There are two independent problems with the USPS—a never-milked-dry-cash-cow business model and inescapable obsolescence.
Regarding the former: Not impeded by the need of the USPS to turn a profit, The Godfather offered it a deal that it couldn't refuse.
The latter applies to all carriers: Online shopping eliminated brick and mortar. Delivery must similarly be effectuated through the cyberoptic ether. Think of it as asymmetric delivery, modeled after asymmetric warfare. It will have no coordinates and will require only one consenting player. Perhaps something on the order of teleportation.
1
There are powerful people in this country who speak with one voice. They collectively have one interest and that is to protect their single bottom lines. Under the guise of free markets they want to ensure government works to protect their interests. By spewing propaganda through the media they can sway citizens from using their democratic power as a check on their power. The Kochs, Mercers, Sinclair and the rest of the American oligarchs do not want any threats to their bottom lines whether it be environmental clean up, consumer protections, or other regulations. And they do not want to pay taxes. As we are wittnessing the gop is ruled by these plutocrats and trump is their boy. The goal of the cabinet is privatize and profitize from Pruitt to DeVos to Zinke, enhance the power and the wealth of the wealthy.
12
Ms Goldberg adds to the fake news, false equivalency narrative when she feels compelled to write that Amazon is "hardly blameless" in being targeted by Trump.
Other than being a leading edge, innovative job creator currently looking for a headquarters city where it will employ up to 50,000 people, what, exactly, has Amazon done wrong that, say, Wal Mart or, in a bygone era, Sears Roebuck has not?
Amazon is keeping the USPS in business to the point where the USPS's new fleet of trucks resemble UPS trucks that are designed to carry packages and not letters the way the current, old fleet of USPS trucks was designed to do when the government bought them in the 1990s.
In my state, elected officials at all levels of government fall over themselves for who can offer a business tax incentives, rebates and abatements to induce them to relocate here.
It got so bad that when homeowners complained about increasing property tax bills the county assessor informed them that over the past 20 years up to 60% of the property tax increase was because of elected officials cutting the commercial property tax as a way to attract business.
The media ignored completely the Trump campaign's secondary slogan: "I, and I alone," an expression that will live in infamy like "Sieg Heil."
7
It has taken Trump a mere 15 months to transform the United States into an authoritarian banana republic. Through 200 years of sacrifice and adherence to its founding principles, the US was a model (no matter how imperfect) for the rest of the world and a beacon of hope. All discarded and debased in 60 short weeks of this administration. We are (of necessity) in very deep denial of the damage that has been done and continues everyday. It will take years to face the truth of how suddenly and how deeply our history, our nation has been diminished and cheapened. It will take decades to recover, if it is even possible.
14
American politics has two major trends, which once were innovations: democracy, and unfettered capitalism. These powerful movements share little, if anything, in common. Democracy has only survived in the United States because there is a "balance of terror" amongst the financial elite. This balance still exists, but with the Trump presidency and the credible incipience of a fascist regime, attacks on one "wing" of the financial elite and the media they control are starting to rumble like the ominous growl of a Third Reich blitzkrieg. Go all out and secure a veto-proof majority for the Democrat's center-left coalition in the Congress, or probably democracy will lose out to a fascistic alliance between the financial elite (purged of dissenters) and a dictatorial government.
3
It's about money and control. If you want to limit autocratic power, do not support their enterprises. With media, if you advertise on Fox, Sinclair, etc., pull your advertising and shift those dollars to companies aligned with the democracy. When you shop, find out where the vendor advertises and purchase only if you support its media buys. Be a conscious consumer and support companies that are in align with your values. Vote, and encourage others to do so. Amazon is not the problem, autocrats are.
6
Yesterday’s Sinclair’s propaganda spewed out across our nation’s local tv stations is another autocratic head’s up warning ! Trump and his corrupt cronies need to be marched to prison. Vote people, come November, like our democracy depends on it or Putin wins.
8
Watching his press conference beside foreign dignitaries, I was struck by how inappropriate Trump acted, maligning the American press, seeming so utterly classless.
It was an embarrassment. He sounded like a mob boss.
He is definitely worse. And yes, he sounds like an autocrat.
It is ridiculous that he keeps repeating no one was harder on Russia than him. He's become a parody. His judgment and insight are so poor---and we are in for a very rough ride.
11
We the People need to see Trump's tax returns.
9
This President lies without impunity and causes a company to lose millions of dollars because he is so insecure he can't abide any criticism. As far as I see it that is an abuse of power and he does it all the time. Before he stepped into the Oval Office, someone should have told him that he, by nature of his being president, would be under a microscope for the entire time he was in office.
Amazon may have its failings along with the other tech giants, but we have government agencies to deal with any possible wrongdoing committed by them.
We must remember that we all bear responsibility for having put Donald Trump where he is. Between voter apathy, outright misogyny, and a host of other ills and desires, a pathological liar with a talent for showmanship beat a much more qualified but rather dull woman. Will our democracy survive? That remains to be seen.
5
When "This Long National Nightmare" is over the Imperial presidency will be weakened. In the meantime the Republican Congress fiddles away while Trump ignites the world on fire.
5
Jeff Bezos is a big guy. Trump is no Erdogan.
3
Trump and Erdogan are cut from the same cloth. Trump's cloth is thinner and cheaper and more loosely woven, but he's using it for the same purposes.
7
How much longer do we have to put up with this guy?
11
A president who targets all things Americans, including the press, the FBI, the CIA and American citizens, is not only a danger, but a decimation. And beyond that, he embraces Putin. He is a traitor.
15
The voices I hear now about Trumps actions are sadly reminiscent of those I heard, from Republicans, about the actions of Obama - disgust, thinly veiled in somewhat rational, if incomplete, arguments.
Now the president is critical of Amazon and is compared to Chavez, Maduro and Erdogan. Liberals are suddenly cooing the praises of Amazon, a monopoly that exploits global trade to suck the life out of communities and mom and pop stores.
Yes, Amazon works wonderfully, and I just bought a faucet there that was a quarter the price of anything that could be made in this country. It's probably laced with toxic metals, but who cares. Straight from China to my doorstep. I know I'm mixing issues, here, but they are connected.
The only thing that makes Amazon less evil than Walmart is that it blights fewer communities with big boxes and endless tarmac.
The FTC and DOJ clearly have no intention of countering the monopolies of giants such as Amazon. Unless Trump is shorting the stock, I welcome his criticism. Maybe it will wake up the suits at the DOJ and make something happen.
2
No.
Liberals are not "cooing the praises of Amazon". We're defending the rule of law and the breakdown thereof.
10
Eric is once again making this typical Trump Republican argument: "The myriad shortcomings of Mr. Trump are comparable to the color of President Obama's skin." Which is what it is.
"Eric S" wrote:
"The voices I hear now about Trumps actions are sadly reminiscent of those I heard, from Republicans, about the actions of Obama - disgust, thinly veiled in somewhat rational, if incomplete, arguments ..."
8
... and threats to freedom of the press
2
If it was just about him hurting Amazon and Jeff Bezos, it would be bad enough. But his stupid tweets are impacting the stock market and millions of people's investments all over the world.
8
Plutocrats (Amazon) versus the Kleptocrat-in-chief. Let the authoritarian games begin.
2
Finally an opinion piece from Michelle not just meant to please her "resistance" friends at the Park Slope Food Coop.
2
Coming from a guy who refuses to release his own tax returns and operated a fraudulent "University" under his own name. You literally make this stuff up.
9
Putin is a talented autocrat; Trump is not. Likewise, Chavez curried favor with the masses; Maduro holds on to power with brute force. Putin will endure. Trump and Maduro will fail.
2
It's a form of manipulation that has paid off for Trump before.
Trump is unpopular, but he can give himself a boost and defelect attention by attacking somebody who is also unpopular. It worked when Trump attacked Clinton, who was someone the right loved to hate and was hated by the Sanders wing of her own party. Now it's vogue to hate Amazon. Never mind Trump's agenda is thinly-veiled and self-serving. People simply think, on some instinctive level, "Trump hates what I hate, so maybe he's not so bad after all."
3
Back in the mid-1990s when Amazon started out, liberals loved it, because it gave them books cheaper than Barnes&Noble or any other brick-and-mortar shop. Now, liberals hate Amazon. Why?
- Because it's successful instead of struggling
- Because it's wealthy instead of dirt-poor
- Because its better business model has caused some competitors to close down
Liberals hate it when someone succeeds.
2
Of course the hate Amazon’s success. They are socialists at heart and the didn’t buy Amazon stock and missed out on a big payday. He’s my suggestion. Protest Trump’s attacks on Amazon by buying their stock!
“Liberals hate Amazon”, you write.
Based on what real evidence?
And how is it relevant to the crucial point about Trump’s demagogic attacks on an American company?
We, as individuals may like or dislike lots of things — companies, newspapers, restaurants. That doesn’t mean we should tolerate government leaders making unhinged, ego-driven attacks on them.
What do you claim liberals hate Amazon?
It seems that Truimp has crossed the line of name calling and is inflicting real monetary damages to companies based upon outright lies and mistruths. I would think that the beleaguered would mount a class action suit against the present administration and sue for damages.
5
I'm tempted to quip that it took a big man to destroy an established democracy, but the truth is it's being done by a small man with the help of even smaller men (and women).
10
Because none of us have seen the like in our lifetimes, recognizing the danger requires a good measure of intellectual imagination. Foreign examples help, e.g., Russia, Turkey and Venezuela, but they don't directly communicate the scale and scope of our own peril.
Trump has already stepped over the line. His attacks caused Amazon's stock value to tumble by more than $50 billion. He has repeatedly tried to use antitrust regulatory agencies to punish the free press. He has asked Congress to modify libel laws. With his attacks on the free press, he has continued to coopt the algorithms and full market power of natural monopolies like Facebook. Trump's campaign struck a deal with Sinclair according to which its hundreds of TV stations would simply not offer any criticism following Trump's interviews and appearances. Sinclair is functioning like the state owned Russian RT propaganda organ.
8
Your take on authoritarianism scapegoating the media is wrong. You assume that the so-called 'free' media in general is honest, only reports the facts and the truth, doesn't purposely overlook/withhold things and whatever it does, it does it in the service of its readers/consumers.
There is a reason Bezos bought the WaPo and it is not to make the average American more informed.
The authoritarian right is fighting a war against truth. Everyone loses.
5
I don't use Amazon for online purchases. Why would anyone? But how does the Internet get away with tax free sales? I wouldn't use it if I had to pay both shipping and sales tax. If enough people thought that way it wouldn't be good for the Internet or it share holders. Paying taxes is a civic duty by the way. Are taxes more important than making Internet billionaires?
if Trump is going after Amazon, those profiting from addicting drugs and AT&T mergers, so what he's being vindictive, selective and not reality based. At least he is doing something where Obama didn't.
You should be saying he isn't doing enough.
1
We pay taxes on about half of our Amazon purchases.
If Trump had any intelligence or bona fides he would be criticizing the source of his complaints - interstate commerce tax laws and USPS postal rates - not a company that operates under them.
(We use Amazon because it's informative, offers wide variety of choices, and is quick & convenient. I don't like their labor practices. But their service is too go to pass up.)
3
Trump is not clever enough to come up with these tactics on his own. But he is no doubt evil and vindictive enough to execute such maneuvers when they are whispered in his ear. I have no doubt the GOP and likely Putin himself have been doing the whispering. As for the "disinformation campaign"? Well, that started well before Trump was a blip on the horizon.
1
Trump is winning the war every day he remains in office. I wince every time MSNBC or CNBC does a story on Trump and Amazon because they always call the Post reporting on Trump, "aggressive". Why are they buying into Trump's attack on the Post or what Trump denigrates as the "failing NY Times", as being "aggressive" which implies some measure of unfairness.
Great column. Next time you are on MSNBC ask them to stop calling the reporting of facts, "aggressive".
2
Trump has achieved an amazing feat - he has turned me in to an avid supporter for Amazon and Jeff Bezos. Go Jeff!
3
If there are legitimate issues with Amazon, any other president would refer the matter to the Department of Commerce and/or other appropriate entities, but this president just attacks. I wonder if Trump has considered how much worse off the post office would be without Amazon's business. After all, it's been losing business for years as email and online business/bank statements have replaced letters. Anything to divert our attention from Trump's own double-dealing.
1
Franklin et al. made a mistake in giving us a republic, because our current elected representatives can't or won't act to save our nation from plutocracy.
Is it a good idea to depend upon the likes of Senators McConnell, Cruz, Cornyn, Grassley, Graham, and Rubio? How about Congressmen Ryan, Cotton, Gowdy, Gohmert, and Barton? Would you enter into business with any of them?
We need a democracy. We can't trust or rely upon bought-and-paid-for strangers to do what's best for our country. Republicanism is indeed more convenient and efficient than a total democracy, but its benefits are outweighed by its downsides. Thanks for nothing, Ben.
2
I thought that we were going to have more money in our pockets with this administration. So, let me see: trade wars will drive up the cost of goods; forcing Amazon to pay more for shipping will drive up the cost of goods; less taxes at the Federal level will cause more taxes at the State level; and the new tax laws basically saved me .34% this year compared to last year. Oh, and, my local republican councilman wants us to vote YES on the CA gas tax or he's afraid we'll never get our rural roads fixed. Again, how does this put more money in our pockets?
1
Hey, talk to your tax guy. Without the local tax deductions you taxes are going to go UP. Mine will. And I’m living on Social Security and retirement savings.
I sympathize with The thrust of Ms. Goldberg's article, but I question two of her specific instances.
Ms. Goldberg implies that anti-CNN animus motivates the Trump Justice Department's scrutiny of the proposed merger between Time Warner and AT&T. However, to many people, anticompetitive considerations militate against consummation of the merger. If Justice opposes the merger, could they be doing the right thing, albeit for the wrong reasons?
Similarly, many believe that Amazon has grown so large and powerful that, like Standard Oil, its business activities should be curbed.
Meritorious opposition to Trump and Trumpsters should not blind people to instances in which the Trump Administration (inadvertently) does the right thing.
1
Sinclair's warning about the media applies mainly to Fox and Sinclair. The mainstream media's bias is mainly to attract eyeballs and not upset most viewers. This is why crime, weather, and disasters are covered whether the actual crime rate is up or down, and why honest negative coverage of Vietnam and Iraq was not provided when it would have done some good. The public, unfortunately, will not tolerate critical coverage during wartime until the military story and predictions have been undercut by the facts for a few years; this tendency as much as anything else is the root cause of our wartime problems.
1
Epistemological warfare.
More insidious than conventional warfare, it attacks the essence of humanity.
8
Trump, the autocrat and bully, is a weakling at his core. Weaklings attempt to diminish or silence their critics rather than have their limitations exposed. A vibrant and vigilant media is central to our democracy. The NYT and Washington Post have done a marvelous job of exposing Trump's ineptitude, moral challenges, lies and self agrandisement. Our democracy will survive this President. We are learning to never allow a fear mongering autocrat into office again.
5
I don't quite get how Trump's tweets are "undermining" Amazon. Amazon stock price is nothing but a prediction of its future profits, and its profitability (now that the company is calling it that) is of zero concern to me or anyone who doesn't own its stock. Amazon has us over a barrel and it's not going away anytime soon. Focus on the Sinclair issue and let Amazon take care of itself.
3
This is an ominous time of our Nation. The 1st amendment is being undermined by our President. I just hope some of the anchors stand up to this erosion of our freedoms. This is so dangerous for the future of our nation and people. Without a free press there will be no freedom.
11
So Republicans, who have for years sold themselves as defenders of free markets, have no trouble with a president that picks winners and losers in that market.
Republicans are hypocrites? Who knew?
15
If only Maureen Dowd would use her talents and platform to cast a light on the extraordinarily serious and dangerous issues facing our democracy under this regime as much as Michelle Goldberg!
6
Just a question. Didn't we fight a revolution to get rid of arbitrary leaders like Trump? This guy thinks he is king. We can do better.
8
Trump may eventually win his war with Bezos. Amazon is a public company, and it's board may decide that Bezos' unrelated ownership of the WAPO is detrimental to the share value of the corporation they are fiduciaries of.Bezos may be forced to sell his WAPO stock....maybe the only viable buyer will be .....um...what rhymes with "updock"? Maybe the Post staff will resist a new propaganda-based owner; maybe the Post will fade away.
Trump's authoritarian tactics are more than frightening, his behavior is being normalized. Sure, NYT columnists warn, books are written and tv talking heads sound alarm. But Trump's defenders are given equal time and Roseanne is imbedded among the faithful. His party has gathered wagons around his lying power play tactics, realizing that their fortunes will fall with his demise. Corporate interests seeking favorable treatment issue public relations statements touting Trump's tax and economic policies, claiming new jobs which may not materialize.
Trump has battled his critics in the media he has deftly manipulated; the average American has been convinced that a booming
economy "trump's" democracy or even the truth.
In the short run, time is in Trump's side, if his goals "were" short term- making his family American oligarchs. In that regard things may not be working out as Trump planned, and so he is acting more and more unhinged.
Unfortunately, the true failure of his polices will take time to surface, and then even Roseanne may get "p-o'd".
5
Everything you see in the Dictator's Playbook is being carried out by Trump. He makes no secret that he wants to be "CEO of the USA," unfettered by opposing parties or inconvenient laws. The frightening thing is the cowardly lack of push back from his own party. The infuriating thing is the cowardly, milquetoast opposition from Democrats!
12
Google (phone, search dominance), Microsoft (OS, Office software dominance), and Apple (phone, music dominance) will be the next targets. Oh wait, Apple is already a target from the Obama administration - but Michelle no doubt approved glowingly of that government attack.
