinding poverty.
The one exception, where it is advisable to protect competitors, is for national security. Nations must have certain vital industries in the homeland lest a foreign nation that supplies it becomes hostile. This means some industries – e.g., farming, arms manufacturing – must be protected domestically even if the aggregate wealth is somewhat diminished.
PS, none of that has anything to do with the other uses of tariffs, such as using them as a tool to put pressure and gain concessions from foreign countries, or to level the playing field with other nations that have their own tariffs so that our domestic industries are treated fairly. If such leveling is needed, it shows the market was not free to begin with. As it happens, the US has the largest market in the world, and as a consequence, other nations want to access it. This gives America natural, built-in leverage it can use to extract favorable terms on any number of international issues. Only a foolish or nefarious US administration would fail to use such leverage to benefit the American people it is supposed to serve.
OldManFromKS,
Well said.
#74. Let’s see how it washes. Mr. Bezos is in a wholly different free market. He’s like a nation unto himself.
It’s really quite interesting to watch the super intelligent individuals. It may not always be.
Oldmanfromkansas-We could also take a page from Chine and require every business that sets up shop in the US to transfer all their technology to us. Nice way to live off the rest of the world with stolen technology and China and Russia are quite adept at that. Starting most spectacularly with the Russian A-Bomb in 1949 and on up to the present. Many of the great factories in the USSR that helped them produce their tanks and other major weapons systems for WW2 were built by and managed by American Construction companies.
Right right, tariffs have nothing to do with free markets. Would love to see the economics textbook that makes THAT statement!
“. . . use such leverage to benefit the American people . . .”
Tariffs do *not* benefit Americans. They are a self-imposed tax on foreign products purchased by Americans. They are economic suicide.
“If such leveling is needed . . .”
That “leveling” is akin to this:
My neighbor torched his own house. I’ll show him. I’ll torch mine, too.
“They are economic suicide.”
Then, why does the US still exist? Tariffs were the primary source of income for the US at its birth and continue to this day.
Can America, Germany or Japan sell cars in China? If not please explain how that affects the free market.
When you show me Fords, Hondas and Audis being driven in China maybe we can then discuss Chinese cars being sold her.
As for China is way ahead of us, that is BS. China is never way ahead of the west, they steal from the west, copy from the west and make a poor version of what the west manufactures.
China is not ten feet tall, they are are repressive and closed society that has no initiative, creativity or incentive.
Easily disproven. Volkswagen ranked second in car sales in 24, Toyota was third. Honda, fourth.
Easily disproven. I have been to China. I do not recall seeing any other cars other than China made ones. I am sure there are VWs and Toyotas on the road. But they are likely owned by the elite party members. Not the guy hauling five gallon buckets of cooking oil on a made in China moped. Yes. That was a common sight I saw.
I intend to never visit China again.
Upstate, one of my drivers had a BMW. All the others were non-descript, so they may have been a Chinese brand.
Color me skeptical of any move by Jeff.
Jeff owns this rag, WaPo, that pushed distortions, bigotry and lies for 12 YEARS. Jeff employs stooges like Phil the Bump. In the lead up to an election where literally hoods (that previously WaPo had endorsed and given favorable press) and incompetents were running for office, Jeff’s WaPo made very subtle moves to distance themselves. And now he wants to push ‘individual rights’?
I guess there may be a ‘bravo’ due for the first baby step in the right direction but this is definitely a wait and see situation.
I guess Mr. Bezos is a “nazi” too! Maybe one of our s@@tlib friends can comment on this.
antonio
The brightest in our country see the danger America is in. Ronald Reagan bankrupted the Soviet Union. The BFF’ing of China and Russia is beginning to look like the same plan in reverse.
Having said that, these people are the first to understand that there is no universal right from “on high” that sees that we not collapse into monetary and military chaos. We can. And IMO we are too fam close as it is.
It is possible – perhaps unlikely but possible nonetheless – that Bezos has been red pilled, and this change is sincere (in addition to being a good business decision). Perhaps it’s just a hope-springs-eternal thing, but I want him to have been red pilled. And I think it’s possible because I am 95% confident that Musk was red-pilled sometime during the past four years, and Musk has stated that he’s in the process of red-pilling the people he knows including other centi-billionaires. (I attended one of Musk’s campaign events last October and got to hear him do two straight hours of Q&A unfiltered, answering questions from the audience.)
PS, if you want to respond with pure cynicism, fine, but isn’t that getting just a tad boring at this point?
OldManFromKS,
I think when Musk posted that meme of a stick figure that was on the left, then the party shifted and the line moved so the stick figure while standing still, was now on the right, is when Musk had been red-pilled. And for him to even question it, got him in trouble with the leftists. One cannot question the cult! I also think some went along with the woke leftism as it was a crazed trend, and at the time getting ‘canceled” was the ultimate sin. Now that the crazy is dying, only those with terminal TDS fervently continue to rant and rave while the rest of us have had enough and moved on. Thankfully!
Upstate, you’re definitely on to something. My only slight adjustment to what you said is that the stick figure illustration revealed that he was already red pilled. I think it happened gradually and included his experience in buying Twitter and discovering the levels of government-directed censorship, together with four years of crazy from the “Joe Biden” administration (during which the administration inexplicably went out of its way to alienate Musk, starting with its decision not to invite him to the EV summit – an unforced error).
I like Stick Figures! I see a lot of myself in them!
I also believe that both men are very intelligent (being self-made billionaires no less) they see easily which way the wind is blowing and while the prog ideology might have captured their intellectual and moral curiosities, they, never the less, are pragmatic businessmen and would eventually realize that the prog/socialist ideology was going to be a bust for the wealth and power of America, and if America went down that only left the chinese.
And that was a regime in which neither of them could flourish. The hyperactivity from the staff at WAPO only further illustrates their ideological attachment to the progressive cult as a belief in the dream rather than a cold hard look at facts. Many smart people were aware that this ship(the US) was sinking and they did not wish to go down with it.
Whimsicalmama,
Agreed. Seems only the true believers double or triple down on the stupid and crazy rather than adjust to the situation and reality.
I think he’s personally been libertarian since his days at D.E. Shaw.
Even the people with influence who are most committed to free speech have a moral and ethical duty to try to prevent the country from committing cultural suicide.
What a glorious month it has been. Aside from the 24/7 trolling coming out of the new administration, our billionaires now feel free from government coercion. Or might it be that they don’t want to be targeted like the last administration if you fall out of line? More popcorn please.
Hi hope America’s support of evil dictators only results in a temporary 2-4 years of entertainment.
If Trump can close the deal on a cease fire and peace agreement between the Ukraine and Russia, then the Ukraine can return to normal pre-war elections and they might vote out their dictator, Zelensky. The guy who jailed journalists, eliminated independent news outlets for a state approved one, canceled elections.
And outlawed an entire religion (Russian Orthodox Church).