In recent months, Glenn Kessler, a former fact-checker at The Washington Post, has voiced his discontent with the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos, accusing him of focusing on personal survival during the turbulent presidency of Donald Trump instead of safeguarding the news organization. Kessler, who worked at the Post for 27 years and left following a voluntary buyout, has pointed out that the paper has been incurring significant financial losses of approximately $100 million annually. He suggested that Bezos's wealth renders these losses relatively insignificant, likening the time it would take to close the paper to 2,500 years given his vast resources. Kessler reflected on a pre-election meeting with Bezos and fellow Post journalists, where Bezos acknowledged Trump's potential retribution against negative coverage but claimed that it was not the journalists' concern. He stated that Bezos had mostly stayed out of editorial decisions during his ownership and had even bolstered the staff in the years following Trump's election. However, Kessler theorizes that the situation changed dramatically with Trump's re-election bid, causing a shift in Bezos's approach to managing the Post. As tensions rose in the media landscape, Kessler alleged that Bezos's actions, including layoffs and cutbacks, were increasingly motivated by a need to appease Trump. He indicated that Bezos’s decision-making reflected a strategy to protect Amazon's interests, especially with rivals like Elon Musk openly supporting Trump. This led to feelings of betrayal among Post staffers, who now face impending layoffs announced against the backdrop of an ongoing restructuring focused on promoting free markets and personal liberty. While Bezos’s past commitment to the Post had been seen as strong—evidenced by the paper’s motto during Trump’s presidency, "Democracy Dies in Darkness"—Kessler argued that he has since become disengaged. As staff brace for significant cuts, Kessler’s criticisms underscore a growing discontent among journalists at The Washington Post regarding their billionaire owner’s priorities and the future of their once-prestigious news organization.