1
Reading these Goldberg column is like watching a person have a nervous breakdown. I can help. Ignore Twitter, just like the vast majority of Americans do. I understand it would make your job harder, because you'd have to find other ways to agitate Trump Deranged Liberals, but they are there so it would be ok.
Traitor Trump is using his office to silence critics, and in the process erases hundreds of billions of capital. If you're keeping score, that's an attack on free press, the first amendment, and the markets. Where is the concern on the right? Is it Ok for the president to attack individuals and businesses for personal reasons? No.
In the mean time, the right, their Elites, and their propaganda machines are silent about Dangerous Don. We see that the ends justify the means for so called conservatives and white evangelicals. They are happy to complain about our nation of laws, the boundaries of executive power, the difference between right and wrong and so on as long as it suits their ends. They look the other way when it suits them also. That's rank hypocrisy, but its also as undemocratic and treacherous to our nation as can be.
In short, the right, their Elites and their propaganda machines are full of it, and are a threat to this nation. The last time they were in power it cost the lives of at least a million people, and destroyed the economy. They cynically complained about the recovery and any progress by our nation to regain what it lost under their government. They obstructed the entire way only to expedite their return to power.. to do what? Wreck the country, again, or worse? It's a disgrace.
9
America, This could be the last democratic election in our history.
Vote for democrats like your life and the lives of your children depend on it. Because they do.
15
The Donald has repeatedly used & abused his position as president for his own purposes. His attacks on Amazon are just the latest example.
3
Trump is casting about for a bogeyman to take attention away from Stormy/Mueller/Pruitt. It would be helpful if people -- including voters -- remember Trump's authoritatian tendencies, which rely heavily on mis-direction propaganda techniques. That is, divert the public from the truth, in this case, about a lecherous, venal, narcissistic lunatic.
4
I read my local news rather than passively “watch” it because of the inanity of the local news Kens and Barbies. Now KBOI’s Ken and Barbie have become Ms. and Mr. Chuckie.
2
Trump is an absolute disgrace to this nation and democracy. His uninformed impulsive reactions to anything that strikes him as non Trumpian is as careless and childish as it gets. Ridding ourselves of this un-american abomination is 14 months overdue. The man simply is not right by any measure. Pack him up and send him to Russia where he belongs, where there is a leader he can admire.
6
Is there any more proof needed that this narcissist president will destroy Democracy because of negative attacks against him? Consolidation of the media was a plan to control information. The conservatives are in control over the country because they control enough of the media to stay in power by brainwashing their constituents.
2
Trump's template for autocratic rule is very clear. If the November elections do not turn congress blue, our republic as we know it may be finished.
Organize. Resist. Vote.
14
Yes, the bad guys are winning in their assault on a free press. What a shame the American public is filled with people who wear ignorance like a badge of honor; efforts like Trump's current assault on the media wouldn't work if we weren't a nation filled with people who refuse to educate themselves thus are ripe targets for state propaganda and a tyrant's manipulation. If America falls under Trump's jackboot, it will have no one to blame but its citizenry. Remember Ben Franklin's admonition: "You have a democracy. If you can keep it." I'm not hopeful.
9
Trump's presidency reflects use of power that has become toxic and dehumanizing.
The people around him feed into his worst impulses. Pampered and shrouded, without giving a full press conference since over a year ago, he's avoiding accountability to the American people.
Surrounded by staff accessing increased power since he remains erratic and self-centered.
His surrogates on TV cover up for him. His former communications director said it was expected she would lie for him.
That he would direct political/economic statements to children at an Easter event seems a serious sign of decline of reason and cognitive abilities.
The Autocrat needs an intervention. Wake up GOP.
3
Trump has destroyed any limits to a president’s power. He attacks any perceived enemies with tweets, speeches, surrogates inside and outside of the government. From now on, any president can and probably will take on Trump’s monarchical style to get what they want. The idea of behind the scene negotiations, developing relationships of trust and honesty are long gone for this presidency and maybe those in the future.
1
Here in the UK I'm relatively safe from Trump's excesses, but as president of the US he has the power for worldwide disruption and to drag the rest of us into the messes he could create.
I can't effect change by voting or encouraging others to vote in November in the US. One of the things I can do is support the free press, so I subscribe to the NYT and the Washington Post, and the Guardian in the UK.
As has been noted in several comments here, the true target of Trump's attacks on Amazon are Jeff Bezos himself and the Washington Post.
Read, buy or subscribe to The Post! Their fine journalists are among those working hard to uncover the corruption at the White House and need all the support they can get. NYT, CNN, NBC and WaPo; you're all getting under Trump's skin because you're reporting the facts!
7
I wonder if anyone has thought to investigate whether Trump directly or indirectly sold short shares of Amazon before his tweet. He would have made a fortune.
1
The USPS has NEVER made money. That's because it's a government-run monopoly behemoth with a union - the worst of all possible worlds. It allows no direct competition for first-class mail, and it is run by toadies beholden to politicians who use other peoples' money to fund it. This means it does not innovate, it cannot ever make a profit and its service never improves. This was true before Amazon existed - and Amazon didn't cripple it more than it already was. Amazon is in business to make money - and the USPS is NOT.
2
I think the motivation of Trump's attacks on Amazon are not all about the way the company does business. Rather it is jealousy about the fact the Amazon's owner Jeff Bezos is ranked by Forbes as the richest man in the world whereas Trump is ranked at 766. That Bezos's wealth makes Trump's 'fortune' look like small potatoes must really bug the President!
4
So a steady diet of corporatist propaganda from the overclass owned media is fine as long as we get to vote for one or the other of capital's preselected employees that are running for office? Hmm, doesn't look that much different from where I sit, more like an intramural struggle between two opposing power centres, neither of which have any use for the likes of me.
Did we not know this before Trump became president?
A nation gets the government it deserves and the United States we knew no longer exists.
3
I already subscribe to WAPO, so I will buy a little something extra on Amazon this week. Trump's electoral college victory inspired both my subscription here and there. That's how this liberal voice pushed back.
1
I detest Trump as much as the next person but you must be seriously deluded if you want to help poor little Amazon.
I’ll bet lots of retailers and online sellers are cheering President Trump on for trying to take down Amazon.
2
Yes, in a real democracy the President would speak to bankers and financiers from Wall St., in private. She'd then refuse to divulge what she said, because. Everything would float forward on a cloud of politeness toward tiny demographics, and lettuce & heroin would be cheap because the border guards would spend half the day at sensitivity meetings. The world's richest man would be ignored, and the various numbers related to his business would be proudly muttered by Anderson Cooper as a nighttime lullaby so America would sleep tight. We'd stop trophy hunting. The end.
1
Erdogan is a true menace to freedom. I can understand why Trumpian America keeps him as a valued ally, but why do freedom-loving Europeans have anything to do with Erdogan's theocratic, authoritarian government? If Erdogan's dictatorial behavior within Turkey wasn't bad enough to cause them to sever relations with his government, surely his tacit past support of ISIS and current brutal invasion and occupation of Syrian Kurdish territory should be.
As long as the world's freedom-loving nations continue to tolerate governments led by people like Erdogan, Putin, Duterte, Kim Jong-Un, Xi Jinping, and now, in America, the land and home of freedom, with Donald Trump, authoritarianism will continue to grow. This devolution of our species may ultimately lead to a new and stronger respect for and love of human freedoms everywhere. Or it may bring about catastrophes worse than any that occurred in the last and bloodiest century ever in human history.
Bernie Sanders is after Amazon for being a tax scofflaw and for cheating the USPS. I did not vote for Trump, but I'm glad he's finally taking on Amazon's unethical monopolist practices.
I've never thought about ever having to help Amazon, but will do so if needed. If you don't read the Washington Post, try it. It's a bit rough around the edges but isn't shying away from telling the truth about Trump and his inexperienced but vicious regime.
I'm glad Bezos is on our side and talking back against the present regime. We need him.
1
Has Amazon been ruthless in burying its competition, yes. Does Amazon need to pay more taxes, yes. Has trump been ruthless in dealing with his opponents, yes. Does trump need to pay more taxes, yes. Have we seen trump's tax returns, NO.
Donald J. Trump is manipulating the market by trying to tank Amazon. The entire GOP needs to be arrested for insider trading.
1
Unfortunately, the people who need to know about this do not read the Times or the Post. They are fresh off their latest feel-good pep rally, and they're not interested in anything that requires thinking. Will their WalMart go under? That's all they really care about, and that's the real problem.
1
Are people really wondering why Trump has an issue with Amazon? Do they not realize that the money from Amazon is what allowed Jeff Bezos to buy the Washington Post, and that the Post is doing a lot of the serious independent journalism to investigate Trump?
Trump doesn't hate Amazon for being Amazon. He wants to shut down the Washington Post, and he can't. So he's being vindictive to its owner.
Ok. So Trump expects Amazon to be held accountable and contribute to our country and Amazon spies on the the US citizens by deceiving the very citizens that give their money to the same spies and at the same time limits customer choices after mining all their data and forcing alternatives to close their doors creating a monoploy of commerce? And Trump is the Autocrat?
Most of us underestimate the depth of Traitor Trump's pathology, his complete lack of any moral discipline, his dedication to narcissism at all costs. What is shocking is tuning the news out for week, not talking about politics, focusing on other things, letting the noise die down. And then picking up Times. It's like landing on another planet. How ever did we come to this?
1
Trump is railing against Bezos not only because he owns the Washington Post. It's also because Bezos is stupendously richer than Trump and far more clever. It's always about money in Trump world. Look no further.
1
"when Trump claimed, inaccurately, that Amazon pays “little or no taxes to state & local governments”
So how much taxes does Trump pay?
159
Being too successful in America, becomes something that appears dangerous to one group or another, whether it is Wall Street, or a few who own most of the media in America, or companies that merge, or go overseas. The age of mergers which includes gaining capabilities, getting an advantage, diversifying products, cutting costs, etc. has been a very tough business climate for those who have lost jobs over the last 40 years. I remember when I looked at where my new Hoover vacuum cleaner was made, and it was made in Mexico, over 40 years ago, and I still have it. Now, I have other vacuum cleaners, which are made there as well, the most expensive ones in the line, that don't appear to be the quality in the type of plastic that is used, and one has to be very careful in how one moves them around. That said, I am a big Amazon user, because our town, for over 30 years has only had one used store. Also, using Amazon saves gas, as we are 1 hour to the nearest larger city, and time, as I am getting older, and have never liked malls in my life. I was a seamstress, early in my marriage, so mostly purchased fabric, and made clothes. Amazon, allows anyone who has good service, and a quality product to sell, so they are actually helping lots of small businesses out. It is a global world, and one where most of the younger generation and those not retired are working fulltime, and spending lots of time commuting, so shopping time for them, not so much.
4
Amazon continues to grow and is building new facilities across the United States. Thousands of new jobs and digital infrastructure are being created every year by Amazon. It is a thriving part of our economy and the kind of competition Wal-Mart needed. Any increase in shipping costs imposed by Trump will be passed on to consumers just as the cost of his tariffs will be. Trump continues his tantrums at any perceived slight real or imagined and we pay for them while he lives in splendor.
5
A major concern for me is the pettiness of the President. It spills over into so many areas and there is a noticeable lack of critical thinking in the White House or is just a lack of fact checking? Amazon could pay more and probably will but the rate is set by the government. And we should not forget for a moment that the rate calculations for the Post Office are muddied by the pension calculation forcing them to keep the account current. The ONLY business in the U.S. forced to do so. Congress did it. But I come back to the pettiness of the President. It truly is frightening. Government only works if it is administered by people who think it can work. This administration is proving that old truth in spades.
9
Just to put things into perspective, the overall Trump stock market is down 11 percent from it's high. Amazon lost just 6 percent. So, the Trump administration is damaging to American industry as a whole. Also, Amazon stock is, IMHO, way overvalued. Bezos should use some more of his vast personal wealth to invest in MORE reporters and investigative journalism at WaPo as well as invest, heavily, in Democratic candidates from Senate to every local election and in countering voter suppression and gerrymandering. He might also consider purchasing some local TV Stations as well to counter Sinclair's creeping influence.
9
All I can say in response is,"Read! Read!Read!" and then," Question everything!" It is not easy to separate ourselves from our biases. I had to watch some of the more opinionated MSNBC talking heads to hear the same kind of rhetoric on FOXNews. I have to do my due diligence in order to have a clear view of the news. It is my duty as a citizen. I believe we have been given brains. We should use them to think.
3
Amazon stock is up today. Thanks, Don! When you reach around and pull out the next great threat, reach in a little deeper and get some reason with it!
3
By hiding his personal and family income tax returns and business records from the American people Donald Trump has combined the influence and power of his private inherited wealth and his elected public executive office into a format that most closely resembles the supreme form of autocracy aka royalty that the Founding Fathers violently rebelled against.
13
Granted, there are good and plenty reason for Amazon to be evaluated on anti-trust grounds. But why is it OK for the President to manipulate the markets via tweet? Who does he think he’s hurting when Amazon’s, or Apple’s, or Google’s stock prices tank? Certainly not Mr. Bezos, or Mr. Cook, or Messrs. Page and Brin. Rather, it’s rank and file Americans who take the hit on the value of their 401Ks, and/or by way of the institutional retirement plans they rely upon. The President’s method of settling scores with a few billionaires is disgraceful. As for WaPo, if the President is displeased by that newspaper’s editorials, he might consider behaving more like the leader of the free world and less like a Putin wannabe.
11
Trump vs. Amazon! Democrats vs. Republicans! Women vs. Men!
Not the sort of battles where one can wholeheartedly throw in with one side against the other. Which makes things much more complicated.
Hopefully the blizzard of partisan spin and disinformation will give rise to a hunger for calm, balance, and truth.
I was about to post this when I remembered the aggressive phrase “clenched fist of truth”, and that there are some things we do have to fight for. These thoughts gave me pause.
Still, we should probably strive for calm, balance, and truth, in combination, as our center of gravity.
Lincoln ends his second inaugural address as follows: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” If, in your own thinking, you need to substitute “the universe” or “open, honest, reasoned inquiry” for “God” in that quote, it’s fine with me.
3
Trump only gets power over companies like Amazon and media organizations through his tweets if we the people give it to him. Its time for all of us to take some responsibility for our own part in this dysfunction, and stop listening to him.
5
From my kitchen window Amazon is building a facility employing thousands of workers with many well paying technical jobs. They are building on a designated superfund site formerly containing an aluminum processing plant. Why attack an American company that is thriving and employing hundreds of thousands of workers? Something is seriously wrong here folks.
15
Amazon has created and maintained infinitely more jobs than Trump ever has. Has anybody ever calculated the jobs multiplier that just one on-line order to Amazon has created??? From the warehouse to the packers on through the delivery chain???
Under no circumstances should Trump be allowed as POTUS to attack an American business simply because he does not like the owner. Wall Street should ignore the rants of this crazy, unstable, unhinged, vindictive man. Trump is inserting himself directly into the free market, threatening Amazon. Bezos and Amazon should file a lawsuit against Trump, for defamation, interference and fraudulent actions against the company. Enough of this crazy man.
19
"Although I shed no tears for Amazon..."
Get a group of like-minded individuals, pick your favorite former target - the beginnings of a new drinking game. You can play either the video or on-line text version. But the comments section of the NYT is probably the most fertile ground. Amazon, globalism, illegal immigration... all are welcome.
How about this: support institutions. They cannot stand on their own without support. So support the free press such as WaPo. The reason Trump is going after Amazon is because Bezos owns WaPo which is not complimentary to Trump. And, of course, some of his more clever sidekicks or cronies that he calls every night is urging him to do so. Trump is a failed businessman who has some charisma and is shored up by the likes of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and the Mercers. Combine that with staff passionate to destroy the democratic institutions that are supposed to protect us. And, of course, a complicit Republican Congress. Yes, Trump has lots of help. He would be no where otherwise.
1
How is that this President is allowed to repeatedly manipulate the stock exchange for his own gain? Amazon. Boeing. This would be an impeachable offense in other times.
I need to get a Post subscription, too.
14
This is not funny. The man is a pathological destruction machine. Maybe not THE antichrist, certainly AN antichrist. His cruelty and sheer malice cannot be a secret to anyone not a hypnotized cultist.
Anyone with the wherewithal to do something MUST do whatever they can to end this nightmare.
8
It, the reason, can't be the Washington Post--it has been sliming the GOP since before Nixon. Like Facebook, Google et al., time to chop these guys up into more bite-size pieces. Teddy Roosevelt back in the saddle. About time.
1
Mr. Trump, show us your tax returns.
13
Trumps propaganda machine is aimed solely at his minions. He has to keep them hypnotized with all of the lies and conspiracy theories. He's too stupid to understand any of this, so the "really smart" people around him are running the machine.
Conversely, the Post's continuous daily pounding of Trump will never win over his supporters. But keeping him in our headlights helps us to remember the slogan that "Democracy dies in darkness".
4
Not that he actually would, but somewhere Noam Chomsky is saying 'told you so'.
6
I've been waiting a long time for Brooks to produce a serious and seismic piece of opinion journalism. Today he scored.
I really hate to say this, but the Dogan group's Hurriyet newspaper was notorious for supporting military coups and serving as a mouthpiece for the secular elite and the military while their cronies ran the Turkish economy to ground. In fact, they were all too happy supporting the oppressive regime of their day and similarly autocratic tactics when the victims were Kurds or religious women who were forced to take off their head scarves to get a college education.
2
To kill a democracy one must must do it slowly so the citizens wont notice. The same way you boil a live frog...turn up the temperature slowly so the frog wont jump out. This is what happening under the current Administration.
4
clearly, POTUS has never ordered from Amazon, or he would know that they collect local sales taxes!
