Washington Publish proprietor Jeff Bezos defended his choice to overtake the newspaper’s opinion web page, insisting there’s nothing “fascist” about advocating for “personal liberties and free markets.”
The billionaire Amazon founder confronted harsh backlash over final week’s announcement that the Beltway broadsheet’s opinion pages will higher mirror American values like “free markets and personal liberties” — a transfer that led to the resignation of editorial web page editor David Shipley.
One X consumer wrote: “So you’re going fascist too Jeff? Bend the knee,” referring to Bezos’ efforts to cozy as much as President Trump.
Bezos replied on Sunday: “There is nothing fascist about personal liberties and free markets.”
Bezos additionally responded to an X consumer who wrote that the e-commerce firm he based has been the beneficiary of tax breaks and authorities subsidies.
“We do NOT have free markets today and have not had them for a very long time. In general, corporate subsidies and special interest tax breaks are great examples of where government interferes with free markets,” Bezos wrote on Sunday.
Bezos additionally replied to an X consumer who posted a quote from economist Milton Friedman, who stated: “Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”
“Yes they are very much intertwined. This is under appreciated but very true. Thank you,” Bezos wrote.
When one other X consumer remarked that “free markets and personal liberties are what defines America,” Bezos replied: “To a very large degree this is true. These principles are critical and worth defending and in need of defense.”
Bezos wrote in a subsequent submit that free markets and private liberties “are foundational enduring principles that have served this country well for a long time.”
“They are often under assault,” the mogul wrote.
When requested by an X consumer if the Washington Publish opinion web page would take purpose at tariffs, Bezos replied:
“Yes, tariffs is a very reasonable topic for the new opinion pages to explore.”
Bezos added that the newspaper would additionally opine on “critical issues around reciprocity, national security, and the damaging and distorting effects if tariffs are used to pick winners and losers (exempting particular products or supply chain ‘ingredients’ if the beneficiary has political power, for example).”
Bezos’ choice final week resulted in a reported 75,000 individuals canceling their subscriptions, in line with Nationwide Public Radio.
It was the second time in current months that readers have dropped the paper over an editorial choice by Bezos.
Weeks earlier than the Nov. 5 election, Bezos blocked his editorial board from issuing an endorsement of the Democratic nominee, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who went on to lose to former President Donald Trump.
Since Trump’s re-election, Bezos has donated cash to his inaugural fund and had dinner with the president at his Mar-a-Lago property.
Bezos, who has had a contentious relationship with Trump courting again to the president’s first time period in workplace, is raring to show a brand new web page — prompting critics to accuse him of sacrificing the Washington Publish’s journalistic independence with a purpose to advance his enterprise pursuits.
Bezos has denied the declare.
