Jeff Bezos & Will Lewis ordered WaPo’s editors to dump a Kamala Harris endorsement

Last week, one of the big media stories was about billionaire LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong ordering the LAT to dump their presidential endorsement because he’s tight with Elon Musk and Donald Trump. The LA Times’ editorship and staff is still in revolt. Then the Washington Post said “hold my beer.” WaPo is owned by Jeff Bezos, who is not particularly close to Donald Trump or his lil’ apartheid buddy Elon. But Bezos also wanted to hedge his bets in case Donald Trump does win. So instead of allowing WaPo’s staff and editors to stand on business against an insurrectionist, white nationalist fascist, Bezos ordered WaPo to skip the presidential endorsement.

The Washington Post, which adopted the tagline “Democracy Dies in Darkness” during Donald Trump’s presidency, has opted to not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, publisher and CEO of the newspaper William Lewis announced Friday in a note to readers. Lewis, who joined the Post in January, wrote that the paper is “returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” pointing to editorials from 1960 and 1972 as instances in which the paper explained its rationale for not doing so. Lewis argued that the Post “had it right before” 1976, when the editorial board endorsed Jimmy Carter for president. The Post has endorsed every cycle since then with the exception of 1988.

“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable,” Lewis writes, adding, “We don’t see it that way.”

Others clearly did. “This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty,” Marty Baron, the Post’s former executive editor, said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

“These decisions are appalling, a dereliction of duty, and a disturbing statement of the priorities of two newspapers that are owned by billionaires,” Margaret Sullivan, a former New York Times public editor and Post media columnist, who currently writes a politics and media column for The Guardian US, tells me.

Inside the Post, NPR’s David Folkenflik reported, editorial page editor David Shipley relayed the decision to staff in a “tense meeting” just before Lewis announced it publicly. While staffers were reportedly taken aback by the change, Shipley reportedly said that he “owns” the decision and that it was intended to allow the paper to remain “independent,” language that was also used by Lewis in his letter to readers.

Two Post board members, Charles Lane and Stephen W. Stromberg had already drafted a Harris endorsement when the process stalled, prior to Friday’s announcement, according to Columbia Journalism Review executive editor Sewell Chan. He added that the decision, which was approved by Shipley, has “angered” staffers.

[From Vanity Fair]

I don’t doubt that both Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis had a hand in this. Bezos met with Donald Trump late last week, and there’s clearly some “business” at hand between the two men. Meanwhile, Will Lewis is a Murdoch lackey and part of the right-wing British invasion of American media. Lewis wants Trump to win – Bezos simply doesn’t want to piss off Trump if he wins. After it was widely reported that Bezos personally quashed the WaPo endorsement, Will Lewis fell on his sword in a statement to CNN: “Reporting around the role of The Washington Post owner and the decision not to publish a presidential endorsement has been inaccurate. He was not sent, did not read and did not opine on any draft. As Publisher, I do not believe in presidential endorsements. We are an independent newspaper and should support our readers’ ability to make up their own minds.” The Trump campaign has already declared the lack of endorsements a “humiliating blow” for VP Harris.

WaPo’s columnist Robert Kagan publicly resigned on Friday, saying: “This is obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump in the anticipation of his possible victory. Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’ business. Bezos runs one of the largest companies in America. They have tremendously intricate relations with federal government. They depend on the federal government.” Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein released a joint statement saying the decision was “surprising and disappointing,” and the timing of the announcement “ignores the Washington Post’s own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy.”

Meanwhile, thousands of people have canceled their WaPo subscriptions. There will be larger repercussions for the Washington Post financially in the immediate future. I’m sure Will Lewis will use that as an opportunity to fire a lot of journalists.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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135 Responses to “Jeff Bezos & Will Lewis ordered WaPo’s editors to dump a Kamala Harris endorsement”

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  1. Josephine says:

    Bezos shows himself as yet another small, cowardly, pathetic, unpatriotic man. History will see him for what he is, and the paper will never recover its reputation for refusing to call out a facist and “both-siding” a nazi sympathizer. Bezos is a little, little man is all aspects.

    • Dee says:

      All of the above. But let’s include racist!!

      • Megan says:

        What’s the point of having fuck you money if you don’t have the guts to say fuck you? Tax the shit out of billionaires.

    • Whyforthelove says:

      He also met with Trump right before this so I also think it was quid pro quo so he can get more of the space contracts that his company has been bidding for

      • MichaelaCat says:

        I hope more people will stop buying from Amazon.

        That is what made him this rich and allowed him to do all this.

        Fallout is wild. So many people are cancelling their subscriptions.

      • Tanguerita says:

        I wished I didn’t cancel my subscription three months ago, so I could cancel it now, but this development was a long time coming. WP has been horrible for years now. I’d rather give my money to independent journalists and reporters who do their work on the ground.

    • Janet says:

      Yep and I refuse to give him any money. But I never got into amazon so it’s easy t9 avoid.

      • Enza says:

        It’s AWS hosting that is Bezos’s big thing and I don’t even think there is a sufficient competitor. So many massive companies use AWS, making it a complicated boycott. Worth it, probably.