1
Excellent column. He is a fascist, pursuing the fascist playbook. He is the obvious criminal and traitor to our government and betrayer of his oath of office (what a joke, to think of him mouthing that oath), but the real traitors now, and for years now, going into overdrive with the blocking of Merrick Garland, are the Congressional Republicans, specifically McConnell, who is their taskmaster, and Ryan who is a cowardly shill for the super rich. They are enabling Trump's crimes and transgressions. If none of them pay a price for this, we will be in very big trouble.
8
The only “total joke” is Donald Trump. His rambling, inane, non sequiturs at The White House Easter Egg Roll (in which he seemed unable to remember the name) even caught the bunny mascot looking mystified. This man is unbalanced and unfit to lead this nation.
11
He didn't seem to know that the big white (hint) house (hint) he gets to stay in already has a name. A name known around the world. The only surprise is that he hasn't put TRUMP in giant gold letters on top.
2
Please hurry, Mr. Mueller. Please!!
9
The long slow slide of the US into dictatorship and oblivion has turned into a runaway freight train. I don't think there is anything to help us now. Trump will make himself president for life, and Grand Wizard McConnell will be right there to lay the crown on his big, fat orange head.
3
Why don't the Democrats speak up about sinclair? Why don't the democrats speak up about anything?
10
Maybe Mr. Bezos should buy Fox News.
12
YES! Besos' reworking of the Fox propaganda machine into real news is the single biggest opportunity to reverse the brainwashing of Trumpers and stop the demonizing of our sorely needed fact-based journalists and media.
1
Scary stuff, especially since the average citizen doesn't read books, nor long investigative articles which might appear in the legitimate non mainstream press. (hey they won't even read a long investigative piece in the old gray lady, aka the NYTimes) Mis/dis information is critical for a take over. Insidious organizations like Sinclair or Fox are necessary elements in distorting the feeble minded. We have arrived at another one of those forks in the road, good down one, bad on the other. Which one will you take, which one will your neighbor take?
7
First class mail fees subsidize package delivery services of the U.S. Postal service, which otherwise lose more than $1 on every package delivered. Trump is right that first class mailers (and taxpayers) are subsidizing Amazon.
1
Csmith. You are right. Just like middle income taxpayers subsidize the corpratocracy and the one percent.
At what point does the majority in the House and Senate step up and call out this President for his authoritarian tactics and policies that are gutting our Democracy and its ability to function as one. From day one he tore down the infrastructures of government and is "starving the beast" so that it cannot function and be replaced. I will be working to get ouot the vote in the mid terms to turn this around. If you are truely an American who loves this country, you will think about what is happening and find the courage to stand up against this dismantling of our country and what it stands for. We were never perfect but we are now in danger of losing everything we stand for.
12
Now THIS (attempted destruction of the Free Press) is something that honorable Republican and Democrat leaders should both speak out against. Senators, why are you silent?? WHERE are our patriotic statesmen and loyal American leaders, who took an oath to defend the American Constitution?
14
I have no wish for Amazon to be the retailer of only resort, but Trump's rants about it are proof that he and his Republican supporterss, like those of Erdogan in Turkey and Maduro in Venezuela, etc., are so so obsessed with power that they will gladly destroy democracy to get and keep it. These are just the first salvos in their war against our free press. Small wonder that Trump admires, and envies, Vladimir Putin.
8
Read the text of what the Sinclair News management asked local anchors to read. There is no insidious assault on freedom of the press there. If a bunch of self-inflated local TV news people get upset about being told what to read they need to get over themselves.
https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/KOMO-fake-news-Sinclair-pr...
“Being told what to read” is, by definition, not a free press.
7
Many of us know the scope and scale of the problem. We understood the threat of Trump before the election. There is only one question: how do we stop him, Michelle? How do we stop this nightmare?
7
The Donald is an admirer of dictators.
Hmm ... what could possibly go wrong?
5
Everyone who owns Amazon stock should join in a class action suit against Trump for lowering the value of their investment with his underhanded attacks on the corporation. And pro-business Republicans should be in the vanguard of this battle instead of quietly sitting by and letting it happen.
11
Fox and Sinclair are becoming the Ministry of Truth.
8
Well done article and I agree with about all your positions. But just as it is was patently autocratic for the Putin government to sick the tax authorities on Gusinsky we need, in the interest of all this candor, to also acknowledge the Obama administration sicking the IRS on conservative groups.
How did that Obama action turn out? My bet is that Conservative Groups were using work arounds to achieve tax free status.
The Obama administration investigated both liberal and conservative groups for claiming questionable exemptions and inappropriate political activities. For possible violations of law and through the designated responsible agency. That is not remotely akin to the one sided attack on the free press via demonstrably false tweets on social media. False equivalency.
1
Also, see Newsweek 10/10/17.
Any broadcast company should be barred from using the word “news” unless it can produce a written set of journalistic guideline that require it to show that the material presented as news is researched, produced, and delivered in a way that is clear to the viewer or listener that it is as free of bias as possible. Anything else must be identified as opinion. Second, we need to look long and hard at all our media conglomerates and decide if they are becoming monopolies and need more regulation. I love the First Amendment, but in an age where it’s arguably easier to spread a lie than the truth, and where the bottom line is more important than the public good news programs were originally intended to serve, something has to be done.
3
It is always “rich” observing Trump’s hypocrisy. During the presidential debates he bragged that not paying taxes made him smart. Now Amazon is denounced for not paying enough taxes. Show us your returns Donald! Trump is probably the only one that could cause me to rise to the defense of Amazon. Sad!
12
The Washington Post quotes MSNBC CEO Jeff Zucker that “Fox News …has turned into state-run TV ….Tass has nothing on them, he said" re the Russian govt news agency. And Fox is the news agency of the GOP that now dominates our 3 branches and most states.
The US president hires pundits from Fox News GOP State media for his administration to push his party line. So the rw pundits are media stars for many voters.
Fox is the most watched cable network vs CNN or MSNBC.
We see other examples of Russian style suppression of information in the US. The GOP censored and blocked the CDC from doing ANY research on our national gun epidemic. This blatantly contradicts the 1st amendment and all America's ideals
Unfortunately, the Democrats must compete with GOP for sources of corporate/billionaire mega money to run for office. So our American oligarchs can thus drive policy, and over time define what is labeled center, left or right.
There are many topics that our main media never discusses---such as:
How to finance Medicare for All, common abroad.
How to use taxes to subsidize low cost state college tuition, once common in the US.
Crucially---how to use more public funding for elections to give citizens representation.
All this may not be officially ‘censored’ in the usual sense. But pressures of money and conformity our norms, defined as American, affect what topics our media chooses to report and discuss.
7
The United States Postal Service I'm sure is thanking its lucky stars that Amazon is throwing a few pennies its way with end-game deliveries. Which I hate. I do a lot of shopping with Amazon and when UPS or FedEx hands delivery off to USPS it sometimes adds a day to the delivery time.
USPS, in obviously an effort to remain competitive, even delivers on Sunday now. The post office needs all the revenue it can get, as we all know.
Trump needs to keep his mitts off Amazon. I like next-day deliveries, if I want them. And Amazon charges me state sales tax every time. Leave it alone, Donaldo.
9
Without Congressional micromanagement, the USPS would be doing just fine. Perhaps you should be asking why don't UPS or FedEx deliver their own packages. Apparently they are incapable of making good on their promises. That's the cause of your delays, not the USPS.
trumps "bouquet," for bezos, the amazon tax and usps daisys and the wapo dandelion puff ball is one of his best...all, too typically, misbegotten...he's got his amazon facts wrong and if he thinks that the post's troubles began with bezos, he and/or his media lookouts haven't been paying attention.
as to the whether "amazon is hardly blameless" or not, consider: in its rise from red ink the company has broken no laws and has, rather, exemplified the capitalist dream, earning its dominance while some of the retail naysayers were offering its captive brick and mortar customers indifferent if not impatient service.
2
First, let me say that I believe author is a good bloke on a personal level, likeable, would not hesitate to stop to rescue a wounded pup she found on a highway.Nonetheless,article has glaring weaknesses. Many of her readers are "profanes" as opposed to "inities"do not understand WAPO's role , and would have appreciated clarification. Inform us in plain old Anglo Saxon English. Moreover,"entre deux maux il faut choisir le moindre!" For many countries in the world, those east of the Elbe, just 1 example, the alternative to chaos is rule by a strong man.After the dreadful experiences of Iraq and Libya where disorder and turmoil followed departure of Sadaam and Khaddafi,West we now wonder whether overthrowing these strong men was the right thing to do.Hussein was a socialist and secularist. Khaddafi had given up his nuclear weapons and was no longer a threat. But self defence groups that rule Libya r a threat. Putin is the best bet against recrudescence of anti semitism in RUSSIA.Who doubts that? MG needs more of the derring do of some of her colleagues,who will go anywhere for a story. If Kristof were asked tomorrow to return to south Sudan to negotiate with the Janjaweed militias which are terrorizing the populace, he would not have to be asked twice. Show some derring do Ms. Goldberg and do not fear going out in the field to do informative, investigative reporting.Judging events from afar is not very enlightening!
In this country, it's called abuse of power.
4
I know that we "coastal elites" are supposed to be feeling it for the "real Americans" who voted for Trump. But if those real Americans aren't revolted by what Trump is doing to the press, the rule of law, immigrants, and the country's natural beauty, then I'm not sure what they think America is about. I guess tax cuts for billionaires and trolling liberals?
Sorry, this is not America. And a majority of Americans agree. VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE.
12
I've heard Trump supporters described as people who would burn down their own houses, as long as the smoke annoyed their liberal neighbor. Sadly, I'm afraid that "trolling liberals" is enough, along with that extra $1.50 in their paycheck every week. But yes: VOTE VOTE VOTE!
1
Fascinating watching capitalism devour its piggish habitues. None concerned with humanity.
1
POTUS is what my father termed "a potchkey artist." He doesn't have a clue so he flits from one thing to the next without much thought or concern. I doubt his attacks on Jeff Bezos will have much effect. For one thing, Bezos is smarter and for another he actually delivers what his customers want. Unless the POTUS's fellow Republicans take him to task, this once great nation is doomed.
5
Sadly, blame must also be put on Trump Country for buying into these lies and quietly embracing auhtoriatriansm
10
What this article describes is all part of a right wing revolution war to overthrow our democracy and replace it with a Russian style kleptocracy.
It's a revolution fought with money and mendacity instead of bullets and blood, so it's not covered on TV like revolutions taking place in other parts of the world, but it is a real revolution nevertheless, going on right in front of our noses, yet still under the radar.
You think it can't happen here, but with the election of Trump and the stolen Goresuch seat on the Supreme Court, we're already nearing the end game, and democracy is losing.
The right wing, with its control of the presidency, government agencies, the Supreme Court, both houses of Congress, a majority of state capitals, and monopoly owned major media outlets is now in a position to, and going whole hog to, overthrow our democracy and take over the reins of our government.
Wake up America.
4
Trump's entire reason for running for president, and his entire presidency, is about taking revenge on his supposed enemies. He cares nothing about governing or the American people. All he is is a mob boss wannabe in an ill-fitting suit.
6
I've said it before: Donald Trump is leading an inside coup d'etat against the United States of America, seeking to upend our Constitution and install himself as Tsar and Autocrat of all the United States. And he's supported in this by giant moneyed plutocrats for whom having so much isn't enough, but they have to ensure that the common people have no more than subsistence and zero rights, while they are free to indulge any whim they can imagine.
Trump is following Putin's playbook, where he stole Gazprom away and jailed its owner on phony pretexts.
Watch: Soon Trump's "enemies" will start being arrested on "trumped-up" charges (pun intended).
Meanwhile blue states are seeking to disarm their citizens, playing right into the Trumpian violent racists' hands, who won't give up their guns even if they are outlawed.
Will our Democratic Republic survive? The odds are getting worse.
3
If Trump is so concerned about “mom and pop” businesses he should go after Wal Mart.
2
Clearly stumpy is engaged in market manipulation, AGAIN!
The SEC should not allow this....
AND, Bezos should request a gag order from the courts...
5
There is nothing that devious Trump would like better that undermine a free press, so he can impose his ill-will on us, a white supremacist intent in destroying the rich diversity that enriches this country. Authoritarianism can be seen around the world, abusive thugs cheating on their own people with apparent impunity. And Trump is eager to follow the example of the Putin's/Xi's and Erdogan's of this world...if we let him. Vulgar clueless Trump and his stupid tweets is as weak and insecure as they come and seeks control by bullying us. He must be opposed with passion... and the truth, always based on facts. The free press has never be this important to keep us informed, but citizens all over, if conscious of their importance in protecting their democracy, must stop this institutionalized violence...before it explodes in our face. Of note, if Twitter had an ounce of honesty, it could do a better job in pointing out all the Trumpian lies it helps to spread....unless we have become part of the problem by our credulous stance, while demanding circus and entertainment.
2
The President is much like my last shipment, a huge box with very little inside, falsely advertised and defective.
2
Trump using his tweets as a bludgeon that directly affects the stock price/market value of a publicly held company to punish it for perceived or real criticism of him and his regime, is an extreme abuse of power and, on it's own should be sufficient enough reason for impeachment proceedings, given that it is not an isolated event, but a pattern of behavior. So much for the "Free Hand of the Market" with Trumpolini in charge.
The only way this will be stopped is if enough people get to the polls and vote the reactionaries who support and enable Trumpolini out of office. There needs to be enough of a super-majority of anti-Trumpublican voters going to the polls to overcome their suppression efforts, gerrymandering, and tampering with electronic voting results. We are playing on their home court folks. Overwhelming numbers are needed at the polls. This is no time for progressive vs centrist squabbling. Whoever wins a primary and opposes Trumpublicans must have our unified support. Our crumbling democracy depends on it.
4
Amazon did lose stock value, but the entire market did as well. Some of that loss is due to the market reacting the Trump's stupid and political trade actions.
"...much of the population had been disoriented by disinformation." This is the take-away here, and Democrats better wake up and vote, or in the not too distant future, it will all be over for Democracy. Trump's legion of voters are in love with him and the Republican Party. Only, that's only voting consistently will have any effect.
No doubt that for any person in charge, even the Spanky Genius, it's utterly unethical releasing such kind of considerations over a quoted company.
In many democracies governed by the rule of law, it would be naturally highly illegal.
No need to list the reasons.
1
And yet the most recent poll shows that Americans trust CNN & MSNBC more as sources of information than they trust Trump. Our media companies & courts are much better at resisting Trump's authoritarian impulses than those of Russia or Turkey are at resisting Putin & Erdogan. And Amazon is not exactly short of resources to fight the government.
1
Amazon which is competent and popular is in the cross hairs of this incompetent, corrupt and authoritarian con-man who with the help of a hostile foreign power and disinformation campaign found himself as president although a majority of the voters by over 7 million voted for his opponent, which he insisted was a Trump landslide. He was selected by Putin with a mission to destroy American democracy and Trump a natural born destroyer set out to do just that. Since he took office with total GOP control of our federal government, he has been conducting a master class in doing just that. This president is the most dangerous and corrupt in American history and is an agent of a foreign power and Michelle's oped lays out the play book nicely although I believe as Christine McM correctly points out Trump is a natural born autocrat.
Trump is out of control and his battle with Amazon will soon lead to an attempt to raise the postal rates on packages as a special tax on the owner of the WaPo. Trump violates the Constitution every day he is in office . He remains in power because with very few exceptions congressional Republicans as always put party over country and their prime directive is to remain in power forever. Russian interference or meddle and the overwhelming evidence of collusion means nothing.
The public is now awake and enraged and want their country back we are going to vote thr GOP out of office. They know it and they still act as traitors.
3
If the stock market goes down 25% or more, Republicans will move to remove him. Their love of money and big stock market losses will finally stir them to action, AT LONG LAST!
1
Trump is seeking to destroy a great American company and the economy to pursue his vendetta against the owner of that company. Trump has a thin skin and is a very dangerous threat to our country and to our democracy!
3
I thought using fraud to manipulate stock prices was a crime? Certainly using fraud to devalue stock prices is illegal. So I am waiting for the class action to be filed against Trump personally for his illegal and fraudulent, but successful, attempt to devalue Amazon stock in order to retaliate against Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post. Trump does not understand or care about the law, or the first amendment, all he understands is his own pocketbook. Make him pay for his illegal actions. Maybe we can make Mar-a-Lago into a public golf course - or make him sell it to a Russian oligarch for three times what it's worth.
2
Two points, neither of them briefs for Trump:
-- WaPO *is* a reliable PR organ for Amazon. Uncritical puff-ball articles abound, without disclaimers (who owns the Post, again?).
-- media in Venezuela was for years owned by oligarchs, and routinely advocated for the overthrow of the elected government -- what Americans would call "treason". It remains to be seen how an American administration would deal with a media company which called for its violent overthrow.
"Liberal" shouldn't have to mean "blinkered"....
1
I've been a loyal subscriber to the NYT for over forty continuous years. After reading this opinion piece and then watching those Sinclair anchors reciting their "script" I'm seriously considering subscribing to the Washington Post! Reading the Times and the Post every day won't kill me. To quote one of the comments here: "Without independent media we are doomed."
3
I have been debating adding a Washington Post subscription as a complement to The NY Times. No more debating, time to act.
I wonder how much money the Mercer’s are making on these market tells?
3
Trump is a madman and deeply authoritarian and disrespectful of democratic traditions and civility.
He is a bellicose demagogue and cowardly rabble rouser.
He has no regard for facts, for the truth, and for the essential mission of the free press.
He only cares about riling up his base with his deceptive
lies and slogans. He is not a President, neither thoughtful nor caring. He never reaches for our better angels. He cannot escape his corrupt and detestable character traits.
