When a columnist walks away from one of the most influential newspapers in the country simply because the editorial board wants to promote free markets and personal liberty, you know exactly what the modern left stands for—and what it fears.
Eduardo Porter’s resignation from the Washington Post this week wasn’t just a career move—it was a confession. A confession that the radical left cannot coexist with a media environment that values freedom over control, open debate over dogma, and capitalism over state coercion. In his own words, Porter said he could not remain at the Post because of its “relentless promotion of free markets and personal liberties.” Since when did those become dirty words?
Let’s be crystal clear: Porter isn’t objecting to partisanship. He’s objecting to the very core values that define American conservatism—and, frankly, the American experiment itself. The left has always tried to mask its authoritarian impulses under the pretense of “critical thinking” and “journalistic integrity,” but now, when faced with a media platform shifting toward unapologetic patriotism and economic freedom, the mask is finally slipping.
Porter’s departure follows a wave of similar resignations from the Post, including longtime contributors like Jonathan Capehart, Ruth Marcus, and Eugene Robinson. Why? Because Jeff Bezos, in a surprising and welcome move, declared that the opinion section of the Washington Post would now defend two foundational American principles: free markets and personal liberty.
“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” Bezos wrote. “Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
That’s not censorship. That’s editorial direction. And it’s long overdue. For decades, the mainstream media has leaned so far left it can barely stand upright. Now, faced with the possibility of having to share column inches with unapologetic defenders of American capitalism and individual rights, the leftist intelligentsia is throwing a tantrum.
Porter’s letter is particularly revealing—and disturbing. He claims that this shift creates a “church” with “tight constraints on thought.” Think about that. He believes that defending economic freedom and individual rights—bedrock ideas enshrined in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—is somehow dogmatic. That’s because, to the left, liberty is dangerous. It means people can make choices the state doesn’t control. It means people can succeed without government handouts. It means people are responsible for their own lives.
And that terrifies them.
When Porter warns about a media environment that is “unflinching in its patriotism and unbounded in its optimism about the future of the United States,” what he’s really saying is that he has no place in a newsroom that actually believes in America. That’s not journalism—that’s ideology masquerading as objectivity. And it’s the exact kind of thinking that has poisoned the credibility of institutions like the Washington Post for years.
Let’s also not ignore the underlying paranoia in Porter’s diatribe. He speculates that Bezos is simply trying to protect his business interests from President Trump. That’s the left’s favorite fallback: when someone deviates from their orthodoxy, it must be out of fear or greed. It couldn’t possibly be that Bezos, like millions of Americans, is sick and tired of watching elite media function as a mouthpiece for centralized control, cultural rot, and economic mediocrity.
The truth is, the left doesn’t want a free press—they want a compliant one. They want reporters and editorial boards who reinforce their worldview, not challenge it. They want a media that pushes climate alarmism, identity politics, and socialism, not one that questions the authority of unelected bureaucrats or champions the dignity of work and the power of free enterprise.
Porter’s resignation is a gift, really. It proves that the Washington Post’s new direction is working. It’s flushing out the ideologues who can’t stomach a newspaper that finally values liberty over leftist orthodoxy. And it’s a reminder to all of us that the fight for America’s soul won’t be won just in Washington—it will be won in the classrooms, in the boardrooms, and yes, even in the newsrooms.
If the left is this rattled by a simple editorial shift toward freedom and optimism, imagine how they’ll react when the rest of the country follows.