      • Tanguerita says:

        i have never understood people’s obsession with amazon. I used to read reviews there before buying from somewhere else, but by now even the reviews are mostly fake.

    • StarWonderful says:

      For a guy who seems obsessed with the male appendage (i.e. Prime logo and his rocket design), Bezos has turned out to be a limp weenie.

  2. Libra says:

    This won’t be the first casualty of Trumps threats to go after people who don’t support him. More to come. These are not idle threats. He can and will destroy you if he can bring Bezos to his knees.

    • Josephine says:

      It’s not like Bezos has a spine, so I don’t think Trump had to try hard at all. One of the many things that has become crystal clear to me is that Republican men are truly weak snowflakes. They love having someone tell them what to do, and they don’t mind prostating themselves and humiliating themselves over and over again. They just have to swallow over and over and aren’t they just so good at it.

    • SueBarbri33 says:

      100%. I was in DC during his first term, and the non-MAGA crowd was terrified of being on his radar. Half the dirt that happened during his first term happened because various people at different agencies didn’t want to get fired and lose their pension. People are underestimating the chilling effect that the McCabe situation had on government workers in DC. He’s going to go after his enemies with no restraint if he wins. Democracy will die with a whimper.

  3. Debbie says:

    When asked how fascism started, didn’t Bertrand Russell respond, “First, they fascinate the fools, then they muzzle the intelligent”? I think that’s about right.

    May I also add that the biggest boob in the picture above isn’t necessarily on Lauren Sanchez’s chest.

    • Miranda says:

      I will also add that Lauren Sanchez’s face looks SO. F–KING. PAINFUL. Sometimes, plastic surgeons need to be like bartenders and just cut people off, you know?

      • ML says:

        Miranda, It does. However, while I completely understand how off-putting it is, it’s distracting from a white-hot focus on Bezos and Lewis. I wish there were more pictures of them looking ridiculous.

      • One of the marys says:

        She looks like a blow up sex doll and how to take either of them seriously? It’s such a comedown from Mackenzie

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        I don’t understand why anyone would voluntarily do that to themselves. She looks freakish.

      • Lawrenceville says:

        I’m just wondering why the focus is suddenly shifting to the woman in the picture when she clearly is not the issue here? And I’m sure Bezos and Lewis would like nothing more than the focus to shift from calling them and their shitty, fascist-selves out and instead focus on criticizing the woman instead. People, priorities please.

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        I think what she has done to herself is very much a reflection of Bezos. She is literally mutilating herself to please this pig, I am sure. She did not look like this before Bezos. To be clear, I think she needs help much like Kanye West’s latest girlfriend.

      • lucy2 says:

        It really does. I feel sorry for anyone who did that to themselves.

      • Eliza says:

        Anyone who presents themselves like that deserves criticism. I don’t even know where to start. He’ll trade her in for a younger model soon.

      • MoonTheLoon says:

        @Brassy Rebel- She was actually a very attractive woman. I remember growing up watching her helicopter reporting and I respected her quite a bit for that. I can’t imagine how bad off her mental state is to be doing this to herself. It’s sad.

    • Noo says:

      Ty @debbie for the incisive Bertrand Russell quote.

  4. Aud says:

    Democracy dies in darkness.

  5. Beana says:

    This is why legacy media, with its robber baron owners, needs to end up in the trash can. There are better ways of researching and disseminating news. We should all remove our money from these subscription-based “services” and instead collectively work on keeping disinformation recognizable. Twitter, WaPo, NYT….none of it is unbiased.

  6. aquarius64 says:

    Bezos has bastardized the paper that exposed Watergate and turned it into the US version of the Daily Fail. As an American I am sickened that the Orange Menace can put billionaires in chokeholds so he can stamp out any criticism of him. Trump is confirming the fascist tag on him is warranted; and for him to call the country he wants to “govern” a garbage can (yep he said that at his campaign rallies) is beyond the
    pale.

  7. Miranda says:

    And legacy media wonders why Kamala didn’t immediately grovel at their feet.

    • Whyforthelove says:

      Perfect observation!

    • North of Boston says:

      I cancelled my Washington Post subscription the day of Lewis’ announcement. I’d first subscribed in 2015 in a effort to support the free press and objective journalism (also have paid NY Times, Guardian and Boston Globe subscriptions from then – NYT is on probation with me ATM because they’ve done some sane-washing, slanted coverage)

      And then I also cancelled my Amazon Prime membership and will not purchase from there or Whole Foods.
      I know that’s just a drop in the bucket to that cowardly greedy twit, but it’s MY drop.

    • Maya says:

      Noam Chomsky’s work re the propaganda model / manufacturing consent is 💯. Media ownership and regulation laws are a disgrace. I will also point out that 180+ journalists have been killed with impunity this past year in the Middle East ‘war’ and the last 6 remaining Palestinian journalists in Gaza are currently being targeted with false accusations of terror links, and not a peep from mainstream media. All this outrage over cowardice and integrity in the newsroom and pearl clutching over Nika Soon Shiong’s comments about why the LA Times witheld their Harris endorsement … History will look back on this dark moment in our humanity, and the reason Nika provided is the only one that will actually stand up. I doubt my post will actually be published. But yes pls keep talking about cowardice and democracy dying in darkness….

