“If Trump goes to prison, his base will support him more.”

How do you think Trump’s conviction will affect the presidential election?

I don’t think it has much effect. Most voters have already made up their minds. Trump has his supporters, Biden has his supporters; The only thing that matters is a very small percentage of undecideds in seven key states. More money is likely to be raised for the campaign. But it is a good sign of the rule of law in the United States, as it indicates that no one is above the law, not even a former president. This is the first time that Trump has been held responsible for his past. I find it unlikely that he will go to prison.

And if so?

He will be sentenced a few days before the Republican Party convention, where he will be nominated. If this happens, it will strengthen support among its base. People ignore how he incited the riot that led to the storming of the Capitol and his efforts to undermine the election results. If it doesn’t affect your vote, it probably won’t affect anything.

Isn’t it a bit frustrating?

Voters decide what kind of government they want. It will be a hotly contested election, like all elections. It will depend on participation. We are a very polarized society and things can change very quickly.

How long did it take you to get over your fear of Jeff Bezos wanting to influence the newspaper?

A few years. It was only after Trump became president that Trump began threatening to destroy Amazon in numerous tweets. I saw that Bezos does not interact or pressure us. Bezos bought the newspaper in 2013, and Trump assumed the presidency in January 2017; I would like to say that until the summer of 2017 I was not convinced that Bezos would not interfere in the work of the newspaper.

Bezos is one of the richest people in the world and bought one of the most prestigious newspapers on the planet. Doesn’t using it for political influence mean that it is easier to influence by donating money than to influence the owner of a media outlet?

Bezos doesn’t donate much, and at least at the time I wrote the book, donations were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. There aren’t many newspaper owners like Bezos, and I don’t think even Washington Post reporters appreciate how lucky they are to have such an owner. Most employers were getting involved. Trump certainly wouldn’t buy a media outlet without trying to influence it.

What did you learn from him?

Every encounter with him was business class. The way he thinks about things is very unconventional. Be clear that there are things that require metrics and other things that don’t, as you go with your gut. We are both quite analytical.

How was the coverage of the presidency of Trump, who insulted and accused the media every day?

Trust in the press was already waning before he arrived at the White House, and that trust has accelerated. Trump has exacerbated the level of polarization in the country. He must always have an enemy and blame others. When people focus on what they do and not what they say, they don’t do a good job. His easy target is the press, he blames us for everything. But our duty is to tell the facts as they are.

How could the war in Ukraine affect his victory?

So far, Trump has not shown much support for Zelensky. He’ll say he’ll fix it quickly. That Russia could occupy certain territories in Ukraine, and that Ukraine should accept this and stop sending money. Ukraine will be pressured to accept the deal. And then Trump will say: “See? The war is over!”

What about Gaza?

Many young people strongly oppose Joe Biden’s position on the Gaza war and the supply of weapons to Israel, and will not vote for him because they assert that they cannot be complicit in genocide. Even if the end result of this is to help Donald Trump, he will support Israel in every way.

Various media outlets such as the Financial Times, Le Monde or El País have signed agreements with OpenAI; How will artificial intelligence affect journalism?

The media will get much less traffic because people will write a question and wait for an answer. This will hurt newspapers. Many media outlets choose to reach an agreement with ChatGPT and with Google to receive payments for their information. This may be fine in the short term, but it is not clear that it will be so in the long term, when they are giving up their information at a fairly low price. It’s a tough decision because artificial intelligence exists and Google will change the way it presents search results. I care about small media.

because?

Because it is not clear that they will reach an agreement and they may lose a lot of traffic. It is a very dangerous time for journalism. We’ve been like this for a while, but it could get worse. It is very important for every medium to establish direct communication with its audience. Instead of relying on Google Discover or platforms, they need to create a product that people want to buy directly.