Washington Post Columnist Jennifer Rubin Quits

One of the most well-known columnists at the Washington Post is leaving with a dig at owner Jeff Bezos and a new mission to focus on what she calls President-elect Trump's "radical agenda." Jennifer Rubin has quit after 14 years to help launch a platform called The Contrarian via Substack. Its logo of "not owned by anyone" is what CNN media writer Brian Stelter calls "a pointed reference" to other media moguls "who, in Rubin's view, have "bent the knee" to President-elect Trump. She's starting the media venture with political pundit Norm Eisen, per the Hill.

Corporate "media and too many in the political establishment persist in downplaying the threat and seeking to accommodate Trump and his radical agenda," writes Rubin in a Contrarian statement. "We refuse to follow the herd." Rubin is only the latest Post staffer to resign in protest of what they see as Bezos kowtowing to Trump. Subscribers have been canceling as well. Semafor reports that the newspaper's daily traffic sank in 2024 to less than a quarter of what it was at its peak in 2021. The paper stopped publicly releasing traffic numbers last year after a 60% monthly decline. (More Washington Post stories.)