      • Lawrence says:

        Yes please to this. Let’s all pretend Trump doesn’t support Israel in any way. Why you think there no talk about the middle east in any of his campaigns? And isn’t Trump the one that legitimized Jerusalem as Israel capital city? But yes please continue targeting and blame the WOC for the war in Gaza

  8. D says:

    I did a deep dive into the fascist movements in the 30s and 40s and then the neofascist movements more recently and this is text book. They are literally doing it the same way they did in Germany and Italy. Pretending to be working for the working man but really the philosophy is that the only important people are the upper class and wealthy. Making the mega wealthy fall in line by offering to make them richer and have more power while also threatening to take it all away from them. Pretending to be rooted in religion but really just in it to control people. Blaming all of the lower class and working class problems on immigrants and other outsiders in order to rile up the masses. Really focusing on younger men and their insecurities to feed into their feelings of inadequacy so that they become militant in their beliefs. Making it clear that the urban, well education and liberal leaning people are “feminizing” the country and must be stopped. Making it seem those who are well read, intelligent, live in large cities and/or at universities are the problem bringing the country down and they must be silenced.

    I could go on and on but I don’t think I have to. If you have any awareness of American politics since Bush 2 when he tried to pretend he was just a good ‘ol boy when he was actually an upper crust kid from the north as well as his pushing his religious ideology (he was a newish born again christian) into the White House you probably saw this coming. It got worse with the introduction of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, continued to get worse as more of those populists were elected to congress and then coming to a head with T+ump. It has been an agenda for a long time and we are seeing how that slow roll out has worked on the people of this country.

    I just hope that sanity prevails and the millions of people who haven’t been brainwashed will not listen to the bots on all of the discussion boards and comment sections of newspapers and social media and decide it’s a done deal and sit the election out. We must all vote and make sure we stop this before it’s too late.

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      And don’t forget holding their own Nuremberg rally at Madison Square Garden which happens today. The corporate media is treating this like just another campaign rally. It is not. Trump has been wearing the Proud Boys colors (black and gold) for the last few days instead of his usual blue suit and red tie.

      • SarahCS says:

        OMG so I passed a young guy at a bus stop earlier holding his phone to his ear so that he could hear the video that was playing and I saw Trump on the screen but couldn’t understand why he had changed his suit and tie. This is terrifying.

      • Elsa says:

        Very well said.

      • ML says:

        😳Holy bleep–I vaguely had noticed the tie, but I didn’t realize what those colors meant or what he was signalling with them!😬

      • D says:

        I didn’t even know about that but my daughter lives in NYC and she was so confused about all the Trump people walking around and being very vocal. That must be why.

    • Nytiri says:

      @D
      Nail on the head. Great insight.

    • bisynaptic says:

      🎯

    • SIde Eye says:

      Amazing post D. Yes to everything you wrote.

  9. ML says:

    Trump is an empty pit, and he’s famously vindictive, and he needs money. Jeff Bezos has clashed with Trump more than once in the past. Bezos trying to placate Trump stinks to high heaven (Thank you by the way for that Daily Beast link about Blue Origen!). Nikki Haley, for instance, hasn’t reentered Trump’s good graces. He’s not forgiveness oriented. So whatever Bezos is doing now, it probably goes beyond refusing to endorse a candidate for president. Did Trump get paid (via an anonymus PAC)?

    I’m really upset about this! I hate to agree with anyone MAGA oriented, but my reading of the LA Times and WaPo’s lack of endorsing Kamala Harris is to placate Trump. So I do see it as anti Harris and anti democracy.

    • Jaded says:

      Maybe Bezos promised to sell Trump’s fakakta $100K faux-Swiss watches on Amazon for a quid pro quo deal. They’re both sh*t-eating cockroaches.

  10. Amy Bee says:

    I’m guessing WaPo is going to drop that tagine in the near future and Will Lewis won’t there after next year.

    • Lilly (with the double-L) says:

      Agreed @Amy Bee. Although, he’ll probably have Lewis fire any true journalists, who haven’t quit, before Bezos gives him a golden parachute. Anyway, I finally cancelled my Prime membership today and did complete the survey as to why.

    • Luna says:

      They should keep the tagline since it’s the new mantra
      (per the publisher, not the editorialists and journalists who are trying to do their jobs).

  11. Visa Diva says:

    Its cowardice. If you don’t want to endorse, announce it at the beginning of an election year. Saying you won’t endorse two weeks before the election is dereliction of duty.

  12. TN Democrat says:

    The government has allowed so many monopolies to form with the food supply, that it is nearly impossible to shop without throwing money into some billionaire’s pocket, but I would highly recommend boycotting Wal-Mart and Amazon in particular if possible. The deviance of the Walton family is on par with Bezos. They don’t need your money. I know a lot of people have gotton addicted to buying things from Amazon. But. The sweetheart deal Amazon has with the US post office to deliver Amazon packages is destroying the US postal service. Amazon made a deal with the US postal service that only pays the usps about 50 cents per package, regardless of size, to deliver. The post office, especially in rural areas, is not equipped to deliver hundreds of packages daily. The workers have had their wages cut and are being expected to work much longer hours. If you absolutely have to make a purchase from Amazon, most orders over $35 can be shipped for free. The price of the annual subscription has gotten absurdly expensive.

