Why some billionaires are going soft on Trump

With the White House appearing increasingly up for grabs, and especially as polls have tightened, numerous billionaires and other leading executives have taken steps in recent months to stay out of the race — even if they had criticized Trump after the Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, calling his encouragement of the riot a threat to American democracy. Others who previously backed Democrats have stayed silent this election, which some critics and Trump supporters alike have interpreted as a peace offering to the GOP presidential nominee.

Two Trump campaign advisers said numerous executives have been trying to reach out to the former president’s team late in the race.

“I’ve told CEOs to engage as fast as possible because the clock is ticking … . If you’re somebody who has endorsed Harris, and we’ve never heard from you at any point until after the election, you’ve got an uphill battle,” the Trump adviser said. “People are back-channeling, looking at their networks — they’re talking to lobbyists to see what they can do to connect with the president and his team.”

Trump allies hailed what they say are signs of neutrality from other billionaires. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, decided that The Post would no longer endorse presidential candidates, a change announced last week. The Post had an endorsement of Harris in the works. That came just days after Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns the Los Angeles Times, blocked that paper’s endorsement of Harris.

Both moves sparked an uproar, with critics saying they reflected concerns about the owners’ financial interests — Amazon has billions of dollars in cloud computing contracts with the federal government, and Blue Origin, Bezos’s rocket company, has contracts with the Space Force and NASA. Soon-Shiong, a biotech investor, could have future business before federal regulators.

Caption from original article by Jeff Stein, Jacqueline Alemany and Josh Dawsey.

[washingtonpostuniverse]

Correction: Amazon has the cloud-computing contracts, Blue Origin has contracts with NASA and Space Force.

[nwaffles]

I’m starting to think that having a small handful of billionaires own all major tech and news companies might not be the best idea

[Iban-Underground]

It's genuinely heartening to see WP push back against Bezo's, despite his intentions. Breaking the story that they were asked not to endorse Kamala, and then continuing to double down on spreading that information does make WP worthy of it's slogan.

Good work guys!

[DaveJorgenson]

(This video was approved thankfully, and I still have my job)

[cholten]

Massive credit to whoever at WaPo who signed off on this.

[miguelherrera]

Maybe these billionaires shouldn’t have as much influence on the country as they do

[gerardsanders]

The absolute gravity-warping balls on the shorts team.

If the next short is y'all performing Swan Lake we'll know what happened.

[Ohsoverysleepy]

“I’m sure there won’t be a big reaction to this” famous last words

[cardarom]

My Venezuelan brain is unable to comprehend this level of journalistic integrity. Kudos

[abriannaruiz]

I thought I was going to unsubscribe to this account because of this issue, until I saw this short. Thank you guys for being truthful and not downplaying an issue even tho it involves your company

[TheforeverPigeonKing]

I like how they are speaking out against this decision instead of staying silent with there corporate boss. It gives the Washington post much more validity than it already has

[nunnyabznz]

Democracy dies in darkness is starting to sound like a goal, rather than a warning.

[Jehayland]

So the paper as an organization technically didn’t endorse, but it’s clear that the editorial staff actually intended to if it had been allowed and by reporting this as news, the (non) endorsement made more headlines than a regular endorsement would have. Not a bad workaround.

Funny thing is, I don’t think Bezos really cares about public opinion here at all. Seems like he’s literally just trying to avoid getting in the bad side of Trump as an individual just in case Trump is elected president. This is extremely concerning and yet another reason why this election is vitally important.

[coltenite.]

Plain out corruption to appease the incoming administration. Billionaires helping billionaires

[BinCP]

I’m glad you’re able to publish this. Remember, democracy dies in darkness.

[gameweirdo]

I was waiting with bated breath to see how JD Vance was going to respond to this. Glad to see you all are keeping your editorial voice strong despite the circumstances.

[FairFeline]

Not endorsing someone for fear of repercussions if the other candidate wins.

[nmh]

Im glad JD Vance wasnt one of the many employees who resigned from the post.

[chrysanthemumspark]

My favorite thing about the WP universe is 👏 the 👏 audacity 👏

[wintermute]

Doing it because of pressure from your owner is obviously bad, but I do think it might be better if newspapers didn't endorse candidates. It makes the paper part of the story in a way that doesn't help anyone. Let individual writers give endorsements if they want, and let the editorial board stay silent.