At the request of some readers, I've removed a few reader comments from this thread that have been repetitive and insulting of other readers. I'd suggest that anyone who has two dozen comments worth of commentary consider writing their own newsletter rather than continuing in this space.
Thank you for this - it’s an excellent distinction to make.
People like Bezos have the power they have because of a decades-long effort by the rich to make the world safe for the rich and their privilege. If anything they’re not assisting Trump so much as acting in what they think is their own interest.
One of the most corrosive beliefs is the conflation of capitalism and the accumulation of wealth as somehow being integral with democracy and freedom.
It's not a good distinction at all, it's a misunderstanding of the original concept. "Obeying in advance" *includes* "assisting in advance." Authoritarian regimes always involve active compliance - the people who will report their neighbors - not just passivity.
I disagree. Obeying in advance is passive compared to actively assisting, as these people are doing. If anything they’ve been doing advance work for years if not decades.
Snyder: "Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then they offer themselves without being asked."
“Thank you for this - it’s an excellent distinction to make. “. Yes, it is a distinction. Reminds me of the type of distinctions I hear from attorneys all the time when testifying as an expert witness so that they can wave their arms and sound an alarm to jury that “this distinction negates the entire testimony.”
Here is my testimony: Trump and his billionaire cohorts are a major treat to this country and the world and arguments by the author is just hand waving, trying to score a point.
One can argue, however, that “obeying in advance” and “assisting in advance” is a distinction without a meaningful difference. What Bezos and the Post did with Ann Telnaes (and pulling the Harris endorsement) can be construed as BOTH of those things: Currying favor to protect his business interests from Trump’s likely retribution, and also lending public support to an autocrat who has promised to cut regulations and corporate taxes that affect Bezos.
I’d argue there’s a distinction - because given their behaviors, Bezos is not alone, purchase of the media outlets was done with the express intent of stepping in to halt journalism when it critiqued areas they didn’t like. Bezos is no different than the Murdochs and others. He clearly has revealed an agenda. Same with NYT or LAT. I don’t think failing to run the cartoon comes as any surprise now- a lot of us cancelled last summer. We’re expecting /needing a Graham wapo and we’ve got a propaganda wing of the Trump Reich. He’s not obeying , he is part of the regime machinery. There’s a difference .
Except that Bezos was very hands-off for the first roughly decade of his Post ownership. He hired Marty Baron (formerly with the Boston Globe) in 2012 as his executive editor and by all accounts didn’t meddle in the editorial or news coverage until Baron retired in 2021.
Correct, no argument - but then it’s still striking/notable for when he steps in to begin meddling 2021. Don’t get me wrong , it may not have been as straightforward , nefarious as Murdoch. But it’s definitely the problem now. And with the LAT owner seeking a cabinet position ? We have problems regardless of which path (winding) was taken to get here.
As with the judiciary /legal branch - it shouldn’t really have even the appearance of an impropriety. As I say, it’s reached a broader audience and Bezos looks worse now than had he let it run. And the LAT owner situation just stinks like 💩.
We’re seeing the severe downside of right-wing oligarchs purchasing/running media properties ostensibly as “saviors” and “white knights” but actually as leverage to advance their business interests and a conservative/reactionary agenda. See what’s happening with The Baltimore Sun. (Alden Global Capital doesn’t even bother to hide their goal of hollowing out independent newspapers that they purchase.)
You seem really angry , Chuck. Regime - is that better. When all the papers print the exact same thing , say the exact same thing , and no capitalist oligarch shalt ever be criticized , nor shall the illustrious Leader- that’s propaganda , not journalism.
You’ll sit back and wonder where it all went so wrong as you continue to rant about how stupid and idiotic everyone else was.
Should there be no distinction whatsoever between Fox- NYT- Wapo? And what Kremlin points are pushed ? In your mind, apparently so. That’s a problem if you agree - bc your take is un-American. But keep hurling your insults , it won’t change what we’re thinking, or writing . Or do you think you can also silence the masses?