    • Blithe says:

      Keep in mind, too, that Bezos /Amazon now owns Whole Foods markets, as well as Amazon Fresh, and their footprints have increased even as locally and regional owned markets have suffered.

      Amazon also owns One Medical, and Amazon Pharmacy.

      So, say you have a health concern. Amazon can follow you from checking out books and other supports on Amazon to get information, to knowing how you shop and what you eat, to having your medical information, to accessing your financial history when you use your Amazon credit card to pay for it all, while hoovering up additional information — possibly about your family and friends — thanks to whatever you agreed to with Amazon’s changing privacy policies. There’s almost no aspect of our lives that Amazon is not monetizing— with full awareness of our most personal concerns and priorities. So much for preventing exploitive monopolies.

  13. vs says:

    Bezos is do disappointing…. despite his billions, he is still afraid of a Trump presidency? he is powerful enough to go toe to toe with that weasel! anyway, canceling WAPO isn’t enough….people have to cancel their prime services and stop using amazon to really hurt Bezos where he will feel it….despite that, the guy will still be more than fine!

    • BeanieBean says:

      That’s what I don’t get. Bezos is an actual billionaire, trump is a fake billionaire. Apparently, with his space company, Bezos can make more billions if trump gets elected? Is that it? He needs more billions?

    • MsIam says:

      If the second richest guy in the country is bowing down what message does that say about the hope for the rest of us? Putin did the same thing to an oligarch in his country who criticized government corruption and the guy ended up in jail. These people are evil.

  14. ML says:

    Just read that Liz Cheney gave up her WaPo subscription on HuffPost. If it wasn’t already obvious, this move of Bezos and his company’s meeting with Trump is truly unholy.

    During the last election, my mom had breast cancer, and my siblings had to put in an effort to get her to vote, because she was feeling awful. There are some people out there (my cousins helped at a nursing home to drive residents) who have difficulty voting and might be able to if they get a bit of help. Rides, babysitting, covering for someone so they have the time. Going with a group of friends–you’re less likely to let someone down if you’re in a group. For whatever reason, lots of people are unable to take fascism seriously. Voting is our way to fight it.💙

    • Dee(2) says:

      I’m going to say these lack of endorsements may actually work out in the Harris campaign’s benefit. Before it would have been of course they’re going to endorse, liberal media, blah blah blah. When the LA Times didn’t endorse they tried to make it oh her home state paper won’t even endorse her! Then the editors there started resigning, and spoke out to the fact that they wanted to endorse. Then with this, it just highlighted the cowardice, especially when they immediately had high level editors resign and comment on the cowardice of the publisher and Bezos. Now you’re getting more in-depth reporting about quid pro quo, and other things that probably would not have been highlighted being the main story. So now it’s become the paper that gave two low level reporters the chance to bring down the Nixon presidency, is all of a sudden not issuing presidential endorsements anymore.

      ETA- not sure why this posted as a comment to your comment, sorry!

      • Luna says:

        Thank you so much for sharing this. Gives me some hope. Seriously, the comments on celebitchy tend to encourage me so much more than the ones I read on main new sites like Washington Post, even though most commenters there are also pro-democracy.

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      @ML: we do not teach history anymore in this country. That’s part of the problem. People cannot take fascism seriously if they don’t know what it is and how it takes over a country, usually through democratic elections. And there’s this almost mystical belief in the US that it can’t happen here. Yet here we are. One election away from becoming Nazi Germany in the nineteen thirties. So many people younger than fifty or sixty have little knowledge of WWII and the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Horrifying.

      • Blithe says:

        Many people may not realize that the treatment of Native Americans and Black Americans in the US was used as a model by the Nazis. It can happen here because it already HAS happened here .

        Knowledge is power. Vote Blue.

      • D says:

        Exactly, this is why the far right want to do away with a lot of the history curriculum. Knowledge is power and if you keep them stupid you can more easily manipulate them. The right loves to homeschool because they can pick and choose what they teach their children, electing not to discuss “tough” things or things they think aren’t relevant to them. This is why so many younger people don’t even know about the holocaust. It’s appalling.

  15. Brassy Rebel says:

    The twitter account, Emptywheel, suggested yesterday that this may not even be “obedience in advance” as everyone is saying. It may actually be a quid pro quo. Trump is still criming now that the Supreme Court has given him the green light. Stay tuned.

    • FYI says:

      THIS. It’s nonsense to say that Bezos is afraid of Trump. He isn’t. This is a backdoor deal, for sure.

  16. Minnow says:

    I canceled my subscription immediately. If Jeff Bezos doesn’t have the stomach to run WaPo properly, he should sell it to someone that does. When he bought that paper, I assumed something like this would happen eventually.

    ProPublica, NPR and PBS will just get bigger donations this year.

