Over the last 13 months, we’ve watched L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong continue a streak of startling moves and ongoing public expressions that appear to align with, or outright boost, prominent voices with the Trump Administration and MAGA movement.
Some of his befuddling tweets on X have earned him millions of hits, surpassing the readership of even the Times’ best-read stories, even as subscribers reportedly cancel the paper in protest or disgust.
Many observers have asked, "What is going on with this guy?”
As we continue scratching our heads as to the ’why’ behind Dr. Soon-Shiong’s recent statements and actions, here we will review over a year’s worth of increasingly troubling evidence and words to help you judge for yourself.
January 9, 2024
Shortly before a round of layoffs of roughly 115 journalists, including many journalists of color, L.A. Times’ top editor, Kevin Merida resigns from his position, citing mutual agreement over his decision with Soon-Shiong, which comes after “after considerable soul-searching about my career.”
January 26, 2024
The New York Times reports that Merida may have chosen to depart the paper after Soon-Shiong crossed the red line into editorial the previous month, apparently trying to discourage the editor from publishing a story that would reflect poorly on a fellow California doctor, who is an acquaintance of Soon-Shiong’s. Soon-Shiong said in a statement that the characterization of his behavior in the situation was “factually incorrect.” Later, Merida will say he tried to stay in the role as long as possible.
August 26, 2024
In one of the first signs that Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong may have been replaced by a Tesla Bot, the doctor seemingly glitches while attempting to bemoan the devastation laying waste to U.S. journalism, posting on X, “Jobs lost. Journalists, pressmen, printing plant all lost but no matter. Politics ugh.” Not mentioned here are the 115 L.A. Times journalists laid off at the start of 2024. In 2021, in a less enigmatic position, the owner had called upon tech big-wigs to help fund newspapers, as online outlets continue jacking publications’ stories to help their own platforms.
October 23, 2024
The whole tomato then seems to splatter back to more innocent times, when half of the country still held out some kind of hope that a serpent would not come slithering back into the White House in this, our year of the Snake. With so many liberal Southern Californian hopes pinned on the elevation of Kamala “I Am Speaking Now” Harris to the post of U.S. President, The L.A. Times was rocked by the 11th-hour announcement that its editorial board would not be endorsing a candidate for president, breaking tradition that has been held since 2008, when it came out for Obama.
Mariel Garza, the paper’s editorials editor, resigned over the move that day, telling the Columbia Journalism Review that the plan was to endorse Harris before Soon-Shiong squashed the endorsement. “I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent,” she said. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”
Soon-Shiong fires back on X, pinning the whole thing on the editors for not doing what he told them to do, writing: “The Editorial Board was provided the opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all the POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies by EACH candidate during their tenures at the White House, and how these policies affected the nation. In addition, the Board was asked to provide their understanding of the policies and plans enunciated by the candidates during this campaign and its potential effect on the nation in the next four years. In this way, with this clear and non-partisan information side-by-side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being President for the next four years. Instead of adopting this path as suggested, the Editorial Board chose to remain silent, and I accepted their decision. Please #vote.”
October 24, 2024
Two more editorial writers at The L.A. Times, including Pulitzer Prize-winning Robert Greene, resign from their jobs, expressing frustration at the alleged interference of the paper’s owner leading to the scrapped endorsement of Kamala Harris for president.
In an interview with Spectrum, amid reports that 4.5% of L.A. Times subscribers were canceling their subscriptions to the paper, Soon-Shing addresses the decision, saying, “I think my fear is that if we chose either one that it would just add to the division,” proferring concern for our country’s cohesion, he continues, “I want us desperately to air all the voices on the opinion side, on the op-ed side… I don’t know how (readers) look upon me or our family as ‘ultra progressive’ or not, but I’m an Independent.”
More recently, Soon-Shiong calls the paper’s decision to endorse Karen Bass “a mistake,” further throwing L.A. Times editors under a bus, even as he echoes similar sentiments being expressed elsewhere, from the halls of power to graffiti seen on the side of the 10 Freeway and billboards.
