So the Washington Post is defending Trump's ballroom

[SocialDemocrat61]

If this management had been there in 1973, they would have fired Woodward and Bernstein and complimented Nixon on his unconventional re-election strategy.

Bezos’s Washington Post jumps to the defense of Trump’s new ballroom: ‘A shot across the bow at NIMBYs everywhere’
The newspaper’s editorial board argued in an op-ed that other presidents have also left their mark on the White House
Rhian Lubin in New York

The Washington Post’s editorial board has jumped to the defense of President Donald Trump and his $300 million ballroom in its latest op-ed for the newspaper.

Jeff Bezos is the owner of the Post and the CEO of Amazon, one of the tech giants that has contributed funds toward Trump’s ballroom, along with Apple, Google, HP, Microsoft and Meta.

Trump’s new project has prompted widespread criticism this week after crews began demolishing the White House’s historic East Wing, contrary to assurances the president made earlier in the year that the building would not be impacted by the lavish plans.

Now it has been razed to the ground to make way for the ballroom, which will dwarf the 55,000 square-foot White House at 90,000 square feet.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/bezos-washington-post-defense-trump-ballroom-b2852309.html

[hlthe2b]

1. Of course. WAPO loves destroying stuff--look what they did to a once renowned national newspaper.

[gab13by13]

2. It's a big grift,

Something Krasnov is good at, money laundering. Square footage is way off, price per square foot is way off, which means that people donating are paying for quid pro quos.

This will be much more than a ballroom.

Just ripping apart our White House is a significant sign that our democracy is gone.

We need leaders to lead us, the people, and when Magats lose their food assistance next month we need them to join us. That 2.8% COLA for Social Security will be immediately eaten up my Medicare rising costs.

Maybe the leaders of Indivisible can give us our marching orders?

Should have voted no to the CR back in March, Time Matters.

[Walleye]

3. The Washington Post is dead to me

[dedl67]

14. It's dead to me also, despite being a paperboy for the WP once upon a time.

I was a paperboy for the Washington Post for seven years, starting in the McCarthy Era. Although I wasn't quite old enough to understand all the politics of that time, I realized that the Washington Post was anti-McCarthy - there were great Herblock cartoons against McCarthy, and against Nixon. A guy chased me out of his yard when i tried to sell him a subscription to the paper, saying he "didn't want no Communist newspaper".

Well, times have changed, sadly.

[Walleye]

32. I remember those Herblock cartoons

Brilliant. It’s sad the situation we are in now

[Blues Heron]

4. They can't admit they got played- he said he wouldn't touch the white house, got the money, then tore it down

Now they are accomplices to one of the most egregious desecrations of our historical heritage, so they have to justify it

[travelingthrulife]

21. They should have to pay to restore it to its original state.

[William Seger]

5. QED: People with no respect for truth have the same disrespect for history (nt)

[Paladin]

6. Why would we expect anything better from the Post?

Same goes for the present-day NY Times. And the rest of the national chickenshit media.

[Biophilic]

7. Owned by the man so out of touch that he thinks everyone alive should be dancing with happiness.

It’s amazing to me the damage one person can accomplish. Very sad.

[Scrivener7]

8. All the soul-damaged money hoarders are excited by this means to hoard more money, thus

feeding the bottomless pits inside them.

[travelingthrulife]

22. So many Tech Bros are money hoarders, empty inside.

What produces this emptiness inside them? Do they teach course in greed and illegal acquisition?

[dlilafae]

9. The asshole

and his butt-wiping minions. How long will this mooching leech and his criminal consortium continue to terrorize our nation?

[ColoringFool]

10. Bezos and Any Other Defenders Use False Analogies

Adding basketball lines to a tennis court. Adding a beautiful garden. Other improvements and additions.

NONE was:
---A self-aggrandizing monument to the temporary tenant;
---Accomplished by Presidential fiat alone;
---Unbelievably destructive to the White House.

And those points will never NOT be fact.

Thus, the argument of Bezos will never NOT be disingenuous. And self-serving.

