Bezos Cozied As much as Trump by Sh–ting on Put up Staff: E book
Picture: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos
Donald Trump’s second time period in workplace has been markedly completely different from his first in each important, impactful methods (the wholesale weaponization of the Justice Division, the mass deportations, the threats of genocide) and smaller silly ones (spending $12 million on a reflecting pool solely to make the water extra inexperienced). One other large distinction? The stance tech leaders have taken towards the president, which has gone from kicking him off their platforms to kissing his ass often and variously (with cash, compliments, and a glass-and-gold plaque, and by attending his celebration/cage combat). Within the case of Jeff Bezos, kissing the ring has additionally apparently concerned shitting on the workers of his personal firm for Trump’s profit.
At a dinner in December 2024 shortly earlier than the inauguration, Bezos reportedly advised Trump that the Washington Put up was a horrible funding and mentioned “the folks there are horrible,” based on a brand new ebook by New York Instances journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, revelations from which first appeared within the New York Put up. “They don’t pay attention. My different firms, they pay attention,” Bezos advised the president-elect — who spent a lot of his first time period ranting in regards to the storied publication, which he referred to as, amongst different issues, a “rubbish newspaper,” a “propaganda machine for Amazon,” and “the Enemy of the Individuals.”
In response to Haberman and Swan’s reporting, Bezos’s remarks have been a part of the broader effort by large tech to curry favor with Trump, who had lengthy ranted in regards to the media and on-line platforms being biased towards him. On the dinner, Trump reportedly advised Bezos, “This Washington Put up is absolutely unfair. You’ve received to take higher care,” to which Bezos responded not by defending his firm however with commiseration. Per the New York Put up:
“In Trump’s telling, Bezos advised him he had misplaced half his mates over the funding,” the authors write. “Bezos would inform others that wasn’t fairly proper: He hadn’t misplaced mates, however folks near him had urged him to promote the newspaper.”
Trump mentioned in an interview for the ebook that he “hated” Bezos throughout his first time period below the mistaken perception that the billionaire managed what the newspaper wrote. “He mentioned they write tales about him. And I didn’t imagine him the primary time, first time period. And I hated him for it,” Trump recalled. “After which I believed him.”
A Washington Put up spokesperson declined to remark.
Earlier this yr, the Put up fired one-third of the paper’s workforce, gutting worldwide, sports activities, books, and metro protection. Bezos has mentioned he didn’t make the decision on particular cuts however urged his administration staff to “observe the info.” Embattled Put up CEO Will Lewis exited shortly after the mass layoffs.
The second richest particular person on the planet has continued to each reward Trump and categorical a dim-at-best view of the media property he purchased in 2013. In an interview with CNBC in Might, Bezos advised Andrew Ross Sorkin of the president, “I believe he’s a extra mature, extra disciplined model of himself than he was in his first time period.” (This was slightly over a month after Trump wrote on Reality Social, “A complete civilization will die tonight, by no means to be introduced again once more. I don’t need that to occur, but it surely most likely will.” It was simply days after he posted a picture of him strolling subsequent to a shackled nude alien.) Throughout the identical chat, Bezos additionally defended shedding lots of of Put up workers by saying, “The Put up must be a worthwhile enterprise that stands by itself two ft,” failing to say that Amazon didn’t flip a revenue for a decade and, in his personal phrases, was “famously unprofitable.”
Sorkin additionally famous that, to the bare eye, the adjustments on the Put up — plus spending $75 million to make, purchase, and distribute a documentary about Melania Trump — seem like an try to “placate the president,” to which Bezos responded that nothing may very well be farther from the reality. On the subject of the Put up, Bezos mentioned he merely desires the “opinion part to face without spending a dime markets and particular person private liberties.” And as for Melania? That “was a great enterprise determination” as a result of “persons are very interested by Melania,” however he had “nothing to do with it” and it was not an try at “shopping for affect.”
