Editor’s note: I simmered for Washington Post story all weekend and I felt compelled to write another bonus Triad because people seem to both misdiagnose and underestimate what happened back then. Washington Post. It’s not about censorship or the media. This is a catastrophic failure of the rule of law.

This is a watershed moment that suggests we are in greater danger than we thought.

It’s time to get organized and prepare. To prepare for what is to come. This is what we do The rampartevery day. I hope you will join us. There is power in community.

Tonight, Tim and the gang will be going live following Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden for a Bulwark+ members-only live stream. If you’re interested in joining us, become a member now and watch your inbox for a link shortly.

FRIDAY, after Washington PostThe publisher of announced that the newspaper was suddenly abandoning the practice of the editorial page supporting presidential candidates, information was leaked that on the same day Donald Trump met with Blue Origin executives.

Blue Origin, of course, is the rocket company owned by Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post.

This was neither a coincidence nor a case of Bezos and Trump being caught doing something they wanted to keep hidden. The whole point of the exercise, at least for Trump, was that it was public.

What we witnessed on Friday was not a case of censorship or a failure of the media. It had nothing to do with journalism or Washington Post. It was something a lot, a lot more substantial. It was about oligarchy, the rule of law and the failure of democratic order.

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When Bezos decreed that the newspaper he owned could not support Trump’s opponent, it was a transparent act of submission born of an intuitive understanding of the differences between the candidates.

Bezos understood that if he upset Kamala Harris and Harris became president, he would face no consequences. A Harris administration would not target his businesses because it would adhere – like all non-Trump presidential administrations – to the rule of law.

Bezos also understood that the opposite was not true. If he continued to antagonize Trump and he became president, his businesses would be particularly targeted.

It was therefore wise to kneel before Trump. Everything is positive, no downside.

What Trump understood was that Bezos’ proposal would be of limited use if it remained silent. Because the point of dominating Bezos wasn’t just to dominate Bezos. It was about sending a message to every other businessman, entrepreneur, and corporation in America: These are the rules of the game. If you’re nice to Trump, the government will be nice to you. If you criticize Trump, the government will be used against you.

That’s why Trump met with Blue Origin the same day Bezos conceded. It was a demonstration, a very public demonstration.

But as bad as it may seem, it’s not the worst.

The worst part is the underlying failures that made this arrangement possible.

My friend Kristofer Harrison is a Russia expert who runs the Dekleptocracy project. This morning he sent an email,

America’s oligarchic period brings us closer to 1990s Russia than we want to believe. Political scientists can and will debate which comes first: oligarchs or flabby politicians. In the 1990s, Russia had this in spades. Us too. This combination has eroded the rule of law there, and it is doing it here as well.

Russian democracy died because its institutions and politicians were not strong enough to enforce the law. Sound familiar? I was able to identify half a dozen laws that Elon Musk has already broken without being enforced. Bezos censored the Job because he knows that no one will enforce the law and stop Trump from seeking political retaliation. And so on. The corrosive effect on the rule of law is cumulative.

Bezos’ capitulation is our wake-up call for entry into early 1990s Russia. No legal system can survive when a social class is not subject to it because politicians are too cowardly to enforce the law.

And that is the fundamental point. Bezos’ surrender is not just a demonstration. It’s a consequence. It’s a sign that the rule of law has already eroded to the point where even someone as powerful as Jeff Bezos no longer believes they can protect it.

So he sought refuge in the arms of the strong man.

Bezos made his decision because he calculated that Trump had already won – not the election, but his fight to violate the rule of law.

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Yesterday, Timothy Snyder appealed to Americans to not obeying in advance. He’s right, of course. We must continue to resist fascism as best we can. The issues have not changed.

What should change is our understanding of where our democracy currently sits on the continuum. We are not on the verge of a slide toward autocracy. We are already halfway up the slope. And it is even if Harris wins.

If Trump wins? Well, I guess we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.

But Bezos and Trump have just taught America’s latest Democratic leaders: the days of normal politics, of trying to win bipartisan majorities by focusing on “kitchen table” issues, are over. The task before us will require aggressive systemic changes if we are to escape terminal decline.

The time is later than we think.

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