Thanks for the critique. I believe that using catch-words like "obeying in advance" fails to describe our crisis of democracy. My thinking: our humanity is at risk when instruments of power can erase free expression. Do you think the overuse of Timothy Snyder's phrase from "On Tyranny" feeds into the authoritarian propaganda spewing out at us?
My read of Anne Telnaes' cartoon, portrays Besos among the priestly band of billionaire bro' genuflecting at the alter of MAGA; it begs the question, "I wonder what their yearly offering pledges amounted to?"
Our means of communication risks our positive freedoms: We continue to inhabit separate troughs of information which Musk, Zucker, Thiel, MAGA, international actors, feed unquestioning citizens. How to stop the feeding frenzy of lies, hate, and fear?
"Please don't shoot the piano player....he is doing his best" Bless all our democracy-loving patriotic hearts.
You nailed it.......I prefer to describe these autocrats and oligarchs as having a severe deficit in humanity. I do like Snyder's phrase, but I agree that it does not even describe the inhumane cruelty we are about to witness.
Snyder's phrase refers to a specific dynamic (which Bezos,et al., are certainly demonstrating), but it's not meant to describe the whole situation. He's written a lot more about other parts.
The most convincing thing (to me) I've seen on the direction of the election comes from John Burn-Murdoch (Financial Times reporter and senior fellow at the LSE Data Science Institute). https://x.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1854560123449905488
". . .all incumbent parties in developed countries lost vote share. . .It’s the first time since this data was first recorded in 1905. . ."
It didn't matter whether the incumbent parties were left, right or center - there was a broad throw-the-bastards out sentiment. This is something you can say without praising or denigrating any of the candidates or parties. OTOH, it doesn't imply a lot of analytical thought on the part of the average voter. Looks pretty impulsive.
Balanced? Aren’t Accuracy and Fidelity to Facts better for journalism? There are not always ’Two Sides’.
‘Fox News’ is very profitable, but that is not a business based on journalism, is it?
I think our information sources are a consequence of our society not the other way around. These BUSINESSES are just responding to a growing market of people who don’t want to be challenged or informed, they’re solely interested in having their egos stroked by reinforcing their grievances and bigotry.
Still the Post hasn’t had to pay out nearly 800 million (and counting) in liable judgments or terminate personalities to attempt to limit their exposure to legal actions, so your equivalence is obviously false.
In your rush to belittle ‘progressives’ you completely miss the point that Americans have consciously allowed their intellects to atrophy and now seek out ‘news’ that keeps them sufficiently buffered from fact, and the discomfort of having to process information that might possibly conflict with their frail and shabbily constructed world view.
That progressives are significantly better educated (and informed) than conservatives-especially MAGA and that Blue states significantly outperform Red ones, doesn’t really buttress your argument either.
On public health, crime, climate change, national & world economy or basic history formerly robust and intellectually honest conservative media has largely withered. Obviously because conservatism has been supplanted by cult, so there’s little need of ‘news’. Any journalistic endeavor trying to be ‘balanced’ by going to the right is doomed because there’s no interest in that demographic in anything but being anesthetized.
Your comment is spot on. I do not know what "deleted" wrote that triggered your response, but I do know ALL of the Fox news talking points from my maga family members. I just wish I could understand the combination of factors that make these people fall hook, line and sinker for blatant propaganda with no basis in truth. Especially with the internet and quality media spaces like Substack - the truths are just one click away.........if one desires to be educated.
Your ad hominems are wide of the mark, but amusing. I noticed that you still haven’t refuted any of my points or mounted anything like a cogent counter argument. If fact you seem to be inextricably mired in fact free dogma.
