Trump's Second Term

Tero said:
Bezos now has to decide on the image of Amazon and Washington Post. He will likely have to make some slight divorce from supporting Trump. Otherwise his Amazon business will suffer the last 3 years of the Trump-Vance presidency.

Easiest thing is to sell the WP, as it will be worth nothing by 2029.
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Here is the problem...

In my opinion print media is struggling. (More and more people are getting their information on line, or from cable or streaming news services.) The value of the Washington Post is probably going to be decreasing anyways, whether Bezos owns it or whether he manages to sell it off.

The Washington post is not the only news organization that has cut staff... For example, the Chicago Tribune, and the Canadian National Post have also cut staff in the past few years (although the Washington Post's cuts seem to be a lot deeper.)

In some ways I sort of respect Bezos for his ownership of the Post during Trump's first term.... it Endorsed Clinton and Biden, and it seemed to do an OK job of reporting on scandals with the Trump administration. (To me it almost seemed to be like some sort of silent resistance... his way of "challenging" Trump without confronting him directly.)

Its a sort of shame that things have shifted so much now, but given how unstable Trump is its understandable. (Unfortunate but understandable.)
 
Segnosaur said:
Here is the problem...

In my opinion print media is struggling. (More and more people are getting their information on line, or from cable or streaming news services.) The value of the Washington Post is probably going to be decreasing anyways, whether Bezos owns it or whether he manages to sell it off.

The Washington post is not the only news organization that has cut staff... For example, the Chicago Tribune, and the Canadian National Post have also cut staff in the past few years (although the Washington Post's cuts seem to be a lot deeper.)

In some ways I sort of respect Bezos for his ownership of the Post during Trump's first term.... it Endorsed Clinton and Biden, and it seemed to do an OK job of reporting on scandals with the Trump administration. (To me it almost seemed to be like some sort of silent resistance... his way of "challenging" Trump without confronting him directly.)

Its a sort of shame that things have shifted so much now, but given how unstable Trump is its understandable. (Unfortunate but understandable.)
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Why is it understandable? Your post seems a tad bit contradictory here. You respect Bezo's because of the "silent resistance" he had during Trump's first term but you don't seem to have any issues with him capitulating now? When we literally need it most.

I would respect Bezo's if he didn't meddle with the WaPo at all but his actions costs hundreds of thousands of subscribers to leave resulting in these layoffs. That's not understandable, that's not respectable, it's not good business practice, it's not solid leadership. He ruined WaPo and he has absolutely no one to blame but himself. I hope Amazon is the next to follow. I hope Bezo's actions do such irreparable damage to Amazon that it starts to break apart. That would be good news to me.
 
This would be another example of MAGA math, if it weren't so obviously an attempt to mislead:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2017370992436249025

That's a 1% increase from 2024 to 2025. In absolute terms it's an increase of a bit less than 1 million metric tons, which is within typical year-to-year variation. In other words, in the noise.
 
plague311 said:
Here is the problem...

In my opinion print media is struggling. (More and more people are getting their information on line, or from cable or streaming news services.) The value of the Washington Post is probably going to be decreasing anyways, whether Bezos owns it or whether he manages to sell it off.

The Washington post is not the only news organization that has cut staff... For example, the Chicago Tribune, and the Canadian National Post have also cut staff in the past few years (although the Washington Post's cuts seem to be a lot deeper.)

In some ways I sort of respect Bezos for his ownership of the Post during Trump's first term.... it Endorsed Clinton and Biden, and it seemed to do an OK job of reporting on scandals with the Trump administration. (To me it almost seemed to be like some sort of silent resistance... his way of "challenging" Trump without confronting him directly.)

Its a sort of shame that things have shifted so much now, but given how unstable Trump is its understandable. (Unfortunate but understandable.)
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Why is it understandable?
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Its understandable because Trump is even more unstable/retaliatory now than he was in his first term. Thus, businessmen might take extra care not to "rock the boat" unnecessarily, whereas they might have risked it before.
Your post seems a tad bit contradictory here. You respect Bezo's because of the "silent resistance" he had during Trump's first term but you don't seem to have any issues with him capitulating now? When we literally need it most.
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I do have an issue with it. That's why I said it was "Unfortunate" but understandable.

