When fear spreads in a society, powerful people who know better are often the first to show their weakness.

[Cattledog]

At the height of his powers, Jay Gould was known by many names, few of them flattering. People called him the Skunk of Wall Street, the Napoleon of Finance, and Mephistopheles himself. Gould, alongside rivals such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller, was a captain of industry—or, as they would all come to be known, a robber baron.

These men were stupendously powerful, and ruthlessly devoted to the perpetuation of their own wealth and influence. They battled one another for control of America’s railways. They hoarded gold, manipulated markets, and exploited workers. They bribed journalists to win favorable coverage and, when that didn’t work, threatened the writers and editors who displeased them.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/03/washington-post-bezos-trump-cartoon-ann-telnaes/681406/