MAGA has abandoned conservative principles for grievances and distraction with one simple goal-to loot the working class to the greatest extent possible. To be honest it’s worked beautifully, convincing large swaths it’s ok to live in Cancer Hot Zone without healthcare as long as we keep trans athletes (all 12 of them) from playing sports and the 10 Commandments on display. What average American worker, I mean ‘patriot’, despite working for a Reagan era minimum wage and filing short form doesn’t want to see bank’s prerogatives strengthened and the IRS, collective bargaining & environmental regulations evicerated? Pay full price for prescriptions? Please! and while you’re at it let’s have monopoly pricing on banking, food, utilities and just about everything else. Can’t afford to buy? No problem-the ‘invisible hand’ is all too happy to rent to you in perpetuity.
What of any of the MAGA policy prescriptions are going to make life better for anyone but the wealthy? Trump has already admitted he can’t lower prices and now we’re shocked-shocked to learn Americans are too expensive to educate and are probably uneducable anyway so we’ll have to import thousands of Indians and Asians. Gonna be great for the Tech Bros, but everyone else? not so much.
Healthcare and drugs cost too much? Too bad if you can’t afford it, you should have worked harder, but look on the bright side your premature death is going to help save Social Security!
There’s been plenty of opportunities for the Right to accomplish meaningful progress on any number of our very real problems, literally nothing has been done. You can argue the flaws of what ‘progressives’ have accomplished over the past 4 years, but by nearly every metric Trump is inheriting the best economy in the world and the best in American history. Not something ‘progressives’ should feel bad about now is it?
I'm still struck by Shipley's statement that, "Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force." So some are? I guess he accidentally told the truth in trying to fabricate a reasonable response.
Sure, Jeff Bezos has a lot to lose, if he aligned himself with “the Resistance” to the MAGA agenda…but if his unimaginable wealth doesn’t insulate him from the consequences of taking a stand, where does that leave the rest of us? To me, this capitulation is a “stab in the back” to every customer who shops on his platform. If he could afford his divorce, he can afford to fight fascism taking over…the only conclusions are he is complicit, or an abject coward. The latter is possibly worse.
"“My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon"
This is an objectively hilarious "explanation" when it's common practice to include a themed cartoon with a column on a subject. Like, the editor is actively arguing for why they SHOULD have published the cartoon. It's so silly I have to wonder if he's trying to wink at us while technically kissing his bosses' butts.
So you’re saying Jeff bezos isn’t obeying in advance when we all see exactly that happening? Oh do tell me how to gaslight the masses the way you are trying to. It might work one day!
While your critique of the phrase (and it's overuse) that does not mean it's an inaccurate reflection of how many, many people are viewing the behavior of the Ayn Rand devotees like Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg and others. But any movement needs a rallying call, a siren that unifies and understood. Could it be possible that the phrase "obeying in advance" suits that purpose?
I agree with the last footnote, the fpotus would have loved the cartoon. He craves things all about him. Interesting analysis of phrases. The distinctions matter less than the message, I think. Any calling out against tyranny is fine with me.
He’s not very intelligent - that’s the illusion - listen to other smart people. There’s a reason people lie about degrees after the parties during college.
That’s precisely what we’re worried about - he uses society and other people, but not for the good of the citizenry . He’s Ill and on drugs- same as Trumo-it’s beyond quirky . You’ve just said everything we’re worried about - right here- and even with the threatening nefarious tone. You underscore the points. People are concerned with - you don’t contradict them .
At the request of some readers, I've removed a few reader comments from this thread that have been repetitive and insulting of other readers. I'd suggest that anyone who has two dozen comments worth of commentary consider writing their own newsletter rather than continuing in this space.
Thank you for this - it’s an excellent distinction to make.
People like Bezos have the power they have because of a decades-long effort by the rich to make the world safe for the rich and their privilege. If anything they’re not assisting Trump so much as acting in what they think is their own interest.
One of the most corrosive beliefs is the conflation of capitalism and the accumulation of wealth as somehow being integral with democracy and freedom.
It's not a good distinction at all, it's a misunderstanding of the original concept. "Obeying in advance" *includes* "assisting in advance." Authoritarian regimes always involve active compliance - the people who will report their neighbors - not just passivity.
