Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and Blue Origin, a company that does business with the federal government. The same day the Post announced it would not be endorsing a presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump met personally with executives of Blue Origin. Jonathan Last explains, although presumably you can figure it out for yourself:
This was neither a coincidence nor a case of Bezos and Trump being caught doing something they wished to keep hidden. The entire point of the exercise, at least for Trump, was that it be public.
What we witnessed on Friday was not a case of censorship or a failure of the media. It had nothing to do with journalism or the Washington Post. It was something much, much more consequential. It was about oligarchy, the rule of law, and the failure of the democratic order.
When Bezos decreed that the newspaper he owned could not endorse Trump’s opponent, it was a transparent act of submission borne of an intuitive understanding of the differences between the candidates.
Bezos understood that if he antagonized Kamala Harris and Harris became president, he would face no consequences. A Harris administration would not target his businesses because the Harris administration would—like all presidential administrations not headed by Trump—adhere to the rule of law.
Bezos likewise understood that the inverse was not true. If he continued to antagonize Trump and Trump became president, his businesses very much would be targeted.
So bending the knee to Trump was the smart play. All upside, no downside.
What Trump understood was that Bezos’s submission would be of limited use if it was kept quiet. Because the point of dominating Bezos wasn’t just to dominate Bezos. It was to send a message to every other businessman, entrepreneur, and corporation in America: that these are the rules of the game. If you are nice to Trump, the government will be nice to you. If you criticize Trump, the government will be used against you.
It turns out democracy dies in the light.
2 comments:
Trump apparently made Jeff Bezos an offer he couldn't refuse.
Perhaps. But I don't think he had to. Bezos has become a parody of a human. Divorced from his wife, married to a bimbo with a parody of a human body. Bezos will never have enough ... working toward becoming a "trillionaire." He has no soul, only greed and drive. Working conditions (I've heard from a former employee) at Amazon are inhuman; Bezos sets impossible time goals. I just ordered something and they sent me the completely wrong specifications, so I have to return it. The man is a putz with no moral compass. Strictly "business," which in his case means insatiable greed.
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