Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a reported net worth of over $206 billion. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns the Los Angeles Times is reportedly worth over $7 billion.
Harris went on to remind listeners of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which cut taxes for the ultrawealthy and large corporations but did not assist the middle class or spark job growth, which Trump had promised.
In a closed-door meeting in April, Trump promised wealthy donors that he would extend those tax cuts if he is elected to another term and asked them to donate to his campaign to ensure the policy would be enacted.
The Post and Times have been widely criticized since both papers said they would not back a candidate in the 2024 election. Both papers endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020. According to reporting from the Post itself, an editorial had been drafted endorsing Harris before Bezos spiked its publication.
NPR reported that the backlash against the Post has led to at least 200,000 subscriptions being canceled. That represents about 8% of its subscriber base. Molly Roberts and David Hoffman, both members of the Post’s editorial board, have resigned from the board in protest.
“I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment,” Hoffman wrote.
Editor-at-large Robert Kagan and editorial contributor Michele Norris also resigned from the paper, citing the decision.
In a publisher’s note published Monday night, Bezos said the decision against an endorsement because such endorsements purportedly “create a perception of bias” and “a perception of non-independence.”
Yet some commentators have noted that the timing of the decisions—just a little over a week before the election rather than, say, a year ago—undermines Bezos’ argument. The Post and Times could have announced their editorial policies long before Trump’s latest round of anti-media attacks and without the background of a closely contested election, and the controversy would likely have been minimal (at least comparatively).
Adding more fuel to the fire, USA Today announced on Monday that it would not be endorsing a presidential candidate. USA Today is owned by Gannett, and the company’s CEO Mike Reed is a multimillionaire.
“Another L for Kamala Harris,” the Trump campaign said in a statement on Monday, touting USA Today’s decision as well as the previous decisions from Bezos and Soon-Shiong.
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