I disagree. Obeying in advance is passive compared to actively assisting, as these people are doing. If anything they’ve been doing advance work for years if not decades.
Actively assisting is the whole idea.
Snyder: "Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then they offer themselves without being asked."
“Thank you for this - it’s an excellent distinction to make. “. Yes, it is a distinction. Reminds me of the type of distinctions I hear from attorneys all the time when testifying as an expert witness so that they can wave their arms and sound an alarm to jury that “this distinction negates the entire testimony.”
Here is my testimony: Trump and his billionaire cohorts are a major treat to this country and the world and arguments by the author is just hand waving, trying to score a point.
Just my opinion.
I have some "Velveeta" to go with your grape kool-aide.Bless your heart.
One can argue, however, that “obeying in advance” and “assisting in advance” is a distinction without a meaningful difference. What Bezos and the Post did with Ann Telnaes (and pulling the Harris endorsement) can be construed as BOTH of those things: Currying favor to protect his business interests from Trump’s likely retribution, and also lending public support to an autocrat who has promised to cut regulations and corporate taxes that affect Bezos.
I’d argue there’s a distinction - because given their behaviors, Bezos is not alone, purchase of the media outlets was done with the express intent of stepping in to halt journalism when it critiqued areas they didn’t like. Bezos is no different than the Murdochs and others. He clearly has revealed an agenda. Same with NYT or LAT. I don’t think failing to run the cartoon comes as any surprise now- a lot of us cancelled last summer. We’re expecting /needing a Graham wapo and we’ve got a propaganda wing of the Trump Reich. He’s not obeying , he is part of the regime machinery. There’s a difference .
Except that Bezos was very hands-off for the first roughly decade of his Post ownership. He hired Marty Baron (formerly with the Boston Globe) in 2012 as his executive editor and by all accounts didn’t meddle in the editorial or news coverage until Baron retired in 2021.
Correct, no argument - but then it’s still striking/notable for when he steps in to begin meddling 2021. Don’t get me wrong , it may not have been as straightforward , nefarious as Murdoch. But it’s definitely the problem now. And with the LAT owner seeking a cabinet position ? We have problems regardless of which path (winding) was taken to get here.
As with the judiciary /legal branch - it shouldn’t really have even the appearance of an impropriety. As I say, it’s reached a broader audience and Bezos looks worse now than had he let it run. And the LAT owner situation just stinks like 💩.
We’re seeing the severe downside of right-wing oligarchs purchasing/running media properties ostensibly as “saviors” and “white knights” but actually as leverage to advance their business interests and a conservative/reactionary agenda. See what’s happening with The Baltimore Sun. (Alden Global Capital doesn’t even bother to hide their goal of hollowing out independent newspapers that they purchase.)
Right? It’s a biz strategy - and it may not be immediately apparent. It’s a long game . Horizontal integration (?) it’s been awhile since Bschool
You seem really angry , Chuck. Regime - is that better. When all the papers print the exact same thing , say the exact same thing , and no capitalist oligarch shalt ever be criticized , nor shall the illustrious Leader- that’s propaganda , not journalism.
You’ll sit back and wonder where it all went so wrong as you continue to rant about how stupid and idiotic everyone else was.
Should there be no distinction whatsoever between Fox- NYT- Wapo? And what Kremlin points are pushed ? In your mind, apparently so. That’s a problem if you agree - bc your take is un-American. But keep hurling your insults , it won’t change what we’re thinking, or writing . Or do you think you can also silence the masses?
You like the verb “bleat”- you don’t sound as if you got a thick skin - very angry, and rattled .
I love it.
Thanks for the critique. I believe that using catch-words like "obeying in advance" fails to describe our crisis of democracy. My thinking: our humanity is at risk when instruments of power can erase free expression. Do you think the overuse of Timothy Snyder's phrase from "On Tyranny" feeds into the authoritarian propaganda spewing out at us?
