“'Trump waited to make sure that Bezos did what he said he was going to do, and then met with the Blue Origin people,' he said on Saturday. 'Which tells us that there was an actual deal made, meaning that Bezos communicated, or through his people, communicated directly with Trump, and they set up this quid pro quo.'”

#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #EconomicElites #RobertKagan
/2

"It’s been suggested to me that Jeff Bezos’ decision here may be based on more than just fear. Perhaps carrots are operating in the background as well as sticks. I don’t know if that’s true. But I mention the possibility because I think it’s a critical driver of what I’ve called that climate of bewilderment. The choice has the whiff of decisions or deals made off stage, out of public view."

~ Josh Marshall

#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #EconomicElites
/3

talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/t…

Trust, Bewilderment and Billionairedom: Understanding the Backlash Against Bezos

It's part of the stock in trade of liberal American discourse: threatening or claiming to cancel a subscription to this or that once-revered journalistic institution in response to bad behavior…

^{Josh Marshall (TPM - Talking Points Memo)}

"A lot of the country is convinced that a second Trump presidency will push America into the kind of elective autocracy we see in degraded democracies like Russia, Turkey and India. That brings with it the standard package of curtailments of press and other civic freedoms."

#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #EconomicElites
/4

"But here we see billionaires, who own press operations as side businesses, out of their back pocket, as it were, seeming to decide that it’s easier to pull up stakes in advance, get out of the way of the freight train, lay down before Trump has even won the election."

#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #EconomicElites
/5

"Of all the expectations I had for these final weeks of the election, canceling two of my newspaper subscriptions wasn’t one of them.

I’ve always believed newspapers are essential to our democracy."

~ Elliot Kirschner

#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #LosAngelesTimes #PatrickSoonShiong #EconomicElites
/6

elliotkirschner.substack.com/p…

Canceled Subscriptions

In service of democracy

^{Elliot Kirschner (Through the Fog, by Elliot Kirschner)}

"So, why did I cancel my subscriptions?

Because this wasn’t about an endorsement. It was about what it says of these papers’ owners—and a troubling trend among oligarchs more generally. From silent acquiescence to, in the case of Elon Musk, unhinged cheerleading, some of the most powerful people in the world are conspiring in complicity to undermine our country and our democracy."

#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #LosAngelesTimes #PatrickSoonShiong #EconomicElites
/7