October 26, 2024
Soon-Shiong’s daughter, Nika, who, in 2022 denied accusations that she’d ever controlled editorial decisions in the paper (while also acknowledging she “advocate[s]” for causes she believes in), pins the doctor’s decision to cancel a presidential endorsement over Harris’ support for Israel, while it was killing a fuckload of innocent women and children, as well as its military opponents. She tells the New York Times, “Our family made the joint decision not to endorse a Presidential candidate. This was the first and only time I have been involved in the process.”
“As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide,” she continues, “and as a family that experienced South African Apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children.”
Nika’s statements seem to find corroboration in an email between Soon-Shiong and one or more top editors, obtained by Drop Site News, in which he reportedly refers to Israel’s attacks on Gaza as a “genocide.”
Subsequent polling finds that Harris’ position on Gaza was a significant factor in previous Biden voters choosing to withhold their votes for her in the election.
November 15, 2024
Soon-Shiong tells Fox News that he’s committed to reshaping the L.A. Times so that it is committed to fact, while planning to rebrand the Opinion section as “Voices” to allow “left, right, and center” opinions to be expressed. Some of which, if we had to put our money on it, might not be the kind of facts we ourselves like to think of as “factual facts.”
November 17, 2024
Soon-Shiong retweets RFK Jr., thanking Donald Trump for “his leadership and courage” while reaffirming his commitment to “Make America Healthy Again.”
November 23, 2024
Doing away with some of the nuances of the previous months, Soon-Shiong offers outright praise for Donald Trump, and proposed Health and Human Services director, and known vaccine opponent, Robert Kennedy Jr. on X, for appointing different doctors to leadership positions in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. As a reminder to readers, Trump arguably bungled the shit out of our nation’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic, has proposed T.V. huckster Dr. Mehmet Oz to run CMS, and currently stands accused of stymieing studies related to an outbreak of Bird Flu in the U.S.
November 27, 2024
An L.A. Times media rep reportedly ends a contentious interview between Status’s Oliver Darcy and Dr. Soon-Shiong after the doctor is asked about his desire to bring CNN’s Trump mouthpiece and Elon Musk Nazi-gesturing defender Scott Jennings to its editorial board. Status also claims that, in the same interview with Darcy, Soon-Shiong denies that Trump consistently lies. Darcy claims: “He told me it was merely my ‘opinion’ that Trump lies more than other politicians,” and also says Dr. Soon-Shiong called Darcy a “so-called reporter.”
December 4, 2024
A group of L.A. Times staffers tell Status they are "offended," "confused," and "frustrated,” over the owner of the paper exerting greater influence over their coverage. “ "The man who was supposed to be our savior has turned into what now feels like the biggest internal threat to the paper,” one of the nearly dozen staffers interviewed says.
December 6, 2024
Harry Litman, a senior legal affairs columnist for the Times’s Opinion section, reveals on his Substack that he has resigned over a “bias meter” Soon-Shiong has expressed a desire to see added to every story.
"My resignation is a protest and visceral reaction against the conduct of the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong,” he writes. “Soon-Shiong has made several moves to force the paper, over the forceful objections of his staff, into a posture more sympathetic to Donald Trump. Those moves can’t be defended as the sort of policy adjustment papers undergo from time to time, and that an owner, within limits, is entitled to influence.“
December 13, 2024
Displaying Ad Fontes media’s “media bias chart,” Soon-Shiong announces on X that “L.A. Times is trying to move to the center!” in an age when journalists, academic institutions, former toadies, and even shadowy warpigs whose identities were once synonymous with “die-hard Republican” have outlined the threats his election means for the country. Or at the least, suggest Trump is “unfit” for the job.
December 17, 2024
Status reports that members of the L.A. Times Opinion section have written a memo to executive editor Terry Tang, expressing frustration that Soon-Shiong will prohibit the publication of “op-eds that are critical of Trump unless the paper runs a separate editorial that gives the ‘opposite view’ of the president's rhetoric and actions.”
January 1, 2025
The new year kicked off with a report in Status that Soon-Shiong, who once served as the executive chairman of ImmunityBio, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on vaccines, had invited alleged comedian Rob Schneider and person-we-once-liked-but-are-not-so-sure-now, Cheryl Hines, to a meeting at the paper’s offices to discuss a possible “partnership” in what was reported as a conceivable right-leaning version of The View.
