As of late yesterday something like 250,000 people had cancelled their subscriptions to The Washington Post. That’s roughly 10% of their subscriber base. So yeah, not good. I’m a Post subscriber and I didn’t. But I did cancel my Amazon Prime membership. (That’ll show ’em.)

The reason as I’m sure you know, is that the Post’s owner Jeff Bezos, prohibited the paper’s editorial board from making an endorsement in the presidential race … barely a week before the election. (The Post still makes endorsements in local races.) The Post was going to endorse Harris, and Bezos, who has myriad contracts with vital regulatory and financial issues connected to the federal government is justifiably afraid of what Trump could do to him if elected … and pissed off. Never mind Bezos’ blather saying, “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”

That folks, is bullshit. What anyone with two eyes, two ears and half a brain fully understands is that Bezos is worried — and with good reason — about what Trump could do to the shareholder value of his sprawling empire. But multi-multi-billionaire Bezos is hardly alone in his fear of Trump 2.0 settling scores with anyone “disloyal” to him.

America’s signature titan of finance, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, is understood to support Harris over Trump, but will not step out on the record and say so, for the same reasons as Bezos. Said a New York Times story on Dimon’s silence, “Mr. Dimon isn’t making his stance known publicly because he’s fearful that if Mr. Trump is victorious, he could retaliate against the people and companies who publicly opposed his run, his associates said. That’s a concern shared by other powerful corporate executives, and not without reason: Mr. Trump has begun to increase threats of political retribution in recent weeks.“

Bezos and Dimon are hardly alone. Even Bill Gates, these days recognized as a progressive-enough philanthropist, is keeping quiet on a risky public choice in this particular election.

Likewise, Warren Buffett is staying on the sidelines this time around. “Warren Buffett is not taking sides in the election despite any online speculation, AI deepfakes or falsehoods that have or may emerge. Buffett, often called the ‘Oracle of Omaha’, has been mostly neutral regarding politics for years. Buffet has been unusually silent in the lead-up to November 5 despite formerly being a vocal advocate of Democrats like Clinton in 2016 and Obama in 2008 and 2012.”

Weasely tech twits like Mark Zuckerberg at Meta/Facebook are of course playing their usual, “We have no role here” game. But that’s what they always do.

The fear Trump strikes in the minds of people like Bezos, Dimon, Gates and Buffett is startling — to me at least. “Startling”, but as I say, understandable. A Trump 2.0 administration stocked with a deep bench of capos far, far more devious and disciplined than 1.0 idiots like Kash Patel, Peter Navarro, Mike Flynn, Rudy Giuliani and on … and on … is a legitimate, real world concern for any executive with responsibilities to investors. Not that that makes their silence any more courageous.

But what, I keep wondering, about Jeb and George W. Bush? What are they afraid of?

I don’t for a second think either Bush coming out and endorsing Harris over Trump would have a decisive impact on voters, even old school country club Republicans. But it couldn’t hurt. A couple silver-haired geezers tallying up their latest dividend statements before teeing off might say to each other, “Sure, she’s a radical socialialist. But if Jeb and W* are with her just this once, maybe I will too. I mean WTF is with that tariff shit?”

Neither Bush has any future in the fully Trumpified Republican party. (Ever notice how W* is never mentioned … ever … by Republican pundits?) But they might feel some restored legitimacy in the event of a Trump-induced GOP blow-out. Maybe. But only if they did the brave thing and stood up before the election and said something.

I mean, I understand W* and Dick Cheney are no longer close. (Letting Dick talk him into an off-the-books trillion dollar 12 year war will do that to a friendship.) But my god, if Dick Cheney, in Wyoming, can summon the guts (and lower) to call Trump a disaster and publicly endorse Harris, what possible reason do the Bush’s have for not doing it?

*Elected not by a majority of voters, but by a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court.