We do need more people to "stand up" to Trump... business people hurt by his tariffs, farmers hurt by his immigration policies, etc.. It would be great if Bezos was willing to risk millions/billions in business with the government by saying "this is wrong". (I am sure he can afford the loss.) But he also has a duty to the shareholders of Amazon too.
I would respect Bezo's if he didn't meddle with the WaPo at all but his actions costs hundreds of thousands of subscribers to leave resulting in these layoffs.
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But as I stated before, layoffs related to print media are (sadly) common. Maybe some subscriber loss is due to Bezos' actions, but I suspect subscribers would be declining regardless.

Its a death spiral... subscribers decrease because people get their news from facebook, newspapers cut costs and lay off staff, quality of newspaper declines, more subscribers cancel subscriptions because of declining quality, more layoffs, etc.
 
Andy_Ross said:
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna
@RepLuna
Trump didn’t play their game, he helped expose it. And when they couldn’t blackmail him they tried to smear him.
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LOL! He was a bold secret agent of justice. Our man on the inside, bravely collecting vital evidence of their depravity. False beard and glasses, I can just imagine. Whenever their parties got a bit too spicy I expect he made his excuses and left. What a noble guy.

Is there perhaps a FIFA Secret Agent medal?
 
Jack by the hedge said:
LOL! He was a bold secret agent of justice. Our man on the inside, bravely collecting vital evidence of their depravity. False beard and glasses, I can just imagine. Whenever their parties got a bit too spicy I expect he made his excuses and left. What a noble guy.

Is there perhaps a FIFA Secret Agent medal?
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Or another trophy featuring a bunch of hands fondling a golden testicle.
 
Segnosaur said:
But as I stated before, layoffs related to print media are (sadly) common. Maybe some subscriber loss is due to Bezos' actions, but I suspect subscribers would be declining regardless.
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250,000 subscribers left after Bezo's halted WaPo's endorsement of Harris. No offense, but you can suspect anything you want, but this is directly related.

He acted.
That action had a result.
That result was 250,000 less subscribers.
I'm seeing a WaPo sub is $140/yr on the cheap end, which is around $35 million/yr in lost revenue from his one action.

That's not because of (sad) print media, that's not because of standard subscriber loss, that's $35 million a year lost because Bezo's decided to be a bitch.

I was going to comment on your Amazon stuff but it's honestly not worth it to me. If you think Bezo's playing the bitch is worth it to please his shareholders and make Trump happy then you and I can just differ. That's where I'm lucky. I don't have to think about making sure my company is successful by sucking the toes of our government, and I'd rather have a few hundred million dollars vs a few billion dollars if it meant keeping some of my dignity intact.
Segnosaur said:
Its a death spiral... subscribers decrease because people get their news from facebook, newspapers cut costs and lay off staff, quality of newspaper declines, more subscribers cancel subscriptions because of declining quality, more layoffs, etc.
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All of this might be true, but it has nothing to do with why the 250k left in 2024. The NYT didn't have 250k cancel in 2024. On a smaller scale the LA Times also lost 18,000+ subs because of the same thing (last I saw, it might have been more). These are unforced errors. They aren't because of anything else other than the ownership of the newspaper.
 
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W.D.Clinger said:
This would be another example of MAGA math, if it weren't so obviously an attempt to mislead:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2017370992436249025

That's a 1% increase from 2024 to 2025. In absolute terms it's an increase of a bit less than 1 million metric tons, which is within typical year-to-year variation. In other words, in the noise.
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Tell that to the steel workers in my town...

www.ksdk.com

Alton Steel to shut down operations, affecting 253 employees amid industry challenges

CEO Chris Ervin said Alton Steel has struggled to remain competitive with larger, publicly traded competitors with newer facilities and modern equipment.
www.ksdk.com www.ksdk.com
 
Resume said:
Does this idiot really believe that bull ◊◊◊◊?
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At that level of vranyo or reality denial, who even cares?

Jack by the hedge said:
LOL! He was a bold secret agent of justice. Our man on the inside, bravely collecting vital evidence of their depravity. False beard and glasses, I can just imagine. Whenever their parties got a bit too spicy I expect he made his excuses and left. What a noble guy.

Is there perhaps a FIFA Secret Agent medal?
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At last check, Trump's "break-up" with Epstein was supposedly officially because Epstein bought a property that Trump was intending to buy not long before then. It would be completely in character for Trump to try to screw Epstein over in response. "Because it's my nature" said the scorpion after it stung the frog midstream, killing them both.
 
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