Trump is the greatest threat to free markets and personal liberties
Over the past 48 hours, I’ve been receiving from readers and friends the sort of notes one gets upon losing a loved one or perhaps receiving a terminal diagnosis.
“So very sorry.”
“Hang in there.”
“Sending you love and strength.”
“With appreciation and sorrow.”
The cause of death? The belief that Post owner Jeff Bezos has just ended the tradition of open debate that has guided this paper’s editorial page for generations. “We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” Bezos wrote on Wednesday morning. “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
In its plain language, this is unobjectionable. Personal liberties and free markets are part of the American creed. But many readers I’ve heard from suspect the words are cover for a plan to turn this into a MAGA-friendly outlet.
I don’t yet know for sure. But this much is clear: If we as a newspaper, and we as a country, are to defend Bezos’s twin pillars, then we must redouble our fight against the single greatest threat to “personal liberties and free markets” in the United States today: President Donald Trump.
The rapidly spreading authoritarianism coming from this administration threatens all of our freedoms. Trump in recent days has declared himself to be a “king.” His Self-Proclaimed Majesty announced, Louis XIV-style, that “we are the federal law.” And he proposed that “we should take over Washington, D.C.,” and deny its 700,000 residents the right of self-governance.
As for liberties, the day before the pillars announcement, the White House ended a century-old precedent and decreed that the government would handpick which news organizations would be allowed to cover and question Trump. “This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” protested the White House Correspondents’ Association, of which I am a member. “In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” That previously happened in repressive countries such as Russia and Iran. Now, it is happening here. [Continue reading…]
More than 75,000 digital subscribers to The Washington Post have cancelled since its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced on Wednesday that he would radically overhaul the paper’s opinion pages to reflect libertarian priorities and to exclude opposing points of view.
Wednesday’s announcement led to the immediate resignation of Opinions Editor David Shipley. He had vainly sought to persuade Bezos to drop the plans, according to a person with direct knowledge. Shipley did not respond to requests for comment.
Bezos’ decision also prompted an outcry from longtime Post figures, including Associate Editor David Maraniss and former Executive Editor Marty Baron. Baron called the move “craven” and told Zeteo News that Bezos, whom he praised extensively in his 2023 memoir, was “basically fearful” of President Trump. [Continue reading…]