Fox & Friends is airing a segment right now blaming Amazon in part for years of losses at the U.S. Postal Service and encouraging someone (maybe a certain loyal viewer?) to "make the tough decision" to privatize Postal Service.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 2, 2018
Grant Trump this very specific talent: Not many people could get monopoly-suspicious liberals and technology-suspicious conservatives *all* cheering for Amazon’s further success. Gabriel Sherman, in Vanity Fair:
For the first time in Donald Trump’s presidency, the West Wing soap opera appears to be in hiatus… Currently, there’s one star—a situation Trump is obviously enjoying—and his new freedom is used to focus ever more closely on his perceived enemies and obsessions. Amazon, whose owner, Jeff Bezos, also owns The Washington Post, is currently the main target. Trump has ripped into Amazon in recent days, claiming in a series of tweets that Jeff Bezos’s tech giant benefits from billions in subsidies from the U.S. Post office while skirting sales taxes. “Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Trump tweeted. On Monday, he wrote: “Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country . . . not a level playing field!” The tweets caused Amazon’s stock to plunge 5 percent on Monday.
Now, according to four sources close to the White House, Trump is discussing ways to escalate his Twitter attacks on Amazon to further damage the company. “He’s off the hook on this. It’s war,” one source told me. “He gets obsessed with something, and now he’s obsessed with Bezos,” said another source. “Trump is like, how can I fuck with him?”…
Advisers are also encouraging Trump to cancel Amazon’s pending multi-billion contract with the Pentagon to provide cloud computing services, sources say. Another line of attack would be to encourage attorneys general in red states to open investigations into Amazon’s business practices. Sources say Trump is open to the ideas. (The White House did not respond to a request for comment.)
Even Trump’s allies acknowledge that much of what’s fueling Trump’s rage toward Amazon is that Amazon C.E.O. Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, sources said. “Trump doesn’t like The New York Times, but he reveres it because it’s his hometown paper. The Washington Post, he has zero respect for,” the Republican close to the White House said. While the Post says that Bezos has no involvement in newsroom decisions, Trump has told advisers he believes Bezos uses the paper as a political weapon. One former White House official said Trump looks at the Post the same way he looks at the National Enquirer. “When Bezos says he has no involvement, Trump doesn’t believe him. His experience is with the David Peckers of the world. Whether it’s right or wrong, he knows it can be done.”…
Trump is lying again. Amazon has saved the postal service, and it’s so profitable for the USPS that they’ve added Sunday delivery in some cities. He’s going after amazon because they own the Washington Post. This is more vengeance from a crazy despot. https://t.co/BC8ha96KlX
— John Aravosis (@aravosis) March 29, 2018
More in this excellent @rizzoTK Fact Checker (2/2): https://t.co/R5h50SOtzG
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) March 31, 2018
“The whole post office thing, that's very much a perception he has,” a source told Axios. “It's been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon." https://t.co/dAXlhOuiuU pic.twitter.com/zzvQzhUDdQ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 29, 2018
He's knows all of this. He's trying to tank the stock because he's a petty thug. And I'd bet either his sons or friends shorted Amazon before he did this. https://t.co/APQb4v35ev
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) March 29, 2018
Trump’s War Against Amazon / Bezos: Here Comes the Grift!Post + Comments (198)