I think the Murdochs are pragmatists who have recognized that the brand of conservatism they've created is immolating itself. That's fine for Fox News, cable news won't outlive the boomers anyway. For opinion pages where your buddies show up to appear legit? You need the beard of an actual news organization.

I think the Sulzbergers are gladhanding socialites who don't want to disappoint their friends, and New Yorkers have been frenemies with the Trumps since before Spy.

I think liberals don't read. Nobody does. They sample articles like college kids sneaking nuts from the bulk foods section of the grocery store. So why even pay for the articles if all you're going to do is drag on them on social media? The people who subscribe to the New York Times do so out of cultural allegiance: "I am an open-minded thought leader, you can tell because I read the Bret Stephens columns even though I often disagree with him."

I subscribe to the WSJ because they pay investigative journalists to tear apart capitalism for some reason. It's fuckin' weird. Jho Low? taken out by the WSJ. Elizabeth Holmes? Taken out by the WSJ. Compare and contrast the WSJ and NYT coverage of FTX: It's "blood will run" vs "look at this nice Democratic boy who got in a l'il trouble, good thing he's still napping."

God's honest truth? I fucking hate New York City. Always have. Visited there at the age of 12 to see the Natural History Museum and all I wanted was a nuclear weapon. Would I have traded my life to reduce NYC to a radioactive bay? Goddamn right. NYC is chummy elitism parading as culture, inequality parading as color. And every literary organ rooted in that place produces 99% bullshit.