Jen Rubin Leaves Washington Post, Joins Norm Eisen to Launch New Business Countering ‘Authoritarian Threat’

New York
CNN
—

Veteran opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin is becoming the latest in a long line of Washington Post figures to leave the troubled institution.

Rubin is teaming up with former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen to launch something new: a startup publication called The Contrarian.

The startup’s slogan, “Not owned by anyone,” is a pointed reference to billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other moguls who, in Rubin’s view, have “bent the knee” to President-elect Donald Trump.

“Our goal is to combat, with every fiber of our being, the authoritarian threat that we face,” Rubin told CNN in an interview ahead of the publication’s introduction.

Rather than anti-Trump, the founders describe their venture as pro-democracy. They said they have already recruited about two dozen contributors, including people who played prominent roles in exposing 2020 election denial and investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

“The voices we will present are diverse across parties and generations,” Eisen said in a statement, “united by the shared belief that we need an unfettered media to meet this moment as we face for an existential threat to American democracy.”

The contrarian joins a growing group of publications—like The Bulwark and Zeteo, to name two—that are built on the Substack newsletter platform. Starting Monday, it will release some content for free, but will charge $7 a month for full access to columns, podcasts and videos.

Eisen, a regular presence on cable news who is leaving his role as a legal analyst at CNN, will serve as publisher. Rubin becomes editor-in-chief.

A 14-year veteran of the Post’s opinion section, Rubin said she resigned because “the Post, along with most mainstream news outlets, has failed spectacularly at a time when we most need a robust, aggressive free press.”

“I fear things are going from bad to worse at The Post,” she added.

Rubin cited several controversies, including Bezos blocking the editorial board’s planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in October and Amazon, which Bezos founded, making a $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural fund. She said a major factor in her exit was the Post’s recent refusal to publish a satirical cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes showing Bezos and others on bended knee. Telnaes resigned as a result.

The Post’s opinion editor David Shipley defended his decision to remove the cartoon in an internal memo Friday, calling it a “sound editorial decision” because other Post columns had referenced Bezos and Trump and “another piece within a few days hit me as overkill.”

Both the opinion and news departments at Posten have actually covered Bezos thoroughly. But Rubin’s concerns about the Post, including about its independence, have been shared by others, and big-name names from both departments have left in the past few months, weakening morale at the organization.

Rubin said the name of her outfit, The Contrarian, signaled “we don’t go with the pack,” meaning with the billionaire types who have sought to “carry favor” with the president-elect.

She said subscribers could expect “reported opinion and commentary” on political news, but also cultural coverage that might appeal to people who don’t follow politics closely.

Humorist Andy Borowitz, who parted ways with The New Yorker in 2023 and now has his own home on Substack, will be a contributor.

Eisen, a former US ambassador to the Czech Republic, said: “I know from my experience in Europe that the dissident movements there have been led by those in humor, satire and culture like my friend President Václav Havel, who was a playwright.”

“We will bring in a wide range of voices – you need that to fight autocracy,” he added. “Laughing can actually end up being more important than political and legal analysis!”

Rubin and Eisen will face the same challenges as other digital startups: distribution hurdles, marketing limitations and a general reluctance by readers to give up a credit card and pay for a subscription.

But Rubin has a data point as motivation. In the wake of Posten’s non-authentication scandal, at least 250,000 customers dropped their subscriptions. For a postal veteran who walks out the door in protest, these fellow protesters could be the starting point for a new subscription business.