While Schneider no doubt has established expertise in economics (see Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalow) and international affairs (see Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo), his more recent output has hinged on outspoken views against vaccines and a lack of compassion for people who are different, including offending actual hospital donors, using transphobic, misogynistic, and anti-vaccination jokes and making a recent suggestion that Dikembe Mutombo’s death may have had a link to the fact the NBA great once endorsed people getting a COVID-19 vaccination.
Hines, meanwhile, is the third wife of head-vaccine-misinformer-in-charge Robert Kennedy Jr., who Schneider is, naturally, all about himself. Despite a track record as a Democratic voter and despite assertions that she doesn’t always agree with her husband, she basically seems like she’s pulling an Usha Vance right now and hanging with the Trump circle.
January 8, 2025
As L.A. reels from the damage being caused by historic wildfires, Soon-Shiong criticizes Mayor Karen Bass for allegedly making cuts to the fire department’s budget that his own paper discredited with a headline calling the reality behind the situation “tricky.” Over the following days and weeks, the L.A. Times has published stories that suggest more firefighters and water could have saved some homes.
January 11, 2025
The doctor publicly invites tech venture capitalist, former Democratic Party donor, and recent Trump PAC-supporter Marc Andreessen onto the L.A. Times editorial board, while saying that he regrets the paper’s endorsement of Karen Bass for L.A. Mayor and alludes to the paper’s decision not to endorse Kamala Harris for President.
January 12, 2025
As Angelenos grieve over historic fires destroying their homes and communities, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong retweets one of Elon Musk’s posts, showing a parody headline about Gavin Newsom. Too soon, Soon.
January 14, 2025
In a video from the Morning Meeting with hosts Sean Spicer (Trump’s former press secretary), Mark Halperin (former Newsmax analyst), and Dan Turrentine (self-labeled Democrat who goes hard on the DNC) shares his thoughts on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose medical views have been called “terrifying,”Dr. Soon-Shiong says RFK Jr. “knows more about the science than most doctors,” before rightly calling out red dye in our foods, mercury in fish, and other food concerns we agree with. Later, Soon-Shiong seamlessly follows a discussion about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines with a warning about rising cancer rates in children, though it’s unclear if he’s saying these two things are connected, although one Dr. Steven Miller tries to link the two statements in a now unavailable X post (Miller’s X account appears to have been “suspended” for violating “the X rules”).
January 16, 2025
Soon-Shiong shares a Change.org petition demanding "the immediate resignation of Mayor Karen Bass,"… which, like it or not, probably ain’t happening. The online petition, which is completely different from a recall effort, has 168,906 signatures as of the time of this being written..
January 26, 2025
In an article in Real Clear Investigations, Soon-Shiong is reported to be “leaning on” Eric Beach to help recruit “new voices” for the paper’s editorial board. Beach ran pro-Trump Great America PAC, which supported his presidential runs in 2016 and 2020. The super PAC reportedly also paid a huge fine to FEC for accepting a contribution from undercover journalists while they posed as representatives for a Chinese donor.
January 28, 2025
Soon-Shiong lavishes some more gateway praise on vaccine-skeptic, misinformation-spewing, (animal carcass-dragging), MAGA-embracing RFK Jr. while endorsing his candidacy for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, albeit for not completely contemptible reasons, writing, “The more I got to know him I truly believe he has the American public’s best interests at heart. I have worried about toxins and the cause of cancer my entire career. As a physician scientist I really hope he is confirmed tomorrow.” On the last day of January, Dr. Soon-Shiong shows off that the tweet “had 35 million views,” calling it a reflection of support for Kennedy’s confirmation.
Kennedy’s repeated skepticism about vaccines goes against the sentiments of the most trusted medical institutions in our countries, as well as harder-to-trust huge pharmaceutical giants who sell them.
This same day, Soon-Shiong retweets a video in which Trump-lover Alan Dershowitz calls Caroline Kennedy’s warnings about her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “malicious.”
January 29, 2025
Soon-Shiong goes after Elizabeth Warren, saying she’s “grandstanding” while questioning RKF Jr., and claiming such displays are the reason people “are so tired” of politicians. He also defends the HHS nominee’s 2019 visit to Samoa, despite a writer in Soon-Shiong’s own paper detailing accusations that Kennedy discredited a measles vaccine, appeared in Samoa with a prominent anti-vaxer, and a drop in vaccinations during the islands’ measles crisis.
