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Everybody who has real power is capitulating.
Jeff Bezos, the second-richest guy in the world, who’s worth about $250 billion, gave up. He owns the Washington Post, of course, but he didn’t let that newspaper endorse Kamala Harris. By nixing the endorsement, Bezos outraged his editorial board, caused talented reporters to quit, and cost the Post about 200,000 digital subscribers.
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Why did Bezos do this?
Not because Bezos owns the Post, but because Bezos owns Blue Origin, a space exploration firm that depends on the federal government for its future. With Donald Trump at the helm, the federal government could destroy Blue Origin, so Bezos had to capitulate. For good measure, Bezos recently agreed to pay $40 million to license the rights to a documentary about Melania Trump. He’s not taking any chances.
Bezos is too rich, so he has no power.
Same with Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, the fourth-richest guy in the world, who’s worth about $200 billion, gave up. He donated a million bucks to Trump’s inauguration, replaced Nick Clegg (the prominent British politician) with Joel Kaplan (a longtime buddy of Trump’s) as Facebook’s head of public policy, moved Facebook’s content moderation team from blue California to red Texas, and appointed Dana White (the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, who spoke at the Republican National Convention) to Facebook’s board of directors.
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Why did Zuckerberg do this?
Because the federal government, with Trump at the helm, can destroy Facebook, so Zuckerberg had to capitulate.
He’s too rich, so he has no power.
So, too, with Patrick Soon-Shiong. He’s worth a mere five or six billion, so he’s hardly worth talking about. Soon-Shiong owns the Los Angeles Times. Like Bezos at the Post, Soon-Shiong forbade his newspaper from endorsing Kamala Harris. Soon-Shiong also announced plans to avoid having his paper become a liberal echo chamber and to balance the paper’s editorial board with more conservative voices.
Why?
Because Soon-Shiong has business interests in health care technology and biotechnology, which depend on the federal government (such as the FDA) to survive. The federal government, with Trump at the helm, can destroy Soon-Shiong, so he had to capitulate.
He’s too rich, so he has no power.
Bob Iger’s basically a nobody. He’s worth a mere $700 million, and he’s the CEO of the Walt Disney Company. There was no reason at all for ABC News to settle the defamation case that Trump brought against it. Trump insisted that George Stephanopoulos defamed him by calling Trump a rapist on the air. But a New York federal judge had said that Trump’s conduct, as found by a jury, constituted rape in the usual sense of the word. And, in any event, the jury certainly found that Trump at least digitally penetrated E. Jean Carroll; how was Trump damaged by Stephanopoulos saying that Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll rather than more accurately saying that he “jammed his fingers inside E. Jean Carroll without her consent”?
ABC News might have fought this ridiculous lawsuit. But the Walt Disney Co. owns ABC News. The federal government, with Trump at the helm, can destroy the Walt Disney Co., so Iger had to capitulate and pay $15 million to a presidential foundation and museum to be established by Trump.
Iger has too many business interests, so he has no power.
Who’s left to speak the truth?
Perhaps a few courageous, and independent, media outlets.
But nobody big and important. They’re all too rich, so they have to capitulate.
I’m afraid that only schlubs like me can speak the truth.
For what Above the Law pays me for writing these columns, I’d be better off if they fired me. I’m otherwise retired, so I don’t have to worry about an employer canning me. My vast corporate empire is still a few pennies short of being worth a billion bucks, so I don’t have business interests that Trump can punish.
Isn’t it funny? The meek have inherited the earth.
Those of us who don’t matter are more able to speak truth to power than those who appear to be rich and powerful.
This is a dreadful situation.
But speak up! You’re the only one who can.
And please do send me a toothbrush next month, when you’re notified that I’ve been imprisoned.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].