    • Whyforthelove says:

      Yep I canceled my subscription and plan to donate to all of those orgs. Thank god for them I have been automatically clicking on Wapo for 10 years but never nope not as long as Bezos owns it never again. Supposedly 10s of thousands of folks canceled

  17. yipyip says:

    I really worry for the future. More every day.
    The respected paper that brought down Nixon is now come to this.
    If WaPost was not going to endorse, that statement should have been made in Jan. not weeks before the most important Election in decades.

    Bezos and Musk are both cowards.

  18. Giddy says:

    I just canceled my WaPo subscription. I’ve had it for the last eight years. I know that I’m a little fish in this ocean, but in my tiny way I want my voice heard. Everything about Jeff Bezos is wrong, from this cowardly decision to his plastic woman. This is a dark moment for American journalism, one that journalism professors will point to for decades to come. I just pray that democracy wins and that the orange menace is defeated.

    • Jes says:

      Cancelled my WAPO same minute i saw no endorsement headline. Subscriber for 10 years+. Nyt lost my subscription with the Comey headlines right before 2016 election. Cut Instagram and FB years ago. Left Twitter after Elon took over. All I have left are the podcasts. Sad and scary. New spots welcome, recos?

      • Giddy says:

        I need this also. I never had NYT or Facebook, but I did cancel Twitter. I keep Instagram because it helps me keep up with my grandchildren, otherwise it would be gone.

      • Jas says:

        I’ve transferred my social media efforts to Bluesky. It’s where a lot of journalists and liberal US pundits etc have gone. And the block function really works so you can keep your timeline clear.

  19. Veronica S. says:

    I canceled mine months ago, but in eight hours, they lost 60K subscribers. That’s $10 million in yearly revenue lost. Good job y’all. We were screwed the moment we allowed private billionaires to buy papers.

    • BeanieBean says:

      That is astonishing & heartening & all the emotions.

    • Little Red says:

      Where did you get the 60K figure? I’ve read loss of 2K subscribers in a Yahoo! article.

    • Ponchorella says:

      I cancelled my WaPo subscription. I also paused my Amazon Prime yearly sub that is due to renew Nov. 17. I’m going to see how I do without it. I think it will be just fine.

  20. AmyB says:

    It’s not even so much about refusing to endorse a candidate in this election that is the issue, this is about Bezos ordering his editorial staff (who were ready to make an endorsement) not to do it because he doesn’t want to offend Trump, who has literally promised to go after the press (along with anyone else that doesn’t bend the knee to his fascist agenda). Remember the Washington Post was the one who exposed the corruption in the Nixon campaign through their Watergate coverage FFS.

    If Trump is elected, what’s the next step – Bezos kills all negative press about Trump? If Harris tried something like that, people would be losing their collective minds about it.

    I know people have been canceling their WaPo subscriptions, but they should also be cancelling their Amazon ones too! I already did.

    • ML says:

      Just spoke to my friend about canceling Prime, too!
      Bezos: what if anything has he given Trump beyond the lack of endorsement, and has he already wuashed any negative stories/ made Trump look better/ made Harris look worse/ had something negative about Harris written, etc?

  21. ML says:

    Just chatted with a good friend of mine who’s really worried about people canceling subscriptions. She mentioned that a lot of local news reporting has already disappeared, which makes it easier for crappy people to run for office and win (her example was George Santos). She said that essentially most of the reporters at the LAT and WaPo are prodemocracy and canceling access to their journalism means good journalists lose their jobs and we get less information. With WaPo specifically, she said that Prime is more important to Bezos, and her advice is to cancel that instead, which I saw that Lilly with the double L did above. I’m not a customer of either paper–I need to digest this a bit more. But I figured I’d share this, because Prime is helpful.

    • sevenblue says:

      Bezos bought the WaPo because it was a respectable news source. He is using that reputation for his commercial deals. Reporting is affected by the business of the owner. If people stop paying for it, the WaPo loses its power as a news source. Unfortunately, the only remedy for this is to let it die. Good journalists can find another job, there is no other democracy that America can find after Trump years.

    • lucy2 says:

      Yeah I know someone who works at the LA Times and is stressing over this too, but people have the right to pull their subscription dollars to express their feelings.

      I desperately wish all of these good journalists and editors could join together for new organizations with actual, fact based reporting. Crowd funded, public funded, something, that doesn’t rely on a wealthy owner and advertising dollars.

    • BeanieBean says:

      Yeah, my home-town paper folded a year or two ago, after over 100 years of existence. No idea what people rely on now (I don’t live there anymore).

    • Little Red says:

      Yes, my friend who is a journalist (not for WaPo) is saying the same thing. But I can’t in good conscience keep giving it clicks. Unfortunately, I renewed back in July so I still have nine months left. I don’t have a Prime subscription but I do have a Amazon account for shopping so I will get rid of that.

  22. Jais says:

    What a spineless coward. I feel sick and angry and disillusioned. This whole turn of billionaires owning the media has been happening for a while but it’s still a slap in the face.

    • Jaded says:

      Con men look for human frailty to exploit. This is most often greed. Trump found a different vice: anger. The emotional [and stupid] are always the most susceptible to manipulation.

