# What Jeff Bezos Got Wrong about Presidential Endorsements By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-10-29 Over 200K recent Washington Post subscribers canceled their subscriptions en masse due to Jeff Bezos’ decision to block the paper’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. According to Taiyler S. Mitchell of HuffPost, Bezos rationale was that “presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias.” To the degree that presidential endorsements are designed to influence public opinion and election results, Bezos could be right. Who knows? Even if accurate, that isn’t the only, or even the most important, function of a presidential endorsement. A paper’s endorsement of a presidential candidate also highlights the values and principles of the paper and its editorial board. The endorsement can be an act to confirm the values and principles of the publication. The Washington Post’s motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” was adopted in 2017, and was the first slogan in the paper’s 140-year history. It is probably more than coincidental that the paper felt the need to adopt the slogan during Trump’s term as President. A persistent assault on truth, honesty, facts, and democracy marked his presidency. Even if the Washington Post endorsement failed to influence a single voter, the paper should have endorsed Kamala Harris. Trump is a fascist. He is a clear and present danger to democracy. It is potentially ironic that under its slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” the paper could contribute to the death of democracy by refusing to endorse the only pro-democracy candidate for president, Kamala Harris. Whatever motivations were behind Bezos’ decision, and it is doubtful that it is the flimsy one given, it was the wrong decision for anybody committed to democracy over authoritarian fascism. Perhaps canceling one’s subscription to Amazon Prime would be a more effective way of letting Bezos know he got it wrong. #### Related Items [[Politics]] [[American]] [[Democracy]] [[Election]] [[Value]] [[Decision-making]]