My read of Anne Telnaes' cartoon, portrays Besos among the priestly band of billionaire bro' genuflecting at the alter of MAGA; it begs the question, "I wonder what their yearly offering pledges amounted to?"
Our means of communication risks our positive freedoms: We continue to inhabit separate troughs of information which Musk, Zucker, Thiel, MAGA, international actors, feed unquestioning citizens. How to stop the feeding frenzy of lies, hate, and fear?
"Please don't shoot the piano player....he is doing his best" Bless all our democracy-loving patriotic hearts.
You nailed it.......I prefer to describe these autocrats and oligarchs as having a severe deficit in humanity. I do like Snyder's phrase, but I agree that it does not even describe the inhumane cruelty we are about to witness.
Snyder's phrase refers to a specific dynamic (which Bezos,et al., are certainly demonstrating), but it's not meant to describe the whole situation. He's written a lot more about other parts.
Charles, your comments here have the definite feel of a trolling exercise. Is that why you’re here?
This would correlate with the "troll" appelation:
"Charles Pluckhahn doesn’t have any subscriptions to show."
(from the Reads tab on Mr. Pluckhahn's substack profile)
Like I said.
Like I said.
The most convincing thing (to me) I've seen on the direction of the election comes from John Burn-Murdoch (Financial Times reporter and senior fellow at the LSE Data Science Institute). https://x.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1854560123449905488
". . .all incumbent parties in developed countries lost vote share. . .It’s the first time since this data was first recorded in 1905. . ."
It didn't matter whether the incumbent parties were left, right or center - there was a broad throw-the-bastards out sentiment. This is something you can say without praising or denigrating any of the candidates or parties. OTOH, it doesn't imply a lot of analytical thought on the part of the average voter. Looks pretty impulsive.
What does freedom mean to you CP? And who do you trust to maintain our humanity as we maintain American freedom? Seriously.
I'm a fan of the phrase "Buying his ticket for the guillotine lottery".
It reminds him (its a male billionaire 99% of the time) of the law of unintended consequences.
Balanced? Aren’t Accuracy and Fidelity to Facts better for journalism? There are not always ’Two Sides’.
‘Fox News’ is very profitable, but that is not a business based on journalism, is it?
I think our information sources are a consequence of our society not the other way around. These BUSINESSES are just responding to a growing market of people who don’t want to be challenged or informed, they’re solely interested in having their egos stroked by reinforcing their grievances and bigotry.
Still the Post hasn’t had to pay out nearly 800 million (and counting) in liable judgments or terminate personalities to attempt to limit their exposure to legal actions, so your equivalence is obviously false.
In your rush to belittle ‘progressives’ you completely miss the point that Americans have consciously allowed their intellects to atrophy and now seek out ‘news’ that keeps them sufficiently buffered from fact, and the discomfort of having to process information that might possibly conflict with their frail and shabbily constructed world view.
That progressives are significantly better educated (and informed) than conservatives-especially MAGA and that Blue states significantly outperform Red ones, doesn’t really buttress your argument either.
On public health, crime, climate change, national & world economy or basic history formerly robust and intellectually honest conservative media has largely withered. Obviously because conservatism has been supplanted by cult, so there’s little need of ‘news’. Any journalistic endeavor trying to be ‘balanced’ by going to the right is doomed because there’s no interest in that demographic in anything but being anesthetized.
Your comment is spot on. I do not know what "deleted" wrote that triggered your response, but I do know ALL of the Fox news talking points from my maga family members. I just wish I could understand the combination of factors that make these people fall hook, line and sinker for blatant propaganda with no basis in truth. Especially with the internet and quality media spaces like Substack - the truths are just one click away.........if one desires to be educated.
Your ad hominems are wide of the mark, but amusing. I noticed that you still haven’t refuted any of my points or mounted anything like a cogent counter argument. If fact you seem to be inextricably mired in fact free dogma.