He is in short a despicable and evil would be tyrant.
He needs to be impeached and to be judged in the court of law and hopefully to receive the justice he deserves in the dustbin of history.
His enablers the Republican Party and his supporters need to re-examine their goals, their Patriotism, and their commitment to the American ideals and to the truth and to facts.
We need to end this nightmare and the Republican Party needs to be transformed into a moderate Conservative party that can engage in a honest dialogue with all Americans and respect the independents and Democrats in our country. We are not enemies but fellow citizens that should be cherished for their ideas and goals even when they differ!
2
Imagine Carl Ichon gives Trump plenty of advice in order to manipulate the market for fun and profit. Those little red and green arrows must bring tears if joy while they feast on cheeseburgers and chocolate cake.
1
Autocratic control of the media depends on uneducated, uninformed viewers to succeed. Unfortunately, we have a lot of those folks in this country. As long as the electoral college gives these people over-representation per capita in the Senate and electoral college, there will be a lot more elections where the loser wins the popular vote.
1
Shouldn't trump register as the agent and propagandist of a hostile foreign government first before going after Americans and our press? It is not that authoritarians only threaten businesses they don't like. They encourage and unfairly help those they do like - like Sinclair while being against AT&T/TW. The worst case is when there is a transfer (theft) of businesses to the cronies.
America is now for sale to the American oligarchs of the future - just as happened in Russia. There is a reason Republicans want to privatize our government - Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security/VA and anything else they can sell to their cronies for pennies on the dollar.
The reality is that whenever trump tweets, starts a trade war and worse, he costs the nation billions - possibly trillions - just look at the stock market and add the cumulative damage he is causing to America and the planet for generations.
Sinclair recently took over the local ABC/FOX station here and the non-ABC programming has started to be filled with trash TV programming created by Sinclair - like ROH wrestling!
The excellent local news now has increasingly polarizing Sinclair produced segments. The final straw for me is the Trumpwelian propaganda the morning host recites in various spots throughout the day. I guess she drew the short straw.
Deadspin and CNN exposed this con for all to see. Fortunately there is still NBC and CBS and PBS for local news - for now, unless trump has some autocratic moves to make on them.
1
I'll bet Bezos' riches are what get under Trump's thin skin the most. To have a man who could buy and sell him treating him with contempt must be galling to Trump's ego. He has no answerability to shareholders because he owns his own companies, so bringing down Amazon shares is a soothing balm to him, no matter hwat damage he does. A childish, greedy, small-minded, irascible, mean-spirited, sulking, lecherous, phony old liar.
2
I think I saw something like this on The Sopranos.
2
Trump has personally thanked Putin, Dutere, Erdogan and Sissi for their election "victories."
He obviously wants to do the same things they do.
America is under siege.
1
They can dish it out but they can't take it. Typical of big mouths.
1
This is straight out of the Mussolini playbook.
Mussolini created a High Commission for the Press before he took total control over Italy all the while insisting that the Commission supported freedom of the press. However, the Commission had an exception to that freedom for acts that were consider contrary to the "Fatherland," which swallowed the rule. Mussolini even said once that “Fascism requires militant journalism,” meaning Italy's newspapers had to support the government's (his) cause. Would someone again point out to me the good Republicans who are coming forward to stop this? I'm still looking.
2
“There are many reasons to be terrified of Amazon’s power, but Trump’s ability to undermine it with a tweet is far scarier.”
The lady doth protest too much, methinks. “The pen is mightier than the sword” has been Goldberg’s operating principle, like forever. And America’s: Trump’s tweets function much like Paine’s pamphlets.
Trump’s tweets appear to be working. Rasmussen, the only polling company to track DAILY presidential approval with LIKELY voters, yesterday had Trump’s approval over 50%.
1
"A Citigroup analysis finds each box gets a $1.46 subsidy. It’s like a gift card from Uncle Sam." —WSJ
Rounding up, Trump was right.
We the People are subsidizing the shipping costs of the first person to top $100 billion as #1 on the Forbes list of the World's Billionaires. Only in America.
Adding insult to the injury of Amazon Prime's fraudulent free delivery, Amazon has stealthily migrated half of my orders from reliable, front-door delivery by UPS to that govt-run-loss-leader-as-business-model-made-possible-by-our-taxes.
The USPS either positions my Amazon package at the curb, (for easy access by drive-by snatchers), against the mailbox post, (careful to keep it within the doggie pee zone), or rams it in the mailbox, pulverizing my real mail (and the reliably-present misdelivered mail of others).
I complained to my local postmaster. She explained that, to decrease the cost of delivering an Amazon package, the carriers are prohibited from leaving their trucks and must put the package in a curbside mailbox or at the curb.
The other half of the packages are delivered by Bezos' own operation, Amazon Logistics, his cynical scheme to deliver (oops) the coup de grace to the USPS and all the other carriers.
2
Excellent points. Moreover, Sinclair is looking to buy Tribune media which will give them vast holdings in broadcast media. The Trump administration will look the other way and approve the merger because, as recently, Sinclair affiliates were forced to read pro conservative editorial statements on the air. Trump will, in effect, have bought his government directed media empire.
2
Bravo! Amazon might be big, but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. People forget that small businesses, some operated out of a garage, also use the Amazon website and can establish a business and get exposure they couldn't afford any other way.
And yes, we must be on guard always, always about DjT and his attitude about the press. He longs for Kingship.
2
Amazon is successful because it provides a good service - membership provides free delivery, on line movies, books and great delivery. Stores cut back quality, sales staff, and merchandise to improve profits. Consumers use Amazon because it’s a great service - I for one do not want Trump telling me how and what to buy. So much for freedom - Trump thinks it’s just for him and Friends! And of course he’s anti- intellectual and CA.
1
With each passing day of Trumpism— it’s popularity; GOP obsequiousness and stacking of our courts it feels as if the fabled Gilead is getting closer to reality.
HRC may have sounded shrill to some or she may have sounded hyperbolic to others, but with each passing day the apocalypse of our democracy appears at hand.
4
Keep this in mind, that $53 billion of lost value was out of your pocket too.
Check your retirement accounts since trumps' war on whomever.
China trade war, the markets have fallen to "correction" levels.
A "safe" investment in AT&T? Down since the trump attacks to the point that the dividend can't make up for the drop.
He has proven that you don't have to understand market mechanisms to destroy a market.
12
Trump is a textbook authoritarian bully who regularly attacks a free press and impartial judiciary. The US is at a stark point in its history, where we can fight back for democracy or sit by and watch the country become another fascist state. If people refuse to think for themselves and buy the lies from the right's propaganda machine then the outcome is clear and we can all kiss our freedoms goodby. They have not yet taken everyone's ability to vote away and we had better utilize it before it is too late.
16
It is surreal, unbelievable, that we have a sitting President trying to muzzle the free press.
18
The fake President Attacked Amazon for unfair business practices and monopolistic behavior. These should have been preceded by attacks on Wal-mart who did more to destroy "Main Street" American retailing than Amazon ever could. Wal-Mart gets a pass because They're Republicans.
18
It instructive to read comments from conservative outlets, particularly from the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, as well as others. It is a completely different world, with a different set of facts that might be regarded with amusement by many who read the Times and Post. We must all show up and vote. It is the ultimate solution, and I never thought our country could so rapidly follow the course of other failed democracies...it may happen. But not if we push back, forcefully.
16
Where are the liberal voices pushing back on the right-wing takeover of media and undermining media that's not (yet) in its control? A free and independent press is our only bulwark against autocracy. This is how we lose democracy!
295
Doris, this is one of the voices among many that are raising the issue. Did you read the article? What about the members of the Republican Party? Shouldn't they be concerned as well?
6
The right-wing has effectively already taken over a large portion of radio and Publishing media. Who exactly is going to publish the voices of the Democrats? Aside from the New York Times that is.
8
There are outraged voices - left and right - that are anguished over the autocratic transformation our country is hurtling toward.
Instead of asking 'where the liberals at', ask instead, 'how do we - right and left - unite to take back our America?
8
Trump is weaponizing our government - presidency-on-down - in ways that only crazy fringe conspiracy theory nuts talked about.
I've never fired a gun, but maybe I need one after all.
5
Amazon's nexus of consumer spending and CIA metadata combined with intuitional control over the preeminent DC news outlet is much more dangerous than Trump. He can be voted out in two years. Citizens have no direct remedy against Amazon.
But attacking Amazon is a no-no because that might hurt the media's anti-Trump impeachment Jihad.
Jeff Bezos's investment is paying off.
3
The Washington Post reports that Trump's attacks on Amazon are part of a broad-based attack on tech companies. It notes similar attacks on Facebook and Google. It has little, if anything, to say about an attack on the Post or any other media outlets.
The Post's stock showed a slight gain for March while the New York Times' stock was basically steady.
Ms. Goldberg likes convoluted conspiracies. She has solved the mystery of collusion by Trump and now the anti-media offensive. I look forward to her telling us how the conflict with North Korea will work out and who is in charge of that conspiracy.
@michjas: Whatever Goldberg may believe pales in comparison to the conspiracies thrown around in right wing (and alt-right) circles. From "pizzagate" to the "Clinton body count" to "Obama's REAL birth certificate" to "paid tragedy actors" to "millions of illegal votes" to whatever Ted Cruz's family may have had to do with JFK's assassination, there's little Trump and far right can't imagine... other than that Trump might have colluded with Russia, obstructed justice and/or cheated on his taxes, of course.
2
Trump wants to change the libel laws so that when someone spreads "Fake News" about him, a public figure, he can sue. It's a case of being careful what you ask for because if Trump ever got what he wanted, a line of people would immediately form outside the courthouse filing to sue him. Amazon, the Washington Post, as well as the NY Times could all sue Trump, all with way better cause. What would be left of Trump's fortune wouldn't be enough to rattle around in the bottom of his Piggy Bank.
3
Remember that Trump has quietly spent his time installing right-wing judges in the judicial posts, the posts left unfilled because the republicans in Congress refused to okay nominees. Merrill Garland x 100.
Who will rule against The Boss?
1
The population of the United States need to speak up against this wannabe dictator--maybe do something like boycott his July 4 military parade--would be beautiful if he and his flunkies were the only ones watching.
6
Michelle Goldberg keeps her eye on the critical action.
We are watching, right out in the open, a conspiracy to overthrow America's democracy.
6
I have a subscription to the Washington Post as well as the NYTimes. I may go shop on Amazon today to show support for someone who brings us all good investigative journalism.
6
Democrats need to run on the corruption issue - a real promise to clean it up
Regulate privacy on the internet
Bring back the fairness doctrine
Break up Sinclair
Investigate the NRA, Sinclair and Fox for money laundering and tax fraud
4
Wasn’t Trump
Bragging for not paying taxes “because I am smart”?
Bezoe should be no different - the law apply to all.
As for the Twitter feast: what kind of 71 years old man resort to name-calling when he does not have a well rounded argument? This is what pre-trends do!
6
Trump has a history of bragging about harassing his enemies. He likes to brag that if someone attacks him he attacks them even harder. So it is no surprise that Trump is engaging in his harassment of Bezos.
Bezos has legal standing to challenge Trumps harassment in a court of law. Trump's lies about Amazon not paying taxes constitutes a restraint of trade and interference with interstate commerce. Trump's false and fraudulent accusations against Bezo's and Amazon is intentionally libelous and defamatory. That's a crime in most states.
6
Nixon was as vindictive as anyone ever in the WH. He even hand an "enemies list" which backfired a bit when almost everyone eventually wanted to be on it.
But he knew his limits, what the nation would tolerate, and acted with more restraint than he wished to use.
America seems to believe that it is normal, just, reasonable for our sitting POTUS to carry on vendettas against people he hates. And Trump hates Bezos, for reasons only his narrow mind understand. Trump attacks Bezos through his company, ranting about taxes not sufficiently being paid while daring anyone in the country to ask HIM "what about YOUR taxes, Mr. President?"
For those who voted for Trump, is this really what you want a president to do, to carry on vendettas that are personal and to ignore the major problems our country is facing at a growing rate?
319
Sajwert--Yes, this is exactly what they want. Problems? They don't see any problems. They think everything is hunky dory. They are the deplorables.
8
Sajwert in NH - What are you talking about? Were you even born for Nixon? He knew his limits?? Nixon said, "A think is legal if the President does it." You can't just invent history to suit your own outrage.
A deranged parroting of nonsense points about this minor and historically unimportant President is absurd. The Congress checks him every step, and it's his Congress. It's people like this author using his social media posts to earn her payday that lift those worthless bits of spew to importance. Jeff Bezos is laughing at Trump.
America is correct that this is normal for Donald Trump. Most of us are not suited for every job, and most of us settle in a place where we do not cause that much harm and try to do some good. This is sadly an enormous exception. America fought a war to escape a monarchy, and we diminish the returns on the sacrifice of our founding generation when we elect unethical, small-minded or unprepared leaders.
Our main advantage over our geopolitical rivals is the openness that welcomes talent (like Mr. Bezos) and new ideas (like online shopping) and fights the corruption (like a lot of things) which stifles closed societies. The more we squander these advantages, the more we risk our place in the world and our economic growth.
While I did not vote for Trump, I strongly prefer that he ignores the major problems our country is facing to rolling the dice with what he feels like doing about any of them. There will be a new administration at some point, likely one facing a giant backlog.
6
I keep posting this same refrain; we get the government we deserve. Trump did not take over in a coup. He was elected by just slightly less than half the American voters. Yes, a majority knew he was an ignorant conman, but then so did many of the people who voted for him. Now about 40% of this country says the APPROVE of what he's doing. It may be true that only about half of those are true believers, but it doesn't really matter. Forty percent of this country simply doesn't care that an ignorant, belligerent autocrat - wanabe is fracturing the country.
Whatever happens we did this. In the immortal words of Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
6
Why can’t Bezos sue Trump for defamation and damages for the monetary losses incurred because of Trump’s tweets? He shouldn’t have the twitter trigger to destroy Bezos’ empire.
6
It gets scarier and scarier. Trump, the national joke; Trump supporters, the national shame; Fox, the national propaganda outlet; Republicans in Congress, the nation's traitors.
There are some very despicable people working hard to destroy America. The ones in public office were put there by people who should not be allowed to vote. Mob mentality is not a democratic exercise.
Fox should not have a license to pollute media and minds. Propaganda is not a democratic exercise.
Republicans in Congress must be voted out before they do more harm. And prosecuted as traitors. Traitors are not a democratic exercise.
Trump was not democratically elected. The election was tampered with by Russians working with and for Trump. That is not a democratic exercise.
If we want to keep our republic, we need to confront these threats. We need to take the survival of America seriously. We need to recognize that there are despicable people who mean America deadly harm.
Seven months to step one. Don't leave it to someone else to save America. Do your part.
8
Can’t all these billionaires Trump is attacking, do something about Trump?
5
Good to see Trump pick on somebody bigger and smarter than himself. Bezos won't have to openly set Trump up, he can hire somebody to his dirty work just the way Trump does. Except Bezos is much smarter than Trump and his set up will be smarter too.
Keep it up, Don, back yourself into that corner!
5
In 2017 James Warren, in an extended piece in Vanity Fair, chronicled the New York Times and The Washington Post. It is telling that just as Times patriarch Adolph S. Ochs was founding the New York Times in 1896 with a credo "To Give the News Impartially, Without Fear or Favor," Donald Trump's grandfather Friedrich Trump, after arriving from Germany, made his fortune in hotels and prostitution. Whatever one may think of Bezos, his only interest in the Post was that it was undervalued. Bezos sought to alter the Post from "making a comparatively large amount of money on a relatively small number of consumers to a relatively small amount of money on a far larger group." Bezos needed high quality reporting to accomplish this, so he named legendary American journalist Marty Baron executive editor of the Post and then let him and his staff do their jobs. Trump only became the dominant story in both the Times and the Post because of his unprecedented corruption, his lies, and his attacks on democratic institutions. Warren documented how Trump has so systematically undermined truth that "many Americans won't believe a thing either newspaper says, no matter how great the accuracy, attention to detail, or fair-mindedness." Warren ended in stating that "The most troubling question is not whether the Times or the Post…can continue to perform to a superior standard. It is whether Trump and people like him have so degraded basic notions of fact and authority that truth no longer matters."
8
I've written extensively on how Trump, and those around him, and those on the far-right, have nearly destroyed the very basic notions of fact, the very idea that truth matters. Trump is obsessed with the Washington Post and the New York Times because the quality and accuracy of the reporting has consistently revealed his corruption. Goldberg's detailing how authoritarians like Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan used authoritarian state power to financial destroy independent media and transform it into state propaganda is terrifying. Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post are particularly susceptible to this very same strategy currently employed by Trump. Bezos (and hence, Amazon) never had the least bit of interest in pursuing Trump, just as the Times had no such interest. The Times did it to uphold its credo "To Give the News Impartially, Without Fear or Favor." Bezos obtained the post because he considered it to be undervalued. In offering the highest quality reporting he could increase readership and value. Political or ideological bias had absolutely nothing to do with it. However, since the Bezos model is based on the idea that there is a demand for excellent reporting, if Trump continues to exploit his position and government resources to financially damage Amazon and the Post, it is very likely that Bezos will follow those who sold independent media in Russia and Turkey because like the Putin, Trump will drive the Post to the brink of financial ruin.
2
As long as Trump attacks Amazon, I will support them.
7
Publish criticism and lose 53 billion. Use and allow Facebook to sell user data to falsely win the presidential election and then say nothing.
Instead of leading America to an equitable and prosperous future, Trump spends his time either in acts of revenge or on the golf course.
4
There is only one "total joke" in this country today: the Trump administration. But no one is laughing.