  23. MinnieMouse says:

    Cancelling your WaPo subscription makes a targeted statement for sure, but figuring out how to avoid shopping with Amazon wherever possible will do a lot more in the long term

    • Paulkid says:

      As we show our disappointment and disgust, It is nice to think that we might save small businesses, promote retail competition while we still have options left and create opportunities for kinder treatment towards working people.

  24. K says:

    Looks like men of every color/ethnicity have found something to bring them together. From Bezos to Musk to Hispanic and black men,not to mention white, blue -collar men we are facing a wall of misogynoir. This is going to be so close. Women it’s up to us.

    • JAGirl says:

      Black men are voting for Harris in larger numbers than another demographic other than Black women so please stop the nonsense and direct the blame game elsewhere, I can suggest a few demos if needed.

      • K says:

        Not a blame game. I am scared and angry. Not saying alllll men. What I am saying is that those men are united in their misogyny and I expect it from lld white guys but I was shocked to see some of the numbers from media about men of color supporting Trump.

    • Blithe says:

      @K, when you see “numbers from the media” ask yourself where those numbers are coming from, what those numbers are based on, and what the motives of the people reporting them might be. You might also ask yourself what the motives of people spreading these stories might be — particularly when their comments don’t address the issues that I’m raising.

      While I certainly strongly support encouraging women to vote, there are ways to do this without continuing to spread claims unsupported by verifiable data.

  25. Eviesmom says:

    The real kick to Bezos would be to cancel your prime Amazon membership.
    Which I am going to do right now.

  26. Jay says:

    The utterly stupid thing is that this non-endorsement will not please Trump, either. So the WaPo are taking a huge hit for nothing! Neutrality won’t save them when Trump starts imprisoning or kidnapping or defenestrating his critics. I won’t try to psychoanalyze him, but there is some endless gaping void inside of that man where no amount of praise or acknowledgement will ever be enough.
    Even his “supporters” are fair game if he thinks it will benefit himself – just ask his former VP.

  27. Agnes says:

    Bezos and WIll Lewis deserve each other, the sniveling little worms. Fuck them. I hope they both head out into the Blue Origins and never come back.

  28. girl_ninja says:

    Bozo is doing this “just in case” to appease DT because he knows that Madam Harris isn’t an evil, vengeful fool who will try to destroy him and his business.

    It will be interesting to see how he moves when Kamala os president.

  29. Localady says:

    As if any media outlets are impartial anymore JB. I’m rotfl. I need a kitchen to cackle in again someday.

    Smdh

    Dictatorship vs Democracy

    It’s not that hard 🪵 💦

    Oooh.

    Welp

    Maybe that’s the problem

    😘

    Vote 🗳️ for Kamala
    I did

    • Debbie says:

      Speaking of voting, I voted early this week and I’m glad I did because I moved less than a year ago and believed that my voter registration was all up to date (since I called during the summer to make sure it was). However, when I went to vote, the workers/volunteers looked up my history and told me I was marked “inactive.” Long story: short, I had to re-register and show them my 2 driver’s licenses with both the old and new addresses (I had saved the old one). I was able to vote for Harris/Waltz and others, but I thank God I was in City Hall weeks ahead of time, instead of at my local voting place on a busy election day with people who may or may not have all the correct forms to give me to correct the error. I’m sharing this to advise anyone who may have moved since the last election to vote early, if they possibly can, if for no other reason than to avoid any long lines and frayed tempers.

  30. PixiePaperdoll says:

    I didn’t cancel my WaPo subscription ($4/month) because actual reporters are important. I did cancel Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, the drop down menu for the cancellation reason does not have “Bezos is a weenie” as an option.

  31. Proud Mary says:

    I’m beginning to believe that, just like the cretin, Elon Musk, with TwiX, Bezos did not purchase the WaPost to make money. He only did so to quell influence. That’s why the idea of billionaires existing in a Democracy, is one I will never understand.

  32. wolfmamma says:

    I don’t think Bezos “ understands” compassion or even cancellations. If he is meeting with Trump these days, he has lost the plot. His strolling around with his ho constantly indicates that he thinks he is above any failure.
    That said. Whole Foods is off my list now ( he has ruined it anyway with subpar products ). And I will only order the minimum from Prime. I’m an elder with health and mobility issues so it has been helpful. If I find a way to cancel completely though I will! With gusto!

  33. yipyip says:

    So Musk, now Bezos both bow to The Donald.
    Gutless, wealth hoarding, scum.

    Billionaires should not exist. Period.

    I keep hoping McKenzie comes out in a big move for Kamala.
    Endorse, donate a big amount, cover SM in Save Democracy posts.
    She is a better human than Jeff, we know this.

    So much BTS manipulating and dirty dealing is going on in this Campaigning.
    Keep seeing posts/polls claiming Trump is out front. That is just unreal to me.

  34. Grandma Susan says:

    Bezos wants to insure he retains his fortune because he *needs* it to continue buying bigger boobs and lips for his “alive girl”. Yes, I know it’s rude, but he’s such a tiny useless man I can’t help it.

    • Nikki says:

      Let’s not forget to mention that Jeff is also an “alive guy” with all his surgery, injectables and steriods. Just google before and after pics, he’s no better than she is.

