Derek Thompson

We can talk about the higher purpose of journalism and investigative reporting, I guess, in a bit.

But if you're a newspaper losing $100 million a year, you've clearly done something extremely wrong.

So why do you think the Post flailed so badly in the Biden years, even before we get to the decisions that Bezos infamously made in the last six months?

I think we finally have

to bring Jeff Bezos into this because, I mean, you look at what was said about Bezos between, say, 2013 and 2020, and it seemed like the journalists respected the fact that he was plowing a lot of money into the institution while also keeping a hands-off approach, which is what every journalist and editor wants from their billionaire benefactor.

It's give us all the money and then leave us alone.

You compare that with what's happened in the last year, year and a half, with him pulling the Kamala endorsement, turning the business section, excuse me, the op-ed section, essentially into a kind of makeshift economist where all of the left of center voice has been pushed out and it's sort of a place for libertarians to be libertarians.

What do you make...

of Bezos's, at least it seems to me, like utter lack of focus here.

This is someone who clearly is a brilliant person who when he pays attention to companies, the companies tend to thrive.

What do you make of his involvement in the post over the last decade?

Can I dip my toe into conspiratorial waters here?

I think all that's true.

I think he lost interest.

I think he fell in love with other stuff, the yacht lifestyle.

I also think that like Occam's razor is the simplest explanation for why Bezos has had this about...

face change in the last year and a half is to look at the business of Blue Origin, his rocket business, his space technology business.

So when Bezos bought the post in 2013, Blue Origin was basically a fledgling company.

It had nothing more than million dollar, $10 million deals with the government.

I did some digging into contracts this morning, assigned with Blue Origin.