3
The ad hominem attacks, whether on media outlets, companies, or individuals both within and outside of government should be an ear-splitting alarm that Trump is not fit for service. Leaders of genuine democracies do not do these things.
But Trump is himself and will not change. More distressing is the silence from Republican leaders in Congress who should be condeming this behavior, calling for it to stop, and sending a warning shot by legislatively securing the completion of the Mueller investigation. Our democracy is under attack. We all have to defend it, especially those who are in the best position to do so.
3
Sinclair's purchase of Tribune is a lousy $3.9 billion....cannot the "do gooder" multi-billionaires write a cheque for a bit more and upset Sinclair's "plans" for American?! They could then turn all those stations into "public service" stations with independent Boards, etc. It's not like this Dept. of Justice or this FCC (which already changed two rules to allow the buy to happen) are going to do anything about it.
3
The Handmaid's Tale...in real life. Wake up and vote.
5
How do we know Trump isn't engaging in stock manipulation -- shorting Amazon, then posting an inflammatory tweet, driving the stock down?
4
The Bezos narrative makes Trump furious because he has bankrupted six times and more than four decades after inheriting two hundred million dollars of business he has squandered ten billion and has assets around two billion unless he resolves his liens and lawsuits in which case he has still less. Where serious wealth reigns Trump is a seventy year old flop. One year of his presidency tells us why and how. His impulses are childish and his instincts those of a lemming fleeing for a suicidal cliff. Ever since he could no longer borrow from a US bank Trump became an embarrassment in the business world and so we will eventually learn that he is motivated more by the corrupt core of his finances than by trade principles, tax principles or a return to manufacturing opportunities that existed fifty years ago. He rants to distract his audience from the snakes on the ground at their feet. He envies Bezos and so he will use his new power to bring him down if he can.
6
Trump hates everything that Jeff Bezos is. An innovative bookseller, a newspaper publisher and, above all, a truly successful businessman,by far wealthier than he is.
In a typical autocrat’s tactic,Trump is trying to prove himself superior by spreading lies about his opponent , attacking the press and surrounding himself with a small group of loyal advisors who will give him only the advice he wants to hear.
That he causes economic and social upheaval in the process means nothing to this president, whose petty vindictiveness knows no boundaries.
Many past autocrats used book burning as a way to silence those who wrote and read them.
Trump is not likely to do that. The only written words he considers valuable are his own tweets.
4
. Of course we know the their criminal intents. But we may suffer now from trump fatigue. Too many hogs at the White House trough. I hope we will expand our protests, elect progressive candidates, and prevent the obscene decline of USA.
3
This is truly terrifying. We are doomed without a free press. The reporters and editors at the NYT and the Washington Post are truly the new Public Servants - thank you Ms. Goldberg.
4
Amazon and the Bezos conglomerate are on my avoid list. Not that I have anything against Bezos as a person - as opposed to Trump - I just don't like the monopoly. BUT, the sure way to re-evaluate this opinion is to hear Trump excoriate Amazon/Bezos. There must be something worthwhile in it if Trump is against it. I know - that's juvenile reasoning, but at 84 I can do it!
3
Kellyanne Conway got in trouble for suggesting people buy Ivanka's stuff. Is the President really allowed to viciously tank stocks merely to seek revenge on his enemies while hurting stockholders in the process?
It goes two ways. Who might he be tipping off to these Twitter rants? The press isn't allowed into Mar-a-largo. Perhaps Mueller should look into the stock trades of the club's members.
2
Message for Jeff Bazos: Trump always sends up “trial balloons” before he does something, to sample public opinion, and to see if he can get by with—whatever he wants to do. For example, he tweeted about DACA for months before finally declaring it totally dead. Now YOU are the target, because he’s tweeting about YOU. Do you REALLY want to wait until Trump has built up a good head of steam and gotten his allies together to tear down Amazon, or at least damage it severely? Don’t think he won’t try; there are a lot of trophy heads on his wall right now, some of which were supported by the majority of Americans.
Personally, I don’t like your company; but I imagine that you do. If you want to save it, the time to fight back is NOW, before it’s too late.
2
The autocrats whom you describe Erdogan and Putin are like slithering snakes who swallow whole any vestiges of opposition and criticism and run unopposed in their unfree elections. Their people seemingly love their Big Brothers. However, a majority of the people in this country voted for Hillary Clinton, despite the Asange/ Russian hackings and disinformation attacks. A majority of people will vote in the mid-term elections to overturn the crooked GOP candidates and free this country from being swallowed up in Trump’s corruption and collusion.
The free press in this country that a Trump slanders and fears is what has kept us free and informed as a people.
He can embrace like the snake he is Sinclair while defaming Bezos but his actions are as slithering as his crooked mind. And to think that he does this on Easter Day shows his calumny. He will have his day with Mueller, and the American people will have their day in November. Oh, and keep Putin out of our White House. Both he and a Trump need to be detoxified.
4
Investigative reporters need to "double down" on Trump and his White House authoritarian thugs who seek to undermine this nation. This will require even more deep, well-sourced, hard hitting journalism broadly exposing this dangerous, creeping fascism. Let story after story, replete with inside, off the record, incriminating quotes from these offenders be the transparency antidote to their secret, diabolical machinations. Now is the time for an accelerated, hyper focused First Amendment counterattack to an unprecedented presidential assault on our precious freedoms. We're depending upon you Ms. Goldberg, and your colleagues!
2
We have seen this playbook many times over many years. Italy, Germany, Russia, any number of Africa Nations, and now we have our own home-grown despot. Yes, it CAN happen here because the lure of the strongman savior is very appealing to the aggrieved disenfranchised. And the Republican Party has been stoking that resentment for decades now. Nixon started it with the "Southern Strategy" It runs through Reagan -- "Government is the problem," and culminates in what we have now -- Trump. Sad. And dangerous.
3
Trump may have downsided Amazon's market valuation but I doubt they lost much business or profit. Trump is plenty scary but like most dictators / bullies he is scariest when his attacks really sullies the will to our Democracy, our values of fair play, and our institutions. Amazon will march on with perhaps more funding for an honest press.
2
In the balance of power, Amazon probably gains from the attack from the leader of the 37%. What The Donald is unleashing is a backlash against whatever he is pushing. The Donald is threatened by Amazon and WaPo - buy more stuff and a get a subscription. I have a subscription to the "failing" NYT because of The Donald's fretful attacks on it. Eventually, the Donald will make the Chinese and the North Koreans into sympathetic players. The man has zero moral compass and less sense - once he has dissed a person/company/nation, we should be sure that the opposite of his claims are true. Think he'll make it all the way to 2020?
2
Trump has been preparing his disinforming and disorienting field of battle with antics, seemingly, which draw disbelief and mockery, yes, but ultimately abandonment to despair. This illuminating comparison stiffens the spine for going on, and getting him everything he deserves.
1
Gotta love that Sinclair Group. No doubt they missed the huge irony that they are engaging in the exact behavior they are decrying with their statement.
4
What's happening in this country seems a bit like the gruesome metaphor of boiling a frog by gradually raising the flame under the pot so that the poor animal doesn't know it's dying until it's dead. To those Americans who keep a close eye on the news, events might seem to be unfolding very rapidly and they're painfully aware that democracy is in danger of dying. But most Americans seem not to pay close attention to the news, much less do the needed research to vet their news sources, and these are precisely the people who'll be most susceptible to Sinclair's devious propaganda. This highlights the rather sickening fact that over 40% of Americans don't vote in national elections, a fact which seems to reflect the degree of apathy that exacerbates the threat to democracy instigated by Sinclair.
2
To "someone who keeps a close eye on the news" I think that trump has picked a tiger to fight with. Most of us do not invest and are not as hurt by the market as they would be if Amazon got hurt. As a non-trumpet, living in a rural area, I watch the company listen to their critics and heed the concerns of their customers AND employees. And I continue to shop the company because of its superior marketing, its inventory, delivery and attention to customers. All businesses need to tune-up regularly and this is where a free press comes in. No free press no changes. I read the not failing WaPo and think their news platform is on par with the NYT.
3
I think there are a lot of people like me who invest through a 401k or an IRA, and I think Trump's amateurish, ill-advised trade war is going to backfire because he did particularly well among elderly voters, and they're going to see their retirement funds take a big hit as the market sinks. Also, the folks in the farm belt who voted for him will suffer from China's retaliatory tariffs on farm products. Hopefully, he'll be impeached before we even get to the next presidential election; but if he isn't, I think he might find his base has shrunk as a result of his stupid policies.
For the sake of our country, we have to, somehow, rid ourselves of this Autocrat Wannabe before our country is just like Russia.
How? It must come in November. There must be such a huge blue tsunami wave that the Republicans can't 'fix' the results, can't suppress enough votes, can't pad their votes and do what Trump railed about during the 2016 elections: rig the November election in their favor.
If Republicans remain in complete control after November 2018, I do not see our country remaining a democracy. Trump will become an Erdogan, a Duterte, a Putin (whom he either is in love with or being blackmailed by).
Trump For Life? Is that what America's future holds? Trump Forever? And when he dies, Ivanka takes over?
No thanks. Vote this November like your life in our democracy depends upon it. Because it does.
5
I am a regular customer of Amazon, I don’t buy the argument about anti trust, they are creative and efficient. The good news is that their stock is also a good buy now thanks to the foolishness of the current occupier of the White House.
3
It would be interesting to know if friends of the President were shorting Amazon stock before his tweets. Carl Ichan reportedly profited when the steel tariffs were announced, but with the volume as high as it is no one followed up. Is this just another gross market manipulation to help “friends” or is that just a side benefit of the bully pulpit? Has the SEC already been neutered?
196
To Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnel:
Imagine how very good you will feel, and how much you will be admired by the vast majority of Americans, if the two of you joined together to forcefully condemn this terrible President of ours.
You will go down in history as heroes, as Saviors of the American Way of Life. You will be feted like Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson are celebrated today. There will be books written about you today and 200 years from now. Your families will be proud of you. Your great-grandchildren will cherish their family names.
And, as a bonus, you will be made even wealthier than you can imagine — all for doing the right thing.
I am a student of American history. I love our nation and enjoy reading about our struggle for independence and our early baby steps as we formed the most powerful and most admired nation on earth. I understand what giants men like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln and FDR were.
You truly can be among these founding fathers with respect to your contributions to the USA. BUT, you must change course. Please do the right thing. Please speak out loudly, clearly, and with the inherent power of your positions. Strongly and unequivocally condemn this horrible President who is destroying our 242-year history and the amazing work of our forefathers.
Please act now, before it is too late.
4
Allrighty then, so..
Trump speaks privately with Putin?
Apparently yes, he does. All the intelligence we have on their conversations seems to come from the Russian side.
This American tragedy is getting really inconvenient.
3
"disoriented by disinformation"
Three words that describe much of our country so well today.
And there are two related phenomena which work together with disinformation to amplify the problem -- the inability (or cynical unwillingness) to measure differences, resulting in what is known as "whataboutery", and the sheer overabundance of readily available information in our modern connected world.
It's what they call a toxic stew.
You hate Trump? Well, what about Hillary?! In so many of these cases, not only are the Trump transgressions considerably worse AND more pervasive, but those they are compared against are either wholly manufactured or grossly exaggerated by the Republican propaganda machine, with help from various "regime-friendly" media and, apparently, Russian interference.
Disinformation, inability to measure, and too much information altogether.
Those who would lead in the future must be willing and able to confront these related issues above & beyond the more mundane issues of governance.
What a time to be alive! ;-)
2
Investors who sell a stock based on childish Trump tweets should be ashamed of themselves. Does it occur to anyone that American high school students are showing far more courage, intelligence and commitment to democracy than our average investment counselor or institutional investor? Think about that. It ought to be almost automatic. If Trump criticizes a company, buy its stock. If he pumps up a company, sell.
259
Democracy's last bulwark against tyranny is a free press which, in turn, is buttressed by the critical thinking ability of the people. Given that, I'd say we're in a heap of trouble.
11
I pay taxes on some products that I buy from Amazon, and more and more my packages are not delivered by USPS, but by individuals in their cars.
Amazon was here before Trump was president, and it will be here after he is gone.
10
This is one of the most alarming aspects of the Trump presidency, and Republican orthodoxy: a press that is not subservient to their agenda is an enemy to destroy.
When citizens in a putative democracy can not or will not trust the information they need to vote in an informed manner, they are ripe for manipulation.
20
Neither Amazon nor Bezos is perfect. But, when compared to Trump, there is no contest. Concerned citizens as well as smart investors should respond to Trump's rants with explicit support for Bezos who, among other things, is actually a good businessman. At this moment, who better represents the interests and values of our society, Trump or Bezos? In this dispute, we have an excellent example of what is at stake: Differences over policies should not prevent coming together to resist those who are a threat to the social and constitutional order.
29
The best thing Amazon has going for it is Trump, because a majority of Americans consider anything that comes out of his mouth either a lie or nonsense, and they're not wrong. That said, Lina Kahn, the author of the report on Amazon's monopoly strategies and ambitions, and their engaging in predatory pricing to advance their interests, this issue should be looked at and acted upon by the FTC. Amazon is a predator company, and it needs to be stopped just as much as Trump needs to be stopped. That both are evil can be true, but Amazon might even be more dangerous to the future of American business because Jeff Bezos is a heck of a lot smarter than Trump.
7
America is on a path towards the collapse of Democracy as Trump, Fox, Sinclair and the wealthy control more and more of the information the general public has to be informed..
In speaking to Trump supporters I am amazed how ill informed and clueless they are. It's as though they live in a different universe where up is down and the truth is fake news..
22
I won’t be holding my breath waiting for Fox to register as lobbyists for trump.
34
To examine potential unregulated monopolies is one thing. Our World today seems resigned to them: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, et al. They have insinuated themselves so cleverly into our daily lives we actually have to set aside a day where we force ourselves to spend it "free" from whatever we can't seem to live without.
What Trump is not doing is scrutinizing Amazon for adhering to its corporate responsibilities. With Trump it's not business, it's personal. Trump hates Bezos and the Washington Post, and wants to do it harm. Trump is a book you can judge by its cover. He's as blatant about his intentions as he is about everything. If you criticize him he makes you the enemy to be destroyed. If you praise this bumbling Caesar he will do everything above and beyond the Law to protect you. Trump is the last person you'd want as president. America, you messed up royally.
DD
Manhattan
272
And, well, since when is this acceptable behavior for a President to lash out at captain's of industry and regular people? It's forboding and I ache for the day the Republicans will stand up against it. What a worthless party, they are.
17
If you are counting on this president to protect you if it does not also benefit him, good luck to you.
3
Amazon isn't going out of business no matter what Trump says. If anything, the Washington Post just got a prestige bump. We also don't know how much of Amazon's market dive is attributable to Trump's tweet. Some part of the $53 billion is related to the general economic slide as markets react to Trump's Trade War.
If China is deploying sanctions, you're probably wise to cash out some Amazon stocks now. How much of Amazon's 44% market share has a Chinese supply chain? As a massive online retailer, they are massively exposed. The expectation of retaliation from Trump certainly doesn't help but Amazon was going to take a hit this week anyway.
As for Trump showering praise on other news outlets, he's preaching to the converted. Anyone with the least sense of media awareness understands the bias of their news outlet and diversifies accordingly. A Washington post subscriber is not going to drop the subscription because of something Trump says. That same subscriber isn't going to watch more Fox News either. Trump is ultimately inconsequential.
Speaking of inconsequential, we're done with Trump in a few years anyway. Worst case scenario: 6 years, 9 months, and 18 days but who's counting? If WaPo goes under before that time, I'll be concerned. Until that time, I'll continue not watching my local news station because I never did in the first place. I suggest you do the same.
10
@Andy: "A Washington post subscriber is not going to drop the subscription because of something Trump says."
Too true--in fact, I subscribed to the WaPo after Trump started his attacks, and I like reading it. Thanks, Trump.
15
The Sinclair group rather insideous slither into local media propaganda is one of the most frightening assaults on truth and democracy today. At least with Fox, most people KNOW they are a right wing biased distributor of opinion, but bias has until recently stayed out of local news. Sinclair's "must reads" figured heavily in local broadcast news in many areas of the country during the 2016 election, or were heavily accompanied by Republican election ads. The upcoming possible merger with Tribune gives this propaganda wing of right wing politics far too much power over information people receive. If we had a sane government at this time, it would never be allowed.
31
Time for honorable companies to withdraw advertising money from Sinclair stations. Money is the only currency, pun intended, that these immoral and unethical entities respond to. Witness Ann Coulter.
68
I meant Laura Ingraham - they all sound and look alike, sorry, but there you are...
2
While unsurprising at this point, the deafening silence of Republicans on the leader of their party misusing his bully pulpit to self-servingly criticize American companies (often using lies and deception in doing so ) is absolutely appalling. There are legitimate channels and processes in the federal government to raise questions about the business practices of Amazon (and others), consumer choice, and the marketplace. Trump's Twitter account, and the tone with which he uses it to spread erroneous information, is not one of them.
30
When it comes to Trump it is always about him. Do you think for a second he really thinks of details of Internet retail the creative destruction it has caused and the vast number of jobs that have been created in other areas as a result. Not a chance unless FOX news did a segment and even then it would probably be a 45 second blurb that barely scratched the surface.
This is both jealousy of Their success and most importantly the fact that the CEO always owns a newspaper that does not write puff pieces flattering Trump but reports real news. Wait until Mueller wraps up in a year or two and does a data dump that not only proves collusion but points to financial crimes in a Trumps past. We have not even seen the tip of the iceberg and Trump knows that.
19
Trump's broadscale assault on WaPo's owner is only half the story.
