“Democracy dies in darkness” is the banal and inaccurate phrase that appears on The Washington Post masthead. Where did it come from? Who wrote it? Why does it stay on the newspaper’s masthead years after its first appearance, despite the fact that it isn’t true, and the obvious emptiness of the sentiment?
Ironically, it was written by one of the world’s richest men who owns The Washington Post, and spent the summer jaunting on his $500,000,000.00 yacht that sails with a 250-foot mega yacht to appropriately provision it.
Democracy doesn’t die in darkness. It chokes on apathy. It sputters to an end, decayed, broken and corrupted. It ends when it produces an economic system in which, according to the Federal Reserve, 60 percent of the population lives paycheck to paycheck, and 40 percent doesn’t have $400 cash available. Here is legendary Post editor Marty Baron describing the process where Jeff Bezos’ meaningless slogan came to life, and the Super Bowl ad that marketed it.
I should not have been surprised, but I still marveled at just how little it took to get under the skin of President Donald Trump and his allies. By February 2019, I had been the executive editor of The Washington Post for six years. That month, the newspaper aired a one-minute Super Bowl ad, with a voice-over by Tom Hanks, championing the role of a free press, commemorating journalists killed and captured, and concluding with the Post’s logo and the message “Democracy dies in darkness.” The ad highlighted the strong and often courageous work done by journalists at the Post and elsewhere—including by Fox News’s Bret Baier—because we were striving to signal that this wasn’t just about us and wasn’t a political statement.
“There’s someone to gather the facts,” Hanks said in the ad. “To bring you the story. No matter the cost. Because knowing empowers us. Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free.”
Even that simple, foundational idea of democracy was a step too far for the Trump clan. The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. couldn’t contain himself. “You know how MSM journalists could avoid having to spend millions on a #superbowl commercial to gain some undeserved credibility?” he tweeted with typical two-bit belligerence. “How about report the news and not their leftist BS for a change.”
Two years earlier—a month into Trump’s presidency—the Post had affixed “Democracy dies in darkness” under its nameplate on the printed newspaper, as well as at the top of its website and on everything it produced. As the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, envisioned it, this was not a slogan but a “mission statement.” And it was not about Trump, although his allies took it to be. Producing a mission statement had been in the works for two years before Trump took office. That it emerged when it did is testimony to the tortuous, and torturous, process of coming up with something sufficiently memorable and meaningful that Bezos would bless.
Bezos, the founder and now executive chair of Amazon, had bought The Washington Post in 2013. In early 2015, he had expressed his wish for a phrase that might encapsulate the newspaper’s purpose: a phrase that would convey an idea, not a product; fit nicely on a T-shirt; make a claim uniquely ours, given our heritage and our base in the nation’s capital; and be both aspirational and disruptive. “Not a paper I want to subscribe to,” as Bezos put it, but rather “an idea I want to belong to.” The idea: We love this country, so we hold it accountable.
No small order, coming up with the right phrase. And Bezos was no distant observer. “On this topic,” he told us, “I’d like to see all the sausage-making. Don’t worry about whether it’s a good use of my time.” Bezos, so fixated on metrics in other contexts, now advised ditching them. “I just think we’re going to have to use gut and intuition.” And he insisted that the chosen words recognize our “historic mission,” not a new one. “We don’t have to be afraid of the democracy word,” he said; it’s “the thing that makes the Post unique.”
Staff teams were assembled. Months of meetings were held. Frustrations deepened. Outside branding consultants were retained, to no avail. (“Typical,” Bezos said.) Desperation led to a long list of options, venturing into the inane. The ideas totaled at least 1,000: “A bias for truth,” “Know,” “A right to know,” “You have a right to know,” “Unstoppable journalism,” “The power is yours,” “Power read,” “Relentless pursuit of the truth,” “The facts matter,” “It’s about America,” “Spotlight on democracy,” “Democracy matters,” “A light on the nation,” “Democracy lives in light,” “Democracy takes work. We’ll do our part,” “The news democracy needs,” “Toward a more perfect union” (rejected lest it summon thoughts of our own workforce union).
By September 2016, an impatient Bezos was forcing the issue. We had to settle on something. Nine Post executives and Bezos met in a private room at the Four Seasons in Georgetown to finally get over the finish line. Because of Bezos’s tight schedule, we had only half an hour, starting at 7:45 a.m. A handful of options remained on the table: “A bright light for a free people” or, simply, “A bright light for free people”; “The story must be told” (recalling the inspiring words of the late photographer Michel du Cille); “To challenge and inform”; “For a world that demands to know”; “For people who demand to know.” None of those passed muster.
In the end, we settled on “A free people demand to know” (subject to a grammar check by our copy desk, which gave its assent). Success was short-lived—mercifully, no doubt. Late that evening, Bezos dispatched an email in the “not what you’re hoping for category,” as he put it. He had run our consensus pick by his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott, a novelist and “my in-house wordsmith,” who had pronounced the phrase clunky. “Frankenslogan” was the word she used.
By then, we needed Bezos to take unilateral action. Finally, he did. “Let’s go with ‘Democracy dies in darkness,’ ” he decreed. It had been on our list from the start, and was a phrase Bezos had used previously in speaking of the Post’s mission; he himself had heard it from the Washington Post legend Bob Woodward. It was a twist on a phrase in a 2002 ruling by the federal-appellate-court judge Damon J. Keith, who wrote that “democracies die behind closed doors.”