MAGA has abandoned conservative principles for grievances and distraction with one simple goal-to loot the working class to the greatest extent possible. To be honest it’s worked beautifully, convincing large swaths it’s ok to live in Cancer Hot Zone without healthcare as long as we keep trans athletes (all 12 of them) from playing sports and the 10 Commandments on display. What average American worker, I mean ‘patriot’, despite working for a Reagan era minimum wage and filing short form doesn’t want to see bank’s prerogatives strengthened and the IRS, collective bargaining & environmental regulations evicerated? Pay full price for prescriptions? Please! and while you’re at it let’s have monopoly pricing on banking, food, utilities and just about everything else. Can’t afford to buy? No problem-the ‘invisible hand’ is all too happy to rent to you in perpetuity.
What of any of the MAGA policy prescriptions are going to make life better for anyone but the wealthy? Trump has already admitted he can’t lower prices and now we’re shocked-shocked to learn Americans are too expensive to educate and are probably uneducable anyway so we’ll have to import thousands of Indians and Asians. Gonna be great for the Tech Bros, but everyone else? not so much.
Healthcare and drugs cost too much? Too bad if you can’t afford it, you should have worked harder, but look on the bright side your premature death is going to help save Social Security!
There’s been plenty of opportunities for the Right to accomplish meaningful progress on any number of our very real problems, literally nothing has been done. You can argue the flaws of what ‘progressives’ have accomplished over the past 4 years, but by nearly every metric Trump is inheriting the best economy in the world and the best in American history. Not something ‘progressives’ should feel bad about now is it?
Thanks for sharing this perspective. It's very helpful.
I read both Marc Thesslin's columns because I like to eat breakfast angry, and I had to laugh at all the things Marc liked about Biden.
They all involved war and killing other people. Also, dropping out of the race was number 1.
The stuff he didn't like was not enough war and allowing women to abort embryos.
I'm still struck by Shipley's statement that, "Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force." So some are? I guess he accidentally told the truth in trying to fabricate a reasonable response.
Sure, Jeff Bezos has a lot to lose, if he aligned himself with “the Resistance” to the MAGA agenda…but if his unimaginable wealth doesn’t insulate him from the consequences of taking a stand, where does that leave the rest of us? To me, this capitulation is a “stab in the back” to every customer who shops on his platform. If he could afford his divorce, he can afford to fight fascism taking over…the only conclusions are he is complicit, or an abject coward. The latter is possibly worse.
"“My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon"
This is an objectively hilarious "explanation" when it's common practice to include a themed cartoon with a column on a subject. Like, the editor is actively arguing for why they SHOULD have published the cartoon. It's so silly I have to wonder if he's trying to wink at us while technically kissing his bosses' butts.
So you’re saying Jeff bezos isn’t obeying in advance when we all see exactly that happening? Oh do tell me how to gaslight the masses the way you are trying to. It might work one day!
Pleased with my decision to cancel my subscription the day bullet headed B killed the presidential endorsement.
While your critique of the phrase (and it's overuse) that does not mean it's an inaccurate reflection of how many, many people are viewing the behavior of the Ayn Rand devotees like Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg and others. But any movement needs a rallying call, a siren that unifies and understood. Could it be possible that the phrase "obeying in advance" suits that purpose?
#Bezos made a mess of the free press. #BoycottAmazon
I agree with the last footnote, the fpotus would have loved the cartoon. He craves things all about him. Interesting analysis of phrases. The distinctions matter less than the message, I think. Any calling out against tyranny is fine with me.
Yes!! They are in direct alignment . Bezos is not in disagreement as Musk is not in disagreement. They are calling the shots .
He’s not very intelligent - that’s the illusion - listen to other smart people. There’s a reason people lie about degrees after the parties during college.
That’s precisely what we’re worried about - he uses society and other people, but not for the good of the citizenry . He’s Ill and on drugs- same as Trumo-it’s beyond quirky . You’ve just said everything we’re worried about - right here- and even with the threatening nefarious tone. You underscore the points. People are concerned with - you don’t contradict them .
that’s a whole bunch of useless nonsense.