He spent the weekend dining and golfing with Fox News' Sean Hannity, and on Monday Hannity lit up the airwaves on the "civil war" that "corrupt" and "power hungry" Robert Mueller would spark:
"This country is headed toward a civil war in terms of two sides that are just hating each other, and if Robert Mueller wants, there's a big red button in the middle of the table. And if Robert Mueller is so pompous and so arrogant and so power hungry and so corrupt that he's going to hit the red button, he's going to ignite a battle that we've not seen in this country before. . . . [T]here's going to be two sides of this that are fighting and dividing this country at a level we've never seen, and you're basically going to have two sides in America--those that stand for truth and those that literally buy into the corrupt Deep State attacks against a duly elected president. And that's what it's going to be."
What is so terrifying is not just that our perhaps-not-so-duly-elected president promotes sympathetic media outlets like Sinclair and disparages and seeks to undermine those that speak truth to power. It is that he appears be actively using his most sympathetic outlet to promote his message that any challenge to his power is corrupt--and to call for a holy war in the event Mueller's investigation challenges the legitimacy of his presidency.
37
It would be interesting to have a full disclosure of ownership for all media outlets (broadcast, print and internet) assembled in one place. I know our local print media was merged under one large conservative group but also know the publisher and editor of our local paper. Once the merger was done, local news dropped by one half, many more published "letters to the editor" now came from outside the area and were published simultaneously or sequentially in many local newspapers and the local editorials had to be approved by the headquarters. It was a very subtle takeover that most readers barely noticed but now local papers are at the whim of a conservative corporate group across 4 states. Sinclair and Murdoch are doing the same thing, making sure that conservative group think is entrenched across the country.
18
I found at Daily Kos a list of Sinclair owned stations. Seeing that it owns one in Austin, I immediately wrote the station that I would no longer be one of their viewers. And that I intend to encourage others to join me in boycotting heir many sponsors.
I understand, of course, that journalists employed by a local television station have no say in the matter if a Pravda-like company buys them out. But I refuse to be silent while Sinclair and Trump blatantly manipulate and attack our free press. We all must speak out and resist this assault on democracy.
47
Trump's war with Amazon is really a war against The Washington Post, also owned by Jeff Bezos, and any other media outlets critical of Trump. We are now in the second phase of an attempt by the right-wing to completely destroy any media not aligned with the objectives of the right. For decades the religious-right bombarded the public with their message culminating in the election of Donald Trump. Never would a Democrat as morally flawed as Trump have received support from Evangelicals. The persistent message from Trump that most of the media is "fake news" will continue. Sinclair Broadcasting and wealthy right-wing individuals will continue to buy radio and television stations. Unfortunately, there seems to be little resistance from the left.
14
Behold the decline of democracy and its enlightenment values.
If this trend continues we’ll be starting over, from scratch.
Well, if there’s a bright side, hard work breeds character... in theory.
8
Unfortunately there are 2 issues being conflated here. Because Trump is desperate to hold and consolidate power, he is attacking any institution that either disagrees with him or holds equal or more power and is threatened by Amazon because of the power of the free press, i.e. the Washington Post, among others. In the eyes of many consumers Amazon holds far too much power already and they think it needs to be contained, not realizing that Amazon itself is the secondary target and Bezos and his Washington Post are Trump's primary targets. Trump's rage taps into the rage of the less powerful among us who then see Amazon as the enemy of "free" trade. The truth is far more sinister- Trump is the enemy of democracy itself.
29
We can only hope that the strength of American constitutional institutions is sufficient to resist the authoritarian encroachments of a president who has neither regard nor respect for them. I am not very sanguine about this, but will be much relieved if congressional control changes hands this November, which can't come soon enough.
11
I love Amazon! I'm not getting younger and when those NE winds howl and snow blankets the ground, I can rely on Amazon to have what I need and get it to me quickly. I have no idea if it needs to be regulated more but, I'll learn about that.
I do know that the world of retail has been changing for years, Amazon gets that and now, other stores do too. ( e.g Wal Mart)
I also believe this is a not so thinly veiled attack on WaPo more than anything else and that the man in the White House abuses his position to rail against real and perceived enemies. Keep shopping and resisting!
12
My dream: Bezos buys the Trump Organization and then unloads it piece by piece. Trump is going to need cash to pay whatever remaining attorneys there are who are willing to work for him and, thanks to Mueller, he can't go to the Russians looking for loans.
10
Amazon is a model of efficiency and marketplace success which is one big reason Walmart is busting its tail to compete with it. That used to be hailed as a benefit of the free market. The fact that Mr. Bezos owns the Washington Post doesn't concern me. Most large media is owned by entities unrelated to publishing. Taxes? You have to be kidding! Where are Team Trump's returns? And, imperfect as it is, the Post Office does in my opinion a good job and its relationship to Amazon seems to be a good deal. Note to Democrats: Where is your response to these attacks?
18
Cannot be any clearer that our president needs to put in check in the November mid term election as the silence of his party makes them part of the problem.
12
This one of our challenges to our democracy. It can be addressed and successfully overcome if we can find the resolve, but it does seem that democracy is at stake. Yet simply put, we have only to learn to be citizens for it to pass.
4
And just how do you get citizenship lessons past the Trump TV talking heads at Faux News? It's not likely they will ever mention that this is not normal, or right, or healthy.
In fact, it seems that the Trump TV "news"-readers are a large part of the problem. Talk to a Faux watcher--he won't know most of the basic factual news you know--it isn't covered unless it puffs up Trump's already over-inflated ego.
1
It just takes organization and will. Several people have devised ways to do this. I have one of them. It is not that hard, it just requires the will of the people.
How did Amazon get to be so big? Are there no laws preventing this type of business? Do they break the law in the business model they follow? Are there no regulations to prevent them from doing what they do? What about CVS and Walgreens? They put every local pharmacy out of business years ago. Where was the outcry then? When corporate America moved profits off shore, did they break the law? How did Trump avoid taxes? Fraud? I believe he called it "being smart". And if the "little guy" is all of a sudden so important, why is the Consumer Protection Bureau being dismantled? If regulations are terrible for business, why, all of a sudden, are they necessary? Why pick on one company? Most corporations try to be just like Amazon. I bet you we wouldn't be having this conversation at all if Amazon had been k own as Trump all this time. I don't agree with Amazon, but if what you want to do is level the playing field, there needs to be rules put in place, not removed. It's called regulation. OK, level the field. But just punishing the most successful business will only allow another company to do the exact same thing. And my subscription to the Post is not up for sale.
10
Jimbo,
Brush up on anti-trust laws. They are already in place and yes, Amazon and Walmart violate them. But with political races funded by business, this is what you get.
1
Trump would not be a treat if the Republican congress was not already in the hands of the plutocrats such as the Koch coalition and the Mercer family. The SCOTUS will not protect us as the republican appointees are already pawns. Resist!
21
Amazon started out as an online book seller and with a book order the company would slip in stamps from the post office as a small treat. As Amazon grew the stamp treat was eliminated but I am sure the company is what keeps the Post Office in business now -- along with FedEx, DHL, and other private shipping entities. To be sure, Trump doesn't care about a thriving business like Amazon. I am sure he holds plenty of their stock. Trump is after the Washington Post.
30
I just spent several months deep in Trump country and almost all use Amazon or Amazon Prime. Many know that they get packages delivered on Sundays because of Amazon. One company not to mess with.
10
And when are those people going to start turning on Trump? I'm sure the farmers in Iowa aren't too happy with him. When will it cause enough Trump voters to turn? What will it take?
8
The Trump supporters will not turn until Fox, Hannity and Limbaugh give them permission to think.
That is not likely anytime soon.
Trump is described as taking a hard-line on this or that. There are no lines in Trump's sallies into American life, whether it be on immigration, on trade, or on Mexico's bill for the wall. Trump is more like a series of dashes that go in all directions. Maybe it's dots and dashes--maybe a Morse code expert might make sense of the mess.
15
Thank you for this article. The Sinclair takeovers are particularly scary. They're trying to buy the Tribune company, which runs one of the better, more balanced TV stations here in central Iowa. Iowa is bad enough as it is, but if Sinclair controls this (and far right wing outlets the rest), we are doomed. If the people never see opinions (or even facts) from the center or left, how can we possibly dig ourselves out of this hole? After nuclear war, this might be the most terrifying prospect of the Trump administration.
40
Not necessarily doomed. Just don't watch a Sinclair-owned station and alert your friends and family (at least those who are open to reason) to which station(s) to avoid. You can Google sources to find out which stations are " infected".
Get your news from a source you trust, even if it means just on the internet. I think PBS Newshour is great for national and world news & culture. For local news and weather, find alternatives and boycott Sinclair stations.
8
Television's role in delivering news and information is shrinking every day. 57 percent of adults 65 report watching local news. That figure drops by half to 28 percent for 30-49 year-olds. Only 18 percent of the adults under thirty watch local news.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/05/fewer-americans-rely-on-...
This in no way justifies Sinclair's deceptive attempt at mind control, but its effects could be fairly limited. Probably a large fraction of the viewers of local newscasts on Sinclair affiliates already agree with the attacks on "fake news." The more persuadable aren't watching.
4
Many people won't even be aware they are watching a Sinclair station...they won't know that what is being presented as "fact" is really hard right wing propaganda. Many Fox viewers still think they are watching "fair and balanced" because they are not in an area where center or center left, much less liberal views are even available. It's a slow moving brainwash of the entire country.
1
All you have to remember is that Trump has used "rule" as a description of the role of the President for both himself and his predecessors. When one rules one can do as he wishes.
21
The man who would be "king" ... if you've ever done an in depth study of the erratic personality of Henry VIII especially in his later years as I have you will see many similar traits....constant turnover of advisors (off with their heads!), need for constant flattery, changing positions on policy from morning to afternoon, womanizing, multiple wives, absolute power - even over the church, constantly showing off wealth...and so on.
4
I really really wish I had an exit strategy from this mess but as someone about to turn sixty I don't think Australia would take me. I guess I have no choice but to fight until the end.
77
My wife and I just moved to Costa Rica. It's beautiful here, excellent health care and many benefits for retirees. They just completed their presidential elections where an anti gay trumpish character lost by 20%.This in a predominantly Catholic Country. The problem is that all our money still resides in the states in retirement accounts and Social Security. The very things Republicans are intent on destroying in order to further enrich their masters. While I can still vote in presidential elections and I left a firmly blue district in California, my only regret is a sense of abandoning the fight. But,then, I do have the satisfaction of living in a functioning democracy.
13
Chris, I'm 66 and am thinking I must get out of here if, somehow, he continues to rule the country with the criminal Republican Congress after November. I feel an urgency I have never felt before. I am up on ladders all day painting my living space so I can rent it out and leave this country.
I will not live under an American Dictator. I refuse.
4
I think Costa Rica is too expensive for me. I'm looking at Nicaragua. Bad politics? Maybe. But at least I won't be sitting in my country as it slides into Trumplandia.
Michelle Goldberg's piece about Trump vs. Amazon overlooked an old -- but nevertheless true -- adage which perfectly crystallizes why his media-bashing will eventually fail: "Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel."
144
This old adage is increasingly of less value in an age where information is consumed not through ink, but electronic pixels.
16
Alan Grossberg, as an old newspaperman, I'd like to agree with you about the power of buying ink by the barrel. However, today the currency of communication is not counted in barrels of ink.
Digital electrons are the means of mass communication now, and the propaganda power of Sinclair radio and Fox TV can't be denied, especially when supplemented by an army of internet bots and dittoheads spreading the scripted lies and misinformation of the Trump-Pence regime.
When a purposefully evil tweet by a sociopath in the White House can move humankind toward destruction in a matter of seconds, no storehouse of ink will save democracy.
This regime must go. We have to start by sweeping its Republican enablers out of Congress in November. Otherwise, American democracy is in mortal danger.
20
I hope you are right. SInclair scares the... stuff out of me.
4
I am not a fan of Amazon. It's predatory and monopolistic nature could have been inspired by Ayn Rand in its total disregard for decent working conditions for its employees in the name of customer 'satisfaction'.
That said, Trump's hostility towards Bezos is probably on a much more personal level. A successful self-made man and adopted son of Cuban refugees, Trump cannot stomach Bezos' undeniably American Dream story which has propulsed the latter to the status as richest person in the world at the relatively young age of 55....
160
Amazon's workers in the order fulfillment, shipping and packing areas need to be unionized and paid decent wages. This is the "factory" worker job of the 21st century.
10
Let's hope all the right-wing judges Trump is packing into our courts are the strict constructionists they profess to be on this: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
48
A man who has never provided proof that he has ever paid taxes chastising a company for their tax scheme? We could disagree about a leader’s comments. But this person is not a leader.
265
Trump has no understanding or awareness of the concept of 'irony'. Neither, for that matter, does Melania with her 'Cyber Bullying' Platform.
Very un-ironic family.
6
To say that Trump has authoritarian tendencies is an understatement. The independent media, in the US, will survive thanks to the 1st Amendment (the same one that insures no state religion). It's up to the voters, in November and 2020 to contain Trump and his corrupt administration.
100
If patriotic Americans don't act to limit Trump's power we won't have a democracy or a country worthy of the name. Congressional Republicans must be ok with this shameful destruction of a great nation.
108
The financial supporters of the RNC love Trump because he is the total focus of the media. Meanwhile the legislature gets ignored as it prepares to pass laws for the benefit of their financial supporters and not the will of their constituents.
Trump's distractions, like the magicians assistant, get all our attention while the legislature does what it wants for the benefit of a very few.
50
Would you say that the mid-nineteenth century treatment of Native Americans was symbolic of a "great nation"?
They are. The GOP as is stands today is morally bankrupt. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have no values or morals; they are corrupted and blinded by greed. They are not patriots and need to be voted out.
4
Progressives were blindsided by the GOP takeover of state elected offices, which led to massive gerrymandering and voter suppression laws. Now we are witnessing the takeover of our media by Sinclair, Murdoch, Fox News etc. My hometown Santa Barbara paper - a very blue town - is owned by a right wing owner. It is horrible! We need the progressives with money to invest in media to insure its independence.
73
Perhaps it's time the blue citizens of Santa Barbara started boycotting the advertisers of said newspaper.
2
Trump is the weaker fighter in this bout . Far more dangerous was FDR’s threats to radio media accompanied by cutting license renewal from 3 years to 6 months.
2
One thing noticeable about Michelle’s columns: she doesn’t seek political cover for an “opinion”. ALL other regular Times columnists flog views, as well; but all but Michelle will regularly offer links to other generally well-known or scholarly exponents of the same view. The links she usually offers relate to articles that document a specific fact she argues is relevant to an argument, but not to others that support the argument itself. As a general rule, Michelle is out there all by herself.
She accuses Trump here of taking America down an authoritarian path that shows similarities with Erdogan’s Turkey, by the banana republic expedient of forcing opposed news organizations out of business or to be sold to official sympathizers. It might have been more relevant to the comparison to cite instances where Trump has sought equivalent outcomes with the “Failing New York Times”, with the Washington Post or CNN – or many others. As to CNN, the Justice Dept. constantly looks at potential mergers for indications of uncompetitive aggregation. CNN needn’t think itself all THAT special. That Bezos owns BOTH Amazon and the Washington Post doesn’t alter the fact that Trump is criticizing Amazon – to pressure Amazon to collect third-party state and local sales taxes. That isn’t about to cause Bezos either to sell the Post or change its editorial stance.
The liberal MSM doesn’t like Trump, and the feeling is returned in full measure. What has that to do with seeking to muzzle them?
5
Now, Trump is hardly shy about defending himself and vilifying his defamers is no uncertain terms – but Michelle’s basic argument? There’s VERY little evidence that Trump seeks to corral in order to better neuter the purveyors of information as Putin has in Russia, Erdogan has in Turkey, and others have wherever bananas are harvested in numbers.
The decided weight of liberal punditry has been against Amazon for eons, apparently for being smart enough to transform how we shop for and buy things, but mostly about an ability to make money – Facebook is now suffering a similar contempt. To read even a back-handed defense of Amazon just to get at Trump is vastly entertaining.
1
I think you are missing the elephant in the room. We have a "president" tweeting disparaging remarks like a grade school kid ranting at recess about someone more popular than he is. It is infantile. It is embarrassing. It is dangerous.
For Trump even to use the word "fake" is a simple projection from the core of his childish insecure personality. If Trump were a manager of small town or even a selectman he would have been shamed into resignation long ago. What is taking us so long?
7
Blind admiration for the creep into authoritarianism. Blinders off. That would help.
And the republicans who always proclaim their patriotism and love of country are good with this why? Are they so afraid of this president that they refuse to stand up to him and his pro-Putin policies?
33
We have heard Trump call WaPo, NYT and CNN the "mainstream media". And, he has hitched the term "fake news" onto these "mainstream" establishments. It gives him an out when he doesn't like the news they report. The right have done an excellent job name calling its opposition. The left, not so much. But, with this disturbing news about Sinclair mandating its reporters to use the term "fake news" and deliver a canned speech, which is essentially a dog-whistle to Trump's base, it's time for the left to attack. Call the Sinclair dynasty and and other right-leaning outlets "main street media" or "state stream media" or "trickle down media" and define it for what it is: a stooge for Trump and his cronies, state run propaganda, Big Money Media dressed up in a mom and pop outfit; the aim: keep the status quo, speak in code so the white, patriarchal, evangelical base can keep and gain more power. It's time to deflate this dangerous and growing monopoly which spreading subtle agenda to cities and towns across the land. It's Orwellian in every way.
71
Now that corporate America and our corporate government are feeding on one another over the spoils that are left, can Facebook please change our feeds to only puppy and kitten videos? We’ll dutifully buy our lotto tickets and believe when our preachers tell us that what happens in this world doesn’t really matter. Please pass the wings.
