Collaboration, not acquiescence
By 
I think Jamison Foser is correct that while it’s useful in some contexts “obeying in advance” does not adequately describe what’s going on at the Washington Post:
Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post spiking a cartoon that portrayed Jeff Bezos harshly is not an example of Jeff Bezos obeying Donald Trump in advance. It is an example of Jeff Bezos’s malign rule over the Post.9 Bezos is the autocrat in this scenario, not the supplicant.
A whole lot of people — many of them quite powerful, many of them not — are reacting to the rise of autocracy in America not by “obeying in advance” but by gleefully lending a hand, either because they enthusiastically support right-wing autocracy or because they think they can use it for their own ends. Either way, we need a harsher — and more accurate — condemnation for them than “obeying in advance.”
I am reminded of one of the catchphrases of the first Trump administration: This is not normal. Like “obey in advance” it’s easy to see why the phrase and its variants took off. It expressed something important, in a clear and concise way. But it, too, is often inadequate to the moment.
“This is not normal” and “that’s obeying in advance” are both trendy Trump-era critiques that capture something important but are often inadequate to the actions they describe. Perhaps they’ve become trendy in part because they are inadequate. They feel clear-eyed and defiant — who among us doesn’t want to feel clear-eyed and defiant right now? — but also offer the comfort of stopping short of looking the problem full in the face.
“Obeying in advance” suggests that Bezos is being effectively coerced into doing something he’d rather not do, but there’s no reason to think that he isn’t an enthusiastic supporter of Trump. And it’s also true that this is at least as much about him asserting his authoritah by subverting journalistic principles as it is about displaying loyalty to the incoming administration per se.
…I mean:
Disney thought paying $15 million would guarantee it first place in the Trump ass kissing competition. After this move by Bezos, it will have to up its game. Perhaps a movie version of Kash Patel's children's book?
[image or embed]— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) January 5, 2025 at 7:39 AM