Yesterday I observed to a friend that it's only a matter of time before Jeff Bezos divests the Washington Post from his Amazon assets. Why? Because Trump goes after things that piss him off, and the WaPo is really pissing Trump off.
So it was no surprise to see Michelle Goldberg's NYTimes article today, The Autocrat's Playbook. She compares Trump's threats and verbal assaults on Amazon to Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan's assault on media that criticized him. He didn't attack it directly. Goldberg describes:
"In 2009, Turkey's tax ministry imposed a $2.5 billion fine for alleged tax evasion on Dogan Yayin, a media conglomerate whose newspapers and television stations were critical of the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Under financial and political pressure, the company began unloading some assets and closing others. Last month, the billionaire Aydin Dogan sold his remaining media properties, including the influential Hurriyet newspaper and CNN Turk, to a group of Erdogan loyalists."
So I'll take yesterday's speculation a step further and prognosticate that Bezos will sell the WaPo to a private investor, maybe a hedge fund, or maybe even to Sinclair media, or another proxy for Trump and his puppetmasters, the Koch brothers.
Goldberg goes on to give examples of how media companies in Russia and Venezuela critical of Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez were pressured so they were sold to friendlier owners.
Trump has long had a grudge against Amazon. Recently he . has tweeted:
I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state… https://t.co/ONyVYY2yMe at https://t.co/ONyVYY2yMe
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, an… https://t.co/LeaMuxR6Hb at https://t.co/LeaMuxR6Hb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, an… https://t.co/LeaMuxR6Hb at https://t.co/LeaMuxR6Hb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018...does not include the Fake Washington Post, which is used as a “lobbyist” and should so REGISTER. If the P.O. “i… https://t.co/D6wEE6pxVk at https://t.co/D6wEE6pxVk
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2018While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package i… https://t.co/KJjzUtRvI3 at https://t.co/KJjzUtRvI3
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2018(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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