[Jimi du Ranty]

11. I keep reading this as Trump's Bathroom

Will they put in a crypt for him underneath it?
So many visitors will pay to pee there, we could eliminate income taxes!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. trump destroyed a National treasure

Link to tweet

[mountain grammy]

15. A once great newspaper

Is now the east wing of the White House.

How fucking sad.

[travelingthrulife]

23. Perk up! Bezos says we should be happy cause we're going to space

or some other nonsense.

[oasis]

16. NIMBY??? Some kinda "journalism" by WP.

“Not in my backyard” is taken far out of context.

[travelingthrulife]

26. Yeah. So these rich bastards, who use NIMBY quite regularly, are calling this an

example of NIMBY???

We have to take them all down. They are not fixable.

[paleotn]

17. Democracy DIED in darkness. Jeff Bezos helped kill it.

WAPO needs to dump the motto. It was apparently bullshit to them anyway.

[thesquanderer]

18. It's not so much a motto as a mission statement. (n/t)

[paleotn]

20. Even worse! Abject failure at their mission!

[thesquanderer]

24. No, it's correct as a mission statement. That's my point. Democracy dying in darkness is now the goal. (n/t)

[dalton99a]

30. +1

[masmdu]

19. call it the "Epstein Ballroom"

A lot of people are saying it should be called the "Epstein Ballroom".

[dedl67]

27. A Pimp's Palace

[thesquanderer]

25. As an aside: It's irritating that The Independent does not know the difference between an op-ed and an editorial. (n/t)

[C_U_L8R]

28. Democracy died in dorkness

Screw our techno overlords.

[Submariner]

29. That's Jeff Bezos rim jobbing Cankles out of fear of retribution

for anything real or imagined. nothing more...nothing less.

[Keepthesoulalive]

31. He doesn't fear him

He is in on it.

[Farmer-Rick]

33. The filthy-rich's justification for the destruction of the White House

"The truth is that this project would not have gotten done, certainly not during his term, if the president had gone through the traditional review process,” the op-ed said, adding that it has become “far too difficult to build anything in America.”

I will translate what the filthy-rich like Bezos are saying:

How dare Americans put restrictions on con men and grifters who amass fortunes through cons, grifts and manipulation. We are the filthy-rich and should be allowed to build anything out little egos desire.

History, shitstory, who cares? If some rich idiot wants to build something, anything, historical preservation should never be a stumbling block. And all those health and safety regulations on stuff we build for you poor folks should be done away with too. It's just so hard for us filthy-rich grifters to build anything. How dare you poor people stop us.

[OLDMDDEM]

34. The Post is now a right wing rag.

[QueerDuck]

35. We canceled our WP subscription 2 months before it was due to renew. During that time (and several times since)...

we have received DEEP DISCOUNT offers to re-subscribe. Each time the price got lower and lower to see if we'd "bite." We didn't accept the offers. After ignoring the $25 annual subscription offer, we have not heard from them since.

Instead, we just make a humble monthly contribution to the Guardian and that gives us ad-free web access. The price to support the guardian and have full access to their smartphone app is more than I'm willing to pay... so I access their mobile site using Opera, and it works just fine.

I'm able to support the Guardian at a price that I can afford and I'm able to say "fuck you" to the WP ... FOR FREE!!!

[RandomNumbers]

36. So, who wrote the WaPo op-ed? "The Editorial Board". Who are the members?

My sub is fading fast (canceled last year around this time), but honestly I still find SOME of the material at WaPo useful and interesting, so still go there occasionally. (and the comments summary on most important articles usually restores my faith in humanity a little)

So anyway, I wanted to know WHO, exactly, put their imprimatur on this wacked out op-ed. It says "the editorial board". Okay, who are they?

Long story a little shorter, I ended up posting the question in the "About" section and here is the AI response - I kid you not:

Search results
One result for "who is on the Editorial Board?"

* No quick answer
Rephrase your search or add more details to help AI come up with a quick answer.

Link to where I asked and got that non-answer: https://helpcenter.washingtonpost.com/hc/en-us

[SocialDemocrat61]

37. Don't know

Not sure if that info is public. They may keep their names private so they can’t be influenced.

[highplainsdem]

38. So Bezos wants to party there with his new wife.

[SocialDemocrat61]

39. She can have her

quinceañera there. 😂