“Democracy dies in darkness” made its debut, without announcement, in mid-February 2017. And I’ve never seen a slogan—I mean, mission statement—get such a reaction. It even drew attention from People’s Daily in China, which tweeted, “ ‘Democracy dies in darkness’ @washingtonpost puts on new slogan, on the same day @realDonaldTrump calls media as the enemy of Americans.” Merriam-Webster reported a sudden surge in searches for the word democracy. The Late Show host Stephen Colbert joked that some of the rejected phrases had included “No, you shut up” and “We took down Nixon—who wants next?” Twitter commentators remarked on the Post’s “new goth vibe.” The media critic Jack Shafer tweeted a handful of his own “rejected Washington Post mottos,” among them “We’re really full of ourselves” and “Democracy Gets Sunburned If It Doesn’t Use Sunscreen.”
Bezos couldn’t have been more thrilled. The mission statement was getting noticed. “It’s a good sign when you’re the subject of satire,” he said a couple of weeks later. The four words atop our journalism had certainly drawn attention to our mission. Much worse would have been a collective shrug. Like others at the Post, I had questioned the wisdom of branding all our work with death and darkness. All I could think of at that point, though, was the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.”
But the phrase stuck with readers, who saw it as perfect for the Trump era, even if that was not its intent.
Here is a story in Axios that focuses on President Biden and the coming campaign. I’ll let it speak for itself, but ask one question: what is the 2024 election about?
President Biden and his campaign are working on a critical project for his re-election bid: Make sure he doesn't trip.
Driving the news: As voters express deep concerns about the 80-year-old president's age and fitness for office, Biden's team is taking extra steps to prevent him from stumbling in public — as he did in June, when he tripped over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy.
With a physical therapist, Biden has been doing exercises to improve his balance as far back as November 2021.
Since his stumble in June, he has been wearing tennis shoes more often to avoid slipping — and using the short stairs on Air Force One, entering the plane on a lower deck than before.
Why it matters: Democrats, including some in the administration, are terrified that Biden will have a bad fall — with a nightmare scenario of it happening in the weeks before the November 2024 election.
Zoom in: Some senior Democrats privately have been frustrated with Biden's advance team for months, citing the sandbag incident and noting that the president often appears not to know which direction to go after he speaks at a podium.
Often without context, Republicans have used video clips of Biden looking confused about where to go after speeches to raise further questions about his age.
Biden's balance difficulties are likely the result of what his physician has diagnosed as "a combination of significant spinal arthritis" and "mild post-fracture foot arthritis."
Biden works out many mornings with physical therapist Drew Contreras, who also worked with former President Obama.
Biden's doctor has recommended exercises for balance, which he called "proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers."
What the maneuvers entail is unclear.
"I have never heard the term 'proprioceptive maintenance maneuvers.' It is not a clinical term in standard use," said Professor James Gordon, associate dean and chair of the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California.
Asked for more detail, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Axios: "This isn't new — it was proactively and transparently disclosed in a 2021 report from the president's doctor and again this year."
"This article fits an unfortunate pattern of media attempting to sensationalize something that has long been public, rather than covering the president's very real achievements for hardworking Americans," Bates added.
Zoom out: Recent polls have shown Biden's age is among voters' chief concerns about him. Voters also have significant age concerns about former President Trump — the likely GOP nominee.
Three-fourths of Americans see Biden as too old for office, according to an AP-NORC poll last month. About half also saw Trump, 77, as too old.
I think the election is about this:
And this, which Donald Trump also posted on Truth Social this past Sunday:
They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its “Country Threatening Treason.” Their endless coverage of the now fully debunked SCAM known as Russia, Russia, Russia, and much else, is one big Campaign Contribution to the Radical Left Democrat Party. I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events. Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE? They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!
He’s not joking. Everything Trump says should be taken literally and seriously. He means it, and he wants to achieve it.
The chaos in Washington, DC, will help Trump even if it is largely caused by his MAGA gangsters and legislative thugs.
Chaos benefits Trump. Corruption benefits Trump. Robert Menendez benefits Trump. Lying benefits Trump. Hypocrisy benefits Trump. Indecency benefits Trump. He is going to run as a strongman to restore order. There is an enormous likelihood that it could succeed.
This is the warning.
Last night, I talked more about this with Joy Reid on “The ReidOut.” Hope you’ll have a listen:
I take Trump at his word to too, even if he cannot keep track of which member of the Bush family did what, or whales being attacked by windmills. I believe him when says he will execute his enemies. I believe him when he will burn the entire government down and make all beholden to him.
Now, on to the "don't trip" comment. Steve, you've done enough pre-political walk throughs where you walk the route and make sure there are no obstructions. You may have had to worry with a bullet-proof podium and where the medical team would be located in case of a medical emergency. I can say that I have, more than once, worried with those issues. ( If you are wondering, it was under Bush II) When Biden tripped at one of the military academies, my first thought was "who walked the route". YOU ALWAYS WALK THE ROUTE. You make sure nothing is in the way. The head of state is always paying attention to the crowd, it's your responsibly (or the Secret Service's to be accurate) to make sure the walkway is clear. So it isn't age, although exercise does help balance issues. Having seen President Biden around Rehoboth, he does exercise.
It is who is making sure the route is clear going in and going out. I am not sure if the right people are checking the route.
When was the last time Trump & the rest of the GOP actually discussed policies, particularly anything that support Americans? If I recall right, they deliberately said they had no platform for their convention in 2020. It's all policies of hate and vengeance and revenge.