At some point before the inauguration of the fascist regime, the Washington Post ran an advertisement paid for by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). It wasn’t an ordinary ad, but a “wrap,” meaning that it covered the front and back pages of the newspaper. According to The Hill, the ad, which featured a large picture of Trump flashing a thumbs-up, was a giant ‘thank you’ for his promise to “end the electric vehicle mandate on Day 1.”

Similarly, the the advocacy groups Common Cause and the Southern Poverty Law Center signed a $115,000 contract to run a wrap advertisement with the Post.

The ad’s design features a large picture of Musk with his head tilted back, laughing, along with a cutout image of the White House and large white text: “Who’s running this country: Donald Trump or Elon Musk?”

Lower down on the page, it features smaller font text stating: “Since day one, Elon has created chaos and confusion and put our livelihoods at risk. And he is accountable to no one but himself.”

“The Constitution only allows for one president at a time. Call your senators and tell them it’s time Donald Trump fire Elon Musk,” it says, followed by the URL FireMusk.org.

As I noted, the contract for this ad was signed. The Post’s advertising sales representative had no problem with the content and expressed confidence that it could run without a problem. But that’s not what happened. The Post backed out of the deal and canceled the ad. It was supposed to run on Tuesday. No one responsible for this decision will comment on the record, even to offer some fig leaf of an excuse.

It’s clear that the problem had nothing to with the political content of the ad. If they can run an ad from a lobbying group for oil and gas companies that opposes electric vehicles, they can run an ad from left-wing policy advocacy groups that opposes the willy-nilly firing of a huge percentage of the Post’s readership and subscribers.

The clear reason why this ad didn’t run is because the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, didn’t want to anger the fascist regime. It’s the same reason he didn’t the paper’s editorial board to endorse Kamala Harris.

Bezos created and owns Amazon, and is obviously one of the richest men on Earth. But apparently all that money can’t prevent him from being a simpering coward. He’s not only afraid to stand up to Trump and Musk on behalf of his own readers, but he’s using his ownership to ensure no one else can do it.

Billionaires are not going to save us. They’ve monopolized everything to the point that newspapers can’t make any revenue, and then they bought the papers and operate them at a loss so they can prevent criticism of the rigged system they’ve created.

These things will continue until the fascist regime is defeated. And even after that, until monopoly power is smashed. Sharpen the guillotines.