8
Bravo! Right out of Orwell!
So what can we little folks do about this, Ms. Goldberg? Trump knows how to tap into all kinds of anxieties and resentments and use them to gain more power for himself, for whatever ends he has in mind, which at this point are still unclear. He is a genius of demagogy. We are in deep trouble.
11
The new book “How Democracies Die” says the guardrails of our democracy are weakening. They discuss other democracies that turned into autocracies, often by a leader aligning 1st with a centrist party and then turning to authoritarianism.
Examples: Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela and the American South during Jim Crow.
Democracies can end not by a coup but by slow weakening of protective institutions—political norms, the press, and courts. The authors think our democracy is in danger.
Our Supreme Court “in 2010 loosened campaign finance laws, so in 2012 the Koch family was responsible for $400 million in election spending. They and other groups helped elect a GOP who think compromise is a dirty word…..they are more vulnerable to extremist forces”
Wealthy outside donors exert more influence over elected GOP officials than does party leadership.
Polls show on most issues, the voting majority disagrees with the wealthy donors, but can’t compete to influence congress. Our major networks get big profits from high priced campaign ads flooding our voters, paid for by wealthy donors. Thus the media is biased against campaign finance reform, that most voters and even many politicians want.
Policies that in past generations were more centrist, and passed by compromise, are now labeled left wing liberal. Thus are so out of the mainstream, our media doesn’t even discuss the pros & cons.
Perfect for a media monopoly to buy up, and start dictating what’s broadcast.
26
1. We need an informed populace.
2. We need courageous representatives.
3. We need unbiased judges.
But most of all, we need an informed populace who will VOTE!
75
The expression being used at the March for Our Lives in DC was REV. Register. Educate. Vote.
Pass it on.
2
My philosophy professor, Joe Barnhart, told our class that everyone is biased: You must stand somewhere on the truth spectrum: left, right, or middle. And, although he didn't say so, it seems that he is implying that logic supports none of these positions completely. You gather some facts, mix them with your experience and judgment, and create your truth.
Plato, whom few professors respect anymore, would argue, on the contrary, that truth as a Form does exist. We must find it. The truth is out there.
These arguments, I suppose, are endless and thus fruitless. Finally, I suspect that we just choose our position.
If people want to know about President Dennison's authoritarian streak, I highly recommend the book "The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy, by Brian Klass. It is one of the two most important books published in the current political climate. (The other is "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.")
10
Amazon can be directly compared to A T Stewart's Marble Palace and Iron Palace in NYC. Stewart invented mail order which he ran out of the Marble Palace. He invented the first department store with 57 departments in the Iron Palace. This was in 1850, long before Sears. He built Garden City, LI as affordable housing for working families. He invented underground parking, for horse and buggies. He was the wealthiest retail merchant in the world. He did not allow price haggling. he did not advertise (considered a form of deception) and his clerks were told to never cheat the customer. If the clerks were caught misbehaving, they were fined.
2
It makes sense now. During the 2016 presidential campaign, I wondered how one local TV station could be so clueless about journalistic standards that it would repeatedly use Trump's building on the Las Vegas Strip in bumper shots during its news broadcasts, unrelated to events in the news.
I even wrote a couple of e-mails complaining about it. When it continued, I stopped watching KSNV News3.
Turns out it wasn't cluelessness at all. It was a subliminal attempt, unsuccessful in Nevada, thank God, to sway voters.
I understand that the right-wingers who own KSNV are the same ones who wouldn't allow their stations to air Nightline when Koppel read the names of the soldiers who had died in the Iraq war.
Now Sinclair has had its anchor puppets read a script encouraging viewers to trust no one but them, without citing a single example of false news reports by its legit competitors.
I am DISGUSTED by Sinclair's deceitful behavior and will never again watch a news broadcast on a Sinclair station.
I can't believe this is happening in the USA.
88
Our democracy is under threat from our own Presodent. I have seen a great deal over my nearly seven decades, but I never thought I would see this.
43
Remember when the GOP argued that the government should stay out of politics as much as possible, that the free market functioned most efficiently when allowed to pursue its own rational path? How loud is the silence of Paul Ryan & Co. today? Where are the conservative voices advocating for free market economics, which they wielded like a club when President Obama was in office?
The cowardice and complicity of today's GOP would be astonishing, if it wasn't so utterly predictable.
36
Ready Michelle Goldberg's article on Donald Trump's attack on Amazon. Trump incorrectly attacks Amazon for not paying state and federal taxes. Is this the same person that said during his campaign that his not paying tax was "smart"?
There is still no way of knowing of his paying tax as he still refuses to release his tax returns.
29
Hey, Mr President. I watch "total joke."
I have a theory, Ms Goldberg, one man lives completely inside the DELUSION of his making.
Some work there, some visit, some have second homes there, but the vast majority of his 'admirers' are ready to pull their remaining pinky toe OUT - when the moment arrives.
This social media opera is Orwellian. It's obvious to everyone including Santa's elves. OUR Free Press' evidence and sources remain the gold standard in our besieged, but resilient democracy.
6
I am certainly no fan of Amazon. Numerous reports paint a picture of a company that abuses its employees and imposes dehumanizing work rules. Having said that, watching the Trump Administration through a year plus of its term, there does not seem to be a plan at work here. It seems to be all reactionary, with a dose of vendetta thrown in. Trump seems to govern by reacting to whatever shiny object catches his eye. He will then blast out a twitter storm and stir things up. His minions will attempt to tone things down and or walk back his broadside. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. As a result the country, markets and our allies are being whipsawed by a President who has no plan and no clue how to govern.
Amazon is just the latest shiny to catch Trump's attention, they will not be the last. There is no doubt that the economy has prospered under Trump. There is also no doubt that he has inflicted a lot of damage at the same time. So far the economic positives have out weighed the damage inflicted, but remember, damage is cumulative. If he keeps this unfocused flailing around, we could yet have a Trump Recession.
7
Take a look at the stock market today and at the corrosive affects of Trump’s truffle “plan”. Those “economic positives” are beginning to dissolve.
Thank you Michelle for this excellent article that puts all the pieces together. Yes, many of us recognize that we are on the road to autocracy. But many do not see this. Some are still well off and assume this will not effect them. Many don't pay attention to current affairs and just live their lives. Many have been brainwashed by many years of incessant propaganda of Fox News, et al. I know people in all these categories. Creeping indifference.
Thanks to you, the NYT,s and the WP for being part of the resistance. We need awareness and resistance now before it is too late.
17
I agree that a Trump is probably motivated by revenge against the Washington Post. But I wonder if he has also gotten complaints from Main Street and the Chamber of Commerce about the damage Amazon is doing to brick and mortar stores. Trump knows that attacking Amazon will please a lot of people and strengthen his base.
1
You know what, it's easy to blame Amazon for the issues facing brick and mortar stores but that hardly tells the story. The fact is people are very busy and ordering what they want on the 'net, in a tenth the time, with the huge variety available, has just become a way of life especially for busy people who have no time to shop, elderly people who can't get out, etc.
Don't get me wrong - I miss stores, shopping in person was basically my hobby. And the economic impact of electronic shopping is obviously huge. But this represents something people want. So don't shoot the company that's filling a need.
17
You had me at the beginning and all the way until the last paragraph, agreeing wholeheartedly with your opinion, Ms. Goldberg. But then you sounded like Donald Trump himself, when you stated, "there are many reasons to be terrified of Amazon's power." And while a discussion of large companies, powerful companies, industry consolidation, innovative prowess and countless other issues surrounding Amazon and the business community in general are valid topics of discussion, to just condemn Jeff Bezos' company as "terrifying" is, well, doing exactly what Trump does. To millions and millions of people, Amazon represents an outstanding company that has improved their lives in many ways. And Mr. Bezos has improved the Washington Post immeasurably, a media outlet of which I am also a subscriber. I also like the price discounts and better management I have seen at Whole Foods since Mr. Bezos acquired it. Don't just knock something because it is big, successful or very good at what it is intended to do, otherwise you could lump The New York Times right in to that category.
23
The author states: “There’s a legitimate case for an antitrust investigation” of Amazon.
On what basis?
Antitrust laws are rooted in the idea that businesses that get too big could harm consumers by raising prices. But Amazon hasn’t done this. As those who’ve done product searches know, Amazon (or one of the millions of third-party merchants on its site) often charges less than its competitors. Is this evidence of predatory pricing, designed to put others out of business? Or are lower prices the result of Amazon taking a smaller markup, and being able to do so because it has mastered (and in many cases defined) the efficiencies and economics of e-commerce, from discovery to fulfillment to customer service?
Free shipping doesn’t hurt Amazon’s appeal either. But tens of millions of people either pay an annual fee for the shipping benefit that comes with Amazon Prime, or they order enough goods for their order to qualify. Consumers aren’t stupid; they know that nothing is really free. They agree to Amazon’s bargain: buy more from us and we’ll cover the cost of mailing. In fact, Amazon has now trained generations of consumers to expect similar value from other retailers. That’s the free market at work.
To address Trump’s beef about the deal with the Post Office, Amazon should offer to cancel the deal. UPS, FedEx and others would be happy to bid for the business, while the Post Office suffers greater losses. Let’s see if Trump is happy then.
13
How many of Trump's friends have benefited from having prior knowledge of Trump's rant against Amazon, by selling their shares on Friday? How many of Trump's friends are benefiting from buying back Amazon shares after it plunged today?
If that's not insider trading, then I don't know what it might be.
29
@bwca insider trading is an interesting theory. I like interesting theories, but I don't think the devil himself knows what Trump is going to tweet from one minute to the next.
5
While I appreciate scrutinization of Trump's motives, I'd rather see his authoritarian streak called out in matters other than Amazon. As to Amazon, maybe in this case it's better to invoke the (now esp.) familiar saying "even a broken clock is right twice a day."
Today's Leonhardt piece better addresses how the fed gov't should be thinking about behemoths like Amazon: "Big Business Getting Too Big."
Whatever happened to (T.) Roosevelt Era trust-busting legislation, when such outsized businesses were deemed a threat to democracy by concentrating too much power in too few hands?
I'll tell you what happened: neoconservatives-human capital ideologues in their Hobbesian/Darwinian idolization of business success & economic power (they call their outlook "meritocracy," which claims any outcome of competitive struggle for social/economic power the arbiter of "merit," ipso facto "virtue": "nothing succeeds like success"; "might makes right."
I'm personally tired of the traditional 3 branches of gov't (if folks forgot: executive, legislative, judicial) having been displaced by a new 3-way separation of powers: Big Tech (Amazon, FB, Google, Apple, MS), Big Banks, & Fed/State/Municipal Bureaus (usually doing the bidding of the aforementioned 1st 2 branches) form the 3 branches of our actual, de facto government.
I want a return to deliberative democracy with real & effective, empowered citizenship the driving force, not a pathetic race to see who will be the first trillionaire.
38
I'm appalled at Donald Trump's attacks on Amazon, which would be bad enough if he were genuinely concerned about their dominant market share-- but that he's doing so for political reasons should scare all of us.
You know it's easy to fall prey to the media's presentation of Donald Trump as an ignorant buffoon but we do so at our peril.
Because if you take at face value the fact that Donald Trump doesn't read, it really doesn't matter why he is acting the way he is. I think he's just a natural-born autocrat and doesn't need to have a Playbook other than his own selfish instincts.
Like most autocrats, Trump only wants praise and no criticism. in fact he wants it so badly he's willing to push the envelope and dare Congress to take him to task for attacking the First Amendment.
Every time we read an article or see something published as to why Donald Trump is too stupid to kill democracy, we become part of the problem.
I think this is a very scary time for our Democratic freedoms and if we don't maintain constant vigilance, we are really at risk of losing what our founding fathers fought a revolution over.
451
ChristineMcM,
The Great Leader wants to stay in office for another ten years, then appoint his "lovely daughter Ivanka" as a successor. No need for primaries or election. It’s waste of time and money.
What’s wrong with this awesome winning plan? His “base” is clamoring for it. FIX News convinced them already the Trumps have a divine right to rule over us for the next century.
We should all be grateful.
13
Would that be the Founding Fathers who were slave-owners? Like Father George with his 200 slaves? And like Tommy Jefferson who had six children by his slave, teenager Sally Hemings, to whom it was illegal to marry?
How can you give them a free pass on that critical issue? Those guys were inhumane, thus hardly role models, then or now or ever. 45 would fit right in with them, although he may be completely corrupted, while they are only partially so. So I doubt they are in the same category of ugly Americans.
1
Thanks for shining light on Trump's purpose for the attacks on Amazon. My friend and I were discussing this situation and both of us concluded that Trump is jealous of Jeff Bezos for being a self made successful business man but he's also bitter about the unflattering coverage by the Washington Post. Neither of us realized that his motives were more insidious than that.
I love Amazon. I don't drive and being able to have things delivered makes my life better. Yes the government should regulate Amazon now that it's in danger of becoming a monopoly but that's a job for Congress. Amazon will only do what it's allowed to do by consumers and regulations.
When Jeff Bezos first bought the Washington Post I was concerned that it might no longer be as impartial as it has been in the past. But my concern was put to rest the first time I read a critical piece about Amazon written by the Washington Post. Mr Bezos likely wasn't happy but he didn't kill the story.
Democracy is a fragile thing. We've long been complacent about our democracy and the freedom we enjoy. This presidency has been a wake up call for those of us who regularly read the news. The concern is how to reach those who are less informed and more susceptible to propaganda.
If we do nothing during the next few elections it will be entirely our fault if our democracy slips away into authoritarianism. Checks and balances only work if we the people exercise our voices with our vote.
210
Ami,
A great Comment, but here's a critical question.
Can Trump's attempts to drive down Amazon's stock value ($53 Billion in one day), force Jeff Bezos to consider the negative impact that his ownership of the Post has on stock holders in Amazon?
If so, my advice to Bezos, is that he sell the Post for $1 to an individual whose social/political philosophy parallels his own.
Ive a better suggestion.
Since Trump attacked with demonstrable falsehoods (lies), and caused losses in doing so, let the investors sue our fearless leader for those losses, say $53B......
I cringe when Trump supporters pardon him for his overt bullying for whatever reason they make up. The problem is Trump is making it seem that there is no existing system to address his rants which was one of his most outrageous campaign kool-aid mantras - only he alone can fix (rather break) everything.
We can’t wait for the mid-terms to rein him in.
Twitter has let him violate their use terms and are complicit in his presidency of destruction.
It’s time for tweeters to close their Twitter accounts.
It’s time for those who care about the future of the country to use the marketplace to effect change.
If Amazon is too big or engaging in deceptive contracting it is the Justice Department* who needs to act. Not government by Trump tweets.
PLEASE CLOSE YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNTS NOW!
*According to 15 USCS § 1311 (e) [Title 15. Commerce and Trade; Chapter 34. Antitrust Civil Process], the term “antitrust investigator” means “any attorney or investigator employed by the Department of Justice who is charged with the duty of enforcing or carrying into effect any antitrust law.”
47
Control what people hear and you can control what people think. It's an old adage and apt in any age.
It's the left that should be pressing Amazon and all tech companies -- especially those promising a future filled with AI -- to be more generous with helping to map out -- and invest real dollars in -- a future where, left to is own devices (without investment in people and planning), one group's convenience and revenue will be built upon another group's obsolescence and suffering.
After all, it's only fair....it shouldn't be that the group that gains the greatest (most frequent) benefits of new tech and new business models also gobbles up all the economic upside. That's recipe -- combined with so much else that's going on -- for revolution.
8
Michelle Goldberg is quite correct that you don't need to like Amazon to strongly oppose Trump's attacks on it. Similarly, there are many strong reasons that Jeff Sessions is not the ideal Attorney General. But if Trump fires him, our nation will immediately suffer worse.
20
Mr. Trump is going after Mr.Bezos who is richer and smarter than he is and owns an eminent newspaper in the nation's capital.It is ignorant thuggery that allows Mr.Trump to criticize the free press and question our first amendment rights.Our courts are still independent and will not allow Mr.Trump to silence our voices.We must support our sources of reliable news and shower contempt on the voices who want to rob us of this right.
118
Trump will fail where Erdogan, Putin, and Chavez succeeded.
America is run by the rule of law. Turkey, Russia, and Venezuela are not.
Trump may tweet all he wants, he may mislead the public, he may lie, and divide our nation, but he can not fool our courts.
The war he is picking on with Jeff Bezos, he shall lose because Trump doesn't understand that the Washington Post's editorial board is totally independent of Bezos.
Bezos also has all the resources in the world to take on the Trump Administration in the courts.
99
The only trouble with that idea is, the longer Trump is in office, the more of his nominees will find their way onto federal courts. We may be O.K. for a while, but if he were to be reelected, depending on the courts alone will be an untenable solution.
38
I hope Bezos does take on Trump in the courts.
But I'm not as confident as you are that the U.S. is still run by the rule of law - not while Republicans control Congress and are Trump's enablers - not while this administration is run by Trump cronies and henchmen who are either totally unqualified for their positions or as corrupt as he is or in the Russians' pockets - and not while Trump is busy stacking our courts.
We cannot be complacent. Keep in mind: most of us never thought he'd be President, either.
33
Amen to that.
3
I have no idea whether Trump is right or wrong. But since the NY Times finds EVERYTHING that Trump does to be wrong, there is no information here.
Full disclosure, I do use Amazon and I like the services it provides. I have no intention of changing. And again, it could be that Amazon is cheating the USPS or it is actually supporting the USPS. Trump is not the first to complain about Amazon and USPS.
