In recent days, President Trump has taken to launching nonsensical attacks on Amazon, accusing the company of unfairly exploiting the United States Post Office to deliver packages. In reality, the Post Office makes money off Amazon, and its continued business is one of the main pillars keeping the struggling federal organization afloat.
Why then, is Trump attacking Amazon? An obvious answer would be that he simply doesn’t know the facts. He’s known for saying things he thinks to be true without evidence and has a tenuous grasp on reality on the best of days.
There is, however, a far more sinister, and far more likely explanation for his war against the shipping and shopping giant. Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, a publication that has broken some of the most damning stories about the Trump administration to date.
It seems likely that Trump is attacking Amazon because he doesn’t like how The Post has been covering his presidency. It’s an extremely petty, extremely immoral thing to do, so it’s in perfect fitting with the president’s personality and ignominious track record.
Vanity Fair reports that Trump is planning to escalate his attacks on Amazon to get at Bezos. “He gets obsessed with something, and now he’s obsessed with Bezos. Trump is like, how can I f*