This Is How It Begins ...

Donald Trump hasn’t even been elected yet — and there’s at least a 50 percent chance that he won’t — but the institutions of power are already bending to his will. Just a few days ago, The Los Angeles Times was barred by billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong from endorsing a candidate (the editorial board had intended to endorse Kamala Harris). This move prompted the resignation of editorials editor Mariel Garza and two Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writers, Robert Greene and Karin Klein.

Now The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has made a similar choice: no presidential endorsement. “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”

Bullshit.

People will argue it’s about money, that Bezos fears losing valuable government contracts, and they’re right. But it’s also about fascism. Trump has threatened to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. Neither Bezos nor Soon-Shiong wants to risk becoming one.

But do they really think it stops here? If Trump wins, will Bezos and Soon-Shiong go so far as to stifle their papers—two of the three most powerful in the country—from criticizing him, fearing lost contracts or even jail?

Trump doesn’t have to go after every critical journalist. He only needs to go after the billionaires signing their checks. This week, they’ve proven they’ll bend to his will. The same goes for Bill Gates and Jamie Dimon, billionaires who support Kamala Harris yet refuse to say so publicly, fearing retribution.

Free speech doesn’t die in a courtroom or on social media. It dies when a fascist chokes off its oxygen, when a fascist weaponizes the government against its protectors, and those protectors fold like a goddamn table. The newspaper of Woodward and Bernstein—the paper that took down Nixon—is now cowering to a failed real-estate developer turned gameshow host turned grifter. They should be fucking ashamed.