Here is a source less biased and more informative than the New York Times.
https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16830128/amazon-trump-twitter-postal-serv...
And no, they do not say that Trump is right. But there is less hysteria and more facts than the NYT is able to muster up.
8
This is an opinion, and labeled as such--and I do like and follow Vox.
7
You're comparing a news piece from December with an opinion piece focusing on Trump's recent tweets.
6
No, I think they hire women at Vox, too.
The irony is that Sinclair's false news allegations are a perfect description of how Fox News, right wing conspiracy radio and Sinclair itself operates. Trump's entire presidency is based on following the strategies of authoritarian leaders like Erdogan to undermine dissent and democracy. Trump and his minions represent the greatest ever threat American democracy has faced.
150
Trump is not the buffoon that most liberals make him out to be, with no idea of policy and informed only by what he sees on Fox News.
It may be true on one level. But on another, I think Trump understands a lot more than we give him credit for; it’s just that he understands different things than we do. He picks up dog whistles about human behavior—particularly that of his base—that we never hear.
He’s waging a war on do-goodism, on people like his predecessor, and on liberals generally who, as he sees it, presume to know what’s best for society, and who attempt to use government to impose that view on everyone else.
He's a man with a huge chip on his shoulder. He's driven mainly by a hate for do-gooders, who, he believes, feel morally superior, and look down upon him and his base with smug condescension. His goal is to destroy their achievements, and marginalize them.
To this end, he's attempting to weaken and discredit not just the media, but every independent source of power inside and outside of government that could challenge him, or oppose his grab for total power.
Trump has all the instincts and levers to make himself president-for-life—a totalitarian dictator. Don’t underestimate him, again.
320
A good analysis except for that we're learning that in collaboration with Cambridge Analytica his dog whistles were carefully chosen and designed. To some extent they answered to the biases of his base, but it seems that equally, he also amplified and invented bias vectors so much that what exists today doesn't reflect what anyone was thinking before he came along.
32
"Trump has all the instincts and levers to make himself president-for-life—a totalitarian dictator. Don’t underestimate him, again."
Good point Ron: A ruthless but 'useful idiot' to our oligarchs. It appears to many though that his 'instructions' and what drives many of his impulsive rants, come directly from Murdoch and Putin. Those two have made a concerted effort to reduce ours, and the UK's, democracies to rubble. The move to autocracy is now obvious to all but those who rely on Fox and Sinclair for their information. Deliberate, and willing, ignorance on their part will be hard to overcome.
20
Agreed, Ron. Trump and his inner circle may be selfish, cruel, bigoted, and xenophobic, but they're not stupid.
It's just that their cunning lies in the direction of knowing how to take advantage of those who ARE stupid--how to fleece them, grift them, play on their fears, and get them to give support anyway.
It's certainly been said that a Trump is not possible in a nation of the decently educated. In the parts of this nation that are decently educated, Trump lost bigly. So, what does that make the parts of the nation that voted for him in large numbers?
This is what you get when you have a constant drumbeat of anti-intellectual, "don't tell me your numbers", "don't raise my school taxes" airwaving out over vast swaths of the heartland.
15
Should Amazon have antitrust scrutiny? Yes. Should a sitting President ever publicly attack a great American business to cover up his own corruption? Lock him up.
861
Amen. This must be an abuse of power! Also the people who suffer under such an attack won't be the wealthy and powerful. Bezoar can weather this sto
11
"To cover up his own corruption" and by extension, he's just providing another of his daily diversions to keep our minds and attention off the RussiaGate investigation.
16
Great American business, my eye. Amazon is the Wal-Mart of our day. They're a blight on our economy and our environment.
1
Isn't Amazon's business plan to lose money in order to force smaller merchants out of business? No sympathy here.
7
Except they make money.
13
I’d never would have thought America could be compared to a banana republic controlled by a demagogue, but here it is, April 2018, Trump is President, Rupert Murdoch controls a major television news network famous for spinning half-truths as “news,” two of the richest men in the U.S., the Koch Brothers, own Time Magazine and the Sinclair company operates scores of TV stations as if they were extensions of Putin’s state controlled Pravda. To a man raised on Walter Cronkite and Chet Huntley, during the journalistic period right after Edward R. Murrow and Walter Lippmann, this current state of American journalism is both unimaginable and frightening. When the nightmare of our American demagoguery ends let’s hope Murdoch, Koch and Sinclair all go down with Trump’s sinking ship of state.
808
Third world corruption started long before Trump, where have you been for the last thirty years.
8
Many of us who read the NYT and WaPo look at the Sinclair story and think somewhere in the back of our heads "that's disturbing, I don't watch those stations" and move on. But of course we all saw in 2016 what can happen to our democracy when many of our fellow citizens are so poorly informed and subject to a barrage of misinformation. It's not somebody else's problem any more.
670
I drove coast-to-coast, east to west last Spring--the newspapers were horrlble and the news on TV all Sinclair. Tg I could take my WaPo and NYT online with me.
I did read the papers and watch the local news though, it was terrifying but made more sense of Election. Impossible but a little.
82
We do unwittingly watch those stations. Up here in Traverse City Michigan the local NBC affiliate is Sinclair owned. I noticed over the past year a subtle veering toward pro Trump coverage and wrote into the station complaining about the bogus stories they were producing. I never received a reply. Subsequently when the local anchors appeared in a commercial for the station touting their unbiased format, I became suspicious and looked into their ownership. Sinclair had indeed bought up two of the major locals stations. The tragedy, aside from the obvious obfuscation of the news, is there are no alternative sources for locals. I assume the more enlightened news subscriber has moved on to print media or other sources for their information. At least I hope they have.
49
This man is always on the attack, even on Easter Sunday with an audience of five-year-olds. His relentlessly divisive tweets and unpatriotic comments may be tearing this country apart, or they may be motivating the majority of Americans to forget their differences and work together to marginalize or prosecute this nasty man. We'll find out in November.
202
I think there's something wrong with him. Something medical, though, not psychiatric. His testosterone, for example, seems pretty well shot.
2
Oh geez, if Trump had one-sixteenth of the business acumen of Jeff Bezos, would he be railing against Amazon? Trump's only business game is belittle, bully, lawyer-up and sue. At least, with Amazon and the Washington Post, we have real quality in product; with Trump, it's mediocrity. See the excellent article in the post about the Trump hotels by a travel writer who had nothing to gain from his critique. Trump's tweets are tiresome and reveal what a small-minded jealous person he is. I bet if Bezos was a blazing Trump supporter like Peter Thiel, you'd never heard about any of this.
127
The key will be if Trump can continue to control Congress or if Republicans will lose seats in midterms. If Dems can stop Trump, and he loses in 2020, then some of this nonsense should balance out. Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela do not have the strong checks and balances of the US, nor the term limits. While Amazon is certainly a monopoly, I much prefer it to the monopoly that Trump and Fox have on being crazy.
43
As the last American who chooses neither to join Amazon Prime, welcome an Amazon Echo into my house to spy on me, nor do business with Amazon in any of its other incarnations, I agree 100%.
Trump's selective, dishonest, and authoritarian attacks on Amazon are far more dangerous to America than anything Amazon itself has done, or is likely to do. Trump is as un-American as it gets.
235
It's hard for me to imagine that Trump has enough influence to cause such a downturn in Amazon's stock. The tariffs, yes on all commodities on the exchanges.
If investor's are selling just because of what Trump says we're in a heck of lot more trouble than I thought.
26
Trump is a hypocrite when it comes to taking advantage of tax loopholes.
Likewise The New York Times, Washington Post (owned by Mr. Bezos) and main stream media have been staunch defenders of Amazon and Tech who have used tax loopholes and political clout to maintain unfair tax advantages and predatory business practices.
Main Street America was sold out by Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama- with unfair trade deals and pernicious regulation against brick and mortar enterprises.
President Obama in particular was in the thrall of Social Media. It was used to target voters using big data. David Plouffe and David Axelrod were lauded as political genius for using "free" help from silicon Valley in the campaign- later paid back with government contracts ("rescue" of Obama-Care) and favorable regulation.
Trump is just doing what the Democrats did- favoring political cronies in the name of progress.
Big tech deserves to be punished- they used their purloined data to steal from bricks and mortar enterprises, fleece the common "user" and bribe their bought and paid for politicians.
11
President Obama did not attack his perceived "enemies" every single day of the week. Nor did he indulge in social media tirades which tanked the stock market, erased billions in assets, and accomplish no other purpose than to give him some temporary emotional satisfaction at the expense of others.
23
I don't recall Obama sniveling, whining, throwing tantrums nor prancing about like a 9 year old at his own birthday party, knowing he will get the biggest slice of cake and the extra scoop of ice cream. I do recall him thinking before he spoke, sometimes for an annoying long time.
8
I know it is a national pastime to denigrate President Trump. It is also foolish. Hopefully, issues like this will finally start to make the haters understand the enormous power that this man has. Billions of dollars in market value vaporized by a comment.
The "generals are in charge." No, they are not. His "handlers" will nudge him in the right direction. No, they will not. He has no handlers. "Congress will keep him in check." Laughable.
It is time to wake up and realize that we are in for a very rough three years. Trump has all the power. God help us.
95
A very good reason to reduce the powers of the Presidency .. or to abolish the Electoral College.
9
Trump does not really care if the Washington Post even were a means of propaganda for Amazon; Trump cares that the paper, like the "failing" New York Times, CNN and other mainstream media are not a means of propaganda for him personally.
Trump's strongmen role models, in places like Russia, Turkey, the Philippines and so on, can count on news sources to be mouthpieces for their talking points, and at a minimum, offer a free platform for the powers that be. Those guys sure don't have to field tough questions or read critical editorials!
Amazon actually seems like the kind of enterprise Donald 'CEO President' would regard well. And their steady stream of deliveries helps, not hurts, the USPS. Trump's grudge is that he has met his most fearsome adversary in a free press.
66
The attack on Amazon is a thinly disguised attack on the Washington Post which along with the New York Times is a major media voice shedding light on the darkness that is the Trump presidency. It's the latest in the attacks on the "dishonest media' and "fake news" by a phony president who is, as this latest tweet assault indicates, an attack on our 1st amendment, "freedom of the press," that's absolutely essential to our democracy. The Post has been one of the major defenders and protectors of our democracy stemming from the publication of the Pentagon papers and then the Woodward-Bernstein expose of the Watergate break-in that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon. The Post and the "failing" New York Times have been at the very forefront of exposing the the collusion and obstruction that is the Trump administration. It's not surprising that the wannabe autocrat in The White House is trying, but so far failing, to silence them while praising propaganda outlets like Fox and Sinclair. It's the latter that should be, and hopefully, will be shuttered once the nation marshals the will to save our democracy.
261
Oh man, here were have it: does the author wholescale defend neo-liberal market fundamentalism: winner-take-all, scorched earth, extract the wealth for the billionaires?
How odd: just a few weeks ago we were so concerned about social justice that we needed to do away with due process for those accused of sexual crimes. Doesn't justice also matter when it comes to markets and their impact on our communities and livelihoods?
5
To be clear, notwithstanding the question of Amazon's social impact, the author's main argument of press freedom is spot on.
7
But if the left leaves populism to Trump it risks losing the long-term battle. Amazon helps people like me, but it costs many their jobs. You can't have a left with only rich people in it.
8
Thank you for this global perspective. Although I shed no tears for Amazon, I have just subscribed to the Washington Post. Without independent media we are doomed.
228
After the results of the most recent US presidential election, I subscribed to both NYT and WaPo.
I needed the venerable institution views provided by these two newspapers to keep me sane.
319
I just subscribed to WaPo, too, and it's clear that NYT has a huge bump in subscribers, too, and Maddow is doing fine. But the magazines we used to read are in deep trouble, the tv station owners are fewer than ever, and underfunded schools almost never teach old-fashioned "Civics". It's a long long trail a-winding ahead of us, alas, but NYT, WaPo, Maddow, Colbert, SNL, and the Parkland-type kid crusaders about to join up as voters give me hope.
13
I did the same thing. The local paper in Richmond offers second hand news that I read in WAPO and NYT the day or 2 before. I vow that I will never watch a Sinclair station again. What they are doing as the government back propaganda that is force fed to NK, Russia, and other authoritarian countries. If we stop watching they'll get the message.
At this rate, His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness will soon become known as The Pumpkin Bambino - it's appalling that there are no adults to restrain Daycare Donnie, and that the GOP-Trump-Putin axis intends to fete Putin at a D.C. summit, despite the Russian election meddling and Russia's nerve gas poisoning of British citizens in Britain's capital which saw the ejection of so many diplomats around the globe.
Why does the Pumpkin Bambino not listen to Faux Noise Machina and Lou Dobbs:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-cherishes-lou-dobbs-so-much-h...
when we think he should ?
13
I've been watching the Netflix documentary about Trump and now all of the pieces are fitting together. He's been doing the same thing to people and businesses since at least the early 1980s, almost 40 years now. I wish there were a way to just ignore him so he'd go away and leave us all alone.
131
Vote and tell all people you know, VOTE. Trump will never just go away, but we can vote him away.
112
Now you know why we New Yorkers can’t stand him
2
This is actually overdue. Amazon and a handful of companies are not far from effective economic control of the entire country.
Amazon groceries, Amazon health care, Amazon gasoline...it is really a good thing when one company controls everything?
9
Makes no sense
Amazon does not "control" groceries, health care, etc
27
Purchasing Whole Foods is Step 1. Their health care research is step 2.
Did you read the editorial? The writer clearly states that there are plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize Amazon. Trump's reasons, however, are entirely emotional and irrational in nature, just like his entire presidency.
13
Practically all the things our fake President accuses others of are true of him. Seeing his prejudices and revengeful threats become policies and payback is pretty frightening. There's more than enough evidence to show that he's a disaster. So what will it take to wake up Congressional Republicans? Not school shootings. Not lying advisors. Not corrupt cabinet appointees, WH staff and routine firings. Not the cooling of relations with allies. Not escalating threats with North Korea, China, other countries. Not a flouting of laws. Not being on the financial take with family and friends. Not unending sexual predation and scandal. Not an inner circle with suspicious Russian ties. Not the rollback of laws and regulations that have protected Americans for generations. No. Will a decline in the stock market be sufficient enough to be the last straw? What will it take?
371
The GOP will need to lose a few elections before anything gets their attention. Hopefully losing their majority in the House or Senate should open their eyes.
41
The GOP needs to lose a few elections to get their attention.
12
Yes. He is almost guaranteed to be guilty of whatever he accuses someone else of. You can bet on it. The extent of his affliction is so enormous that it is comical... except that he has the power to hurt many people.
I Googled... "psychological term for accusing others of what you do". And this came up...
From Wikipedia:
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROJECTION
A theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.
Trumpy is a textbook case.
15
I too love Amazon EarthCitizen. I read a book review, looks interesting, I go to Amazon, look INSIDE the book, looks good, and a few seconds later the book is on my computer, Kindle, ready to read. As i am in a wheel chair and elderly, this is like a gift from the gods.
I know Amazon could do better in regard to some of their employees and i hope they see the Light and change their ways. By so doing, the company will be double bubble of good fortune for themselves and us.
59
We can vote Trump out, but as the author notes, cutting loose from Amazon or other tech giants is often a tougher proposition for those who want to stay engaged in the contemporary world. I would reverse the author's final thought: there are reasons to be terrified of Trump, but concentrations of economic power such as Amazon may in the long run prove more destructive of humane economic and social relations (or what's left of them).
13
Trump does have the Midas touch in one way: everything he touches fails. Everyone he hires winds up being soiled by him. Trump is truly a destroyer of at least one nation, ours. And the GOP is continuing to aid and abet him.
544
He is worth well north of three billion. Much more than that after he finishes fleecing the nation. I sure would not say "everything he touches fails."
9
Copernicus: he wants you to think he is super rich, but he won't reveal his tax returns. He started out with a huge inheritance and went bankrupt four times.
He operates on OPM, and licks Putin's boots, which suggests that the OP are currently Putin himself and his fellow oligarchs. Between the Mueller investigation and the trump tax returns that it may expose, I suspect that trump's net worth will turn out to be so negative that it won't be offset by his use of the White House as a profit center.
1
Concernicus, there's no evidence of Trump's financial worth - his boasting doesn't count.
Just about all his own business ventures have failed - his casinos (!), Trump Airline, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Tower Tampa, Trump scam "University" etc.
Most "Trump" businesses are just licensees of the Trump "brand" - which is now degraded to the point that some buildings and resorts have taken down the Trump signs.
His main successes have been winning the Presidency thanks to gerrymandering and Russian interference and hacking, a TV "reality" show, conning people already brainwashed by Fox and televangelists (not much of an accomplishment) - and most of all, being born to a wealthy father.
And yes, fleecing the nation, starting a trade war, alienating our allies, creating chaos and divisiveness, promoting racism and bigotry - he's been quite successful at these.
1
I love Amazon, Amazon Prime member and Kindle customer. I will be sure to use Amazon even more than ever with this information.
Amazon delivers a product, Trump destroys a nation.
428
Yes, now, as a Amazon Prime member, plus Audible, I'll buy even more from Amazon. And, you are correct, Amazon is competent and good at what they do, while Trump is destructive to our country and souls.
93
I've purchased from Amazon since 1999 and I will continue to do so because they offer products I need and good service. I may do it even more as an act of resistance. I also subscribe to The Washington Post on the theory that the local newspaper is the best way to keep track of what's going on in Washington.
54
But Amazon delivers that product the way Wal-Mart delivers low prices: on the backs of horrifically exploited workers.
22
Revenge is the meat Trump feeds on,
Real hot when you pick on the Don,
One stroke narcissistic
And fully fascistic
Progenitor of lying Con.
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