Marty Baron: Behind the Washington Post’s Demise
The Bulwark Podcast
The Bulwark
4.6 • 11.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The massive layoffs at Jeff Bezos's Washington Post involve more than just the financial situation at the paper. The Amazon founder's real priority is keeping Donald Trump happy so the money keeps flowing from his lucrative government contracts. And the man worth $260 billion will do what it takes, even if that means hollowing out a great news organization and potentially turning it into a MAGA-friendly outlet. Maybe having the economy so dependent on government contracts—with an erratic, megalomaniac at the top of the food chain—is not such a good idea. The former executive editor at The Post says Bezos should turn the paper into a nonprofit. Plus, the origin story of "Democracy Dies in Darkness," and the profiteering and corruption in the administration is not getting the press attention it deserves.
Marty Baron joins Tim Miller.
show notes
- Marty's book, "Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post"
- Tickets on sale Friday for our live shows in Dallas and Austin in March, and our second Minnesota show is selling out. Go to: TheBulwark.com/Events.
- Visit www.functionhealth.com/THEBULWARK and use gift code THEBULWARK25 for a $25 credit toward your membership.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right. Hey, everybody. We got a great show coming for you with Marty Barron. And I was, I was kind of annoyed that he waited until we stopped recording to make fun of me for the fact that he sees my clips on social media and I look like I just got out of bed. I'm just like, you know what? Okay. All right. We're in a different world. We're not, I'm not buttoned up Woodward and Bernstein material. Sometimes I'm, |
| 0:20.9 | sometimes I'm hung over in podcasting. Let a man live. But it was wonderful. And I think we'll |
| 0:28.5 | give us a lot of insight into the corruption that has led to the crack up at the Washington Post. |
| 0:35.2 | And I think there's a lot of important themes that are related to that in addition to kind of the media gossip element of it. So stick around for that. First, I just, I do want to flag about our live shows. Texas is going to be on sale, pre-sale for Bullwark subscribers. So become a subscriber to Borg Plus at the Borg.com. Presale opens up today Thursday. |
| 0:56.2 | Tickets will be open up to everybody on Friday. |
| 0:59.4 | And if the Minnesota experience is anything to guide us, they're going to sell out quick. |
| 1:04.0 | So go check those out. |
| 1:05.2 | Reminder, we're in Dallas, March 18th and Austin, March 19th. |
| 1:09.6 | Become a Borg plus subscriber to get that early access to tickets, |
| 1:12.6 | get the best seats in the house so you can get close to me, throw spitballs at me, et cetera. |
| 1:17.6 | As far as Minnesota is concerned, we added the bonus show on Wednesday, February 18th. |
| 1:23.2 | There are a couple hundred tickets left. |
| 1:25.1 | So go check those out as well. |
| 1:27.0 | All the proceeds from those two shows in Minneapolis are going to go to Second Harvest Heartland. |
| 1:32.6 | I was doing great work, feeding people that are struggling with food insecurity because of all the nonsense happen in Minneapolis. |
| 1:41.9 | So look forward to seeing you guys on the road, Minneapolis, Dallas, or Austin. Up next, former executive editor of the Washington Post, |
| 1:47.6 | Marty Barron. |
| 2:05.3 | Hello and welcome to the Bullerick Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. Delighted welcome to the Buller Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. Delighted, welcome to the show, |
| 2:11.2 | former executive editor of The Washington Post, author of Collision of Power, Trump Bezos, |
| 2:16.4 | and the Washington Post. It's Marty Barron. Thanks for coming on the show, Marty. Thanks for having you. |
| 2:18.2 | Well, I think obviously I've brought you on to talk about the war in Ukraine. No, we're going to talk about Jeff Bezos doing |
| 2:24.2 | self-sabotage to his own newspaper for some reason. You put out a statement yesterday that was |
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