January 30, 2025
An Opinion story is published in The L.A. Times titled, “Why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Has Captured The Attention Of Everyday Moms,” exploring organized groups of moms who variously both applaud and seek to block his nomination over his stance on issues including food safety and vaccinations.
January 31, 2025
Writer Eric Reinhart says his recently authored Opinion piece on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which he says was originally titled “RFK Jr.'s Wrecking Ball Won't Fix Public Health,” had been edited to change his intention from criticizing RFK Jr.’s nomination and beliefs. Reinhart calls Kennedy “effectively a mass murderer in waiting” in a tweet. Reinhart promises it will be “the first and definitely last time” he writes for the paper. The L.A. Times “trends” on X after this. And not necessarily for its journalism.
A day earlier, Soon-Shiong linked to the edited piece, echoing the new title, “Opinion: Trump’s healthcare disruption could pay off — if he pushes real reform,” in his own words, calling Kennedy “our best chance of” pushing real reform.” Days later, NPR notes that Soon-Shiong “boosted” Kennedy 18 times within a four day period.
Feb 1., 2025
On X, Soon-Shiong shares a dramatic statement by Elon Musk that “all this time, they kept the water from the people of California,” linking to a story on Trump’s release of water into the San Joaquin Valley from Lake Kaweah in Northern California and Success in California’s Central Valley.
Experts in the New York Times, however, say the water will be “wasted, while others weigh in, saying the release won’t actually impact the state’s ability to fight wildfires and could be dangerous and harmful to farmers. In his boosting of Musk’s tweet, meanwhile, Soon-Shiong stresses that “The next step of recovery in LA is to make sure this tragic disaster never happens again.” The first comment in response tells him he “obviously didn’t read the article.”
Feb. 4, 2025
Following the passing of the first Senate vote towards RFK Jr.’s confirmation as Health & Human Services director, Dr. Soon-Shiong expresses his approval by tweeting, “Yay!!!! The transformation of health care begins.”
This same day, Semafor’s Max Tani posts about an email shared with him from someone at The L.A. Times, saying the paper is offering voluntary buyouts to anyone on staff for two years or more,a move that could possibly result in the departure of more working journalists. In a time when the paper has been putting out incredible reporting on the L.A. fires and politics.
Feb. 5, 2025
David Dayen, the executive editor of The American Prospect, suggests that Dr. Soon-Shiong is giving advantageous coverage and messages about RFK Jr. due to the fact his biotech company reportedly has three applications pending with the FDA.
In a tweeted reply to a story about a reported $50 billion in Medicare Advantage fraud, Dr. Soon-Shiong shows support of DOGE while writing, “Healthcare reform is desperately needed… We have the lowest survival and longevity rate per capita spend - perverse incentives, fraud and inability to measure outcomes or accountability - otherwise a great system!” Soon-Shiong has reportedly made a whole lot of money selling a cancer medication that costs 100-times more than a generic version he has been sued over in an alleged “catch and kill” operation.
This same day, in a now unavailable tweet, Dr. “Too Soon” Soon-Shiong displays a poor choice of words about the Lakers’ latest trade, considering the historic and destructive fires of the previous months, in writing “The city is on fire with excitement. Welcome Luka @lakers.”
Soooo… what’s up, doc?
What is this noted surgeon, Brentwood compound owner, and multi-billionaire trying to accomplish here?
These days, an oligarch is hardly worth their red ballcap if they’re not out there making crazy-ass, conservative-leaning statements on social media and flirting with the prospect of deep-sixing one or more of their own enterprises.
While far from outdoing fascism fanatics like Elon Musk, it can appear to some that Dr. Soon-Shiong has boarded this crazy train himself. We have to wonder what is the doctor’s game plan here?
Is he simply joining the chorus of loaded media and businessmen sucking up to Donald Trump? Hoping to shield his business from the pinchers of DOGE? Attempting to break into the thoughts of Robert F. Kennedy like some kind of meningeal brain worm, succoring his goodwill? Joining the trend of billionaires buying media outlets to weaken their impact?
God only knows. Communications contacts at The L.A. Times and NANTmedia Holdings did not provide comment.
As for what tomorrow brings, buckle in and stay tuned.
