Dear John,

Yesterday, Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the history of the planet, effectively destroyed the Washington Post.

One-third of the paper’s staff were laid off — including over 300 reporters. Countless journalists with decades of experience uncovering government corruption were fired.

The Post was once among the hardest-hitting investigative news operations in the country, based right in the president’s backyard.

Now the Washington Post as we know it is dead.

These mass layoffs came after Jeff Bezos spent $75 million on the unwatchable Melania documentary, in what can only be seen as a big fat bribe to Trump. The same Jeff Bezos who spent $42 million on a clock buried in a mountain in Texas, $500 million on a super-yacht, and $5.5 billion on a four-minute joyride to outer space.

Jeff Bezos didn’t kill the Washington Post because he had to. He did it because he sees America transforming into a lawless, smash-and-grab kleptocracy, and he wants in on the action.

Even more alarming is that Trump is now escalating his war on the free press by arresting journalists like Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in Minneapolis for the crime of reporting the news.

Friends, we’re moving into a dangerous new phase of authoritarianism, where basic facts about the world will be increasingly difficult to come by. We will need to build entirely new networks and distribution channels to get the truth to the public — and that’s why I’m asking you to help fight back by making a monthly donation to Inequality Media right now.

Inequality Media was made for this moment. We’ve built a following of 10 million people across social media. Every week, over 22 million people see our video explainers and posts, keeping people informed about complex economic issues, debunking Trump’s lies, and helping everyday people take action to defend our democracy.

With your help, we’ll be able to do even more by growing our brilliant team of researchers, writers, artists, and producers, and moving into new media areas like billboards and educational materials for schools.

But none of this is possible without your help, because as an independent, nonprofit media organization, we don’t have a mega-billionaire behind us — nor do we want one. We have you.

This is an all-hands-on-deck moment in the fight to save the truth and democracy. Will you make a monthly donation to Inequality Media to help educate the public, defend democracy, and get the truth out?

Trump can try to bully and silence us, but it won’t work. As long as we have an internet connection and each other, we can’t be stopped.

Thank you,

Robert Reich
Inequality Media