  35. yipyip says:

    Lauren Sanchez, her plastic surgery and bad cheap fashion sense does not count at all in this situation.
    Jeff Bezos is deliberately trying to hurt KH/TW.
    Bezos is supporting Trump. Clear as day.

  36. Kyle O says:

    Cancelled my Amazon Prime. Will see about canceling work prime too. Fortunately for democracy alternate conscientious news outlets are thriving

  37. Saucy&Sassy says:

    I guess we should have expected this after he hired Will Lewis. All of the major newspapers in this country have NOT been reporting factually about Dumpf. More and more people are getting their news online from the likes of Brian Tyler Cohen, Meidas Touch, Legal AF, etc. I have a feeling that the future is online for media. If the print media wants to survive, they’ll have to start reporting factually again.

    In an aside: Amazon is being sued (class action) in federal court in Washington State for price gouging. The fed court sent a question to the WA St Supreme Court asking if price gouging was also specifically illegal under state law. The Court responded with it is illegal. The case is about Amazon raising prices 15% during the pandemic and then not lowering them again. That’s VERY simplistic, but you get the drift. It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on it.

  38. yipyip says:

    These billionaire scum have no shame. Neither does Trump.
    Exactly how much money and influence do these terrible men crave?
    All of it. ALL of it!
    They each want more and more and more.
    Never ending greed.

    Society and Freedom are on the ropes.
    USMilitary Generals, Dick Cheney have come out openly declaring Trump is a racist, wanna be Dictator.

    Musk and Bezos are both wretched, greedy, wealth hoarders. Soul less with no empathy or concern for this country, or this society.

    I can understand why so many are saying they have lost hope and there is no point in voting.
    In my area, many are not planning to vote, the “Haves” are in control.
    Not me. I’m in line at 8:00AM to vote.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      yipyip, if people don’t vote, they don’t get to have their voices heard. Maybe it won’t turn the entire state blue, but maybe they can turn a state legislature race or get someone in the US House or Senate. Or, there are so many blue votes that it tells the politicians in the state that they will have to start listening. I hope that people in red states start making more noise about the gerrymandering.

    • girl_ninja says:

      Where do you live? We can get the folks to canvass and phone bank.

    • Nikki says:

      Ted Turner and Rosie O’Donnell outed these millionaires decades ago. In 1997 Ted had donated 1 billion to the UN causes (back when billionaires were much more rare). He went onto Rosie’s talk show and she mentioned that he dropped rankings on the Forbes Wealthies Billionaire list, he basically said he didn’t give a f#&% but he knows that all the other billionaires are cheapskates and more concerned with their ranking on this list so they never donate. Rosie suggested at the time that Forbes should modify their list to account for donations.

  39. yipyip says:

    Bezos and his “Alive Girl” makes me want to vomit.
    The man was married with children to a smart beautiful woman.

    “Alive Girl” comes along and he’s suddenly transformed into a Bond villain come to life.
    She supported his lifestyle change to $500M yacht owner, on steroids, new fashion, new celeb buddies, every A-list event including the White House, etc.

    Bezos has Billions. Why doesn’t he openly tell Trump to F.O.?
    Coward!

  40. Luna says:

    Possible alternatives to whole foods include sprouts (and local health food stores if they still exist).
    Costco and Mark Cuban’s pharmacy may be good alternatives to Amazon pharmacy.
    Hopefully we will start thinking of better options and I guess I just need to get used to paying for shipping, which I’ve already been starting to do.

    Btw, Amazon stores supplements in warehouses that don’t have temperature control so it’s a terrible place to get those. They also are a source of fake supplements which can be dangerous. So I don’t recommend anybody buy supplements there. Fullscript is an option and some people have public dispensaries where you can get a 20% or so discount. I know one person, but I won’t list the name In an effort to be unbiased. But a 20% discount on professional supplements is a better bet than ordering cheapos or the professional version through Amazon (they typically are third party sellers, anyway so now you’re getting temperature damaged old product or a fake).

    IHerb also uses temperature controlled warehouses and they ship via a service that apparently uses temperature controlled vans (at least my last two orders). They also have great sales.

  41. L4Frimaire says:

    I immediately cancelled my subscription. I’m sick of how the media just continually panders to Trump and doesn’t hold him accountable for anything, while calling for Biden to drip out, which he did, and nitpicking everything Harris says, and blaming her if not everyone wants to vote for her. WaPo and LA Times can crash and burn for all I care at this point. It wasn’t the lack of endorsement in and of itself, but how it looks like they’re deliberately trying to tip the scales so close to election day, and deals being made behind the scenes, without a thought fir the consequences for the average American. It’s wrong.

  42. NikkiK says:

    Cancel your Prime subscription and use that money to support local independent journalism.

  43. BeanieBean says:

    “We are an independent newspaper and should support our readers’ ability to make up their own minds.” Really? He’s not familiar with the op-ed page? This is the English guy, right? So he has no idea of the history of newspaper endorsements for president I’m guessing. Weasel.

  44. aquarius64 says:

    Lewis taking the rap for this mess is too little too late. Bezos still hasn’t clean up the flustercluck of hiring Lewis because Lewis is tied to Harry’s hacking case. The buck stops with Bezos, period. Firing Lewis at this point won’t help him.

  45. Enza says:

    Bezos bought WaPo for 250 M, not quite 10 years ago.
    I would like to see the lady billionaires–Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Oprah–buy a legacy paper the next time one comes up for sale. I would love to cancel my WaPo subscription but the women writers (Monica Hesse, Robin Ghivans, Jennifer Rubin) are too good to miss.

  46. Nikki says:

    Jeff Bezos hired a right wing, Rupert Murdoch lackey to head up the premiere American newspaper who’s famous for breaking WaterGate and “democracy dies in darkness”. Hired him months before one of the most pivotal moments in the history of democracy in mankind. Why is anyone surprised, wondering or even questioning if and why Bezos ordered the halt of endorsing a candidate (the first woman of color)? This was predictable. Jeff Bezos lost credibility or judgement long ago, around the time he hooked up with the cat lady side piece, got a tone of plastic surgery himself and all their cringe worthy publicly posted selfies and pre arranged pap pics. Let’s also not forget the awful, pro cheap China guy to head up Amazon. I’m very personally involved with the Amazon review program and I can assure you Amazon rejects every single review that is posted that calls out the product for being counterfeit and most negative reviews as well. Their reviews are no longer legit, do not trust them. Also, JB may pretend to not like Trump but pay close attention to Lauren’s new BFF is…Ivanka….Ivanka and Jared are part of their inner circle now and are invited and front and centre in all their event pics.

  47. Dark ‘n Stormy says:

    So glad to see a number of people here cancelling Prime and committing to not shopping Amazon. Use it for product research and then buy direct from manufacturers’ site or via another channel. You don’t really need it tomorrow in most cases! Hit these billionaires in their businesses.

  48. yipyip says:

    Billionaire Ted Turner was mentioned earlier.
    I had completely forgotten Ted had donated a $billion.
    Ted was a big personality in his prime years. Lived a big, busy, wealthy man life, including yacht racing and multiple marriages, etc.
    Ted was nicknamed “the Mouth of the South” at one time.
    Ted Turner actually is a good businessman, had a history of paying his bills, owned companies, created CNN, tv stations, the Braves.
    Ted Turner is the opposite of Trump in several ways.
    #1. Is not convicted of 34 felonies.
    #2. Has not been friendly/working with Putin. Ever. He also never committed Treason against the US.
    #3. Ted bought huge amounts of land, worked to rebuild the Buffalo population in US.
    #4. At 84-85 and unwell for several years now, Ted Turner is head and shoulders morally superior, and 100x more intelligent than Trump ever. I bet Ted would call Trump out if he was still healthy and involved in public life.

  49. AC says:

    It just saddens me that both WaPo and LA times(also now owned by a South African billionaire )have been completely compromised. The founding fathers are all turning in their graves. We all know This is a very dangerous time if Trump wins. He’s literally just a puppet for these billionaires and foreigners to use the US as their leverage to rule the world.

  50. Agreatreconking says:

    Uhhhhm,yes. Our stocks went up,

  51. MsIam says:

    I cancelled everything Amazon from WaPo to kindle unlimited to prime. These oligarchs love their money and think it will buy them freedom. They should think again.

  52. Kat T says:

    At a family wedding this weekend, I learned that every single person in my family ( immediate & extended) cancelled their WaPo subscription. 200+ cancelled! All Northern VA & DC, so there are some of us who have subscribed 30+ yrs. At the reception, bride & groom asked their guests to cancel their Prime memberships. It was glorious as 500+ people did a mass exodus in unison. Many of us also canceled our business prime – no way I am giving mr. bezos 10K per month. We’ll figure out something else. FU to a small, cowardly man!!

  53. Kay says:

    It is hours past the racist Klan rally held at MSG tonight where women, minorities, and the lie were spat upon. Dare the two billionaire newspaper owners endorse VP Harris or remain silent and route for the felon?

  54. teresa says:

    It shouldn’t be lost on people just how cowardly all these uber wealthy men are! Honestly! It’s kinda shocking but if I were them, I’d be embarrassed for being so weak in front of all of America!

  55. CatJ says:

    Delighted to have just cancelled my business prime Amazon account and was able to articulate why in the comment section. It’s not a big account, but I was happy to do it, even though I am Canadian,,, and it makes me wonder why the Amazon Business Prime for amazon.ca is administered out of Seattle? Done with you, Bezos.

  56. Wednesday Addams says:

    I did a clean-out yesterday. I cancelled Prime, shut down my auto-ships, and will no longer buy from Zappos or Whole Foods. I’ll shop local and support my community. It won’t be as convenient, but I’ll get used to it. The one that hurt was cancelling my Audible subscription, but I will use Libby from my local library. I’m not f*cking around with this.

    • Blithe says:

      Thanks for the reminder that Zappos is now also a Bezos business. Yet another one that is no longer as awesome as it used to be. (RIP Tony Hsieh)

  57. Wednesday Addams says:

    Here’s a list of Bezos owned companies: https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/jeff-bezos-companies/

    I had no idea about some of these. I will be deleting apps and boycotting all of them.

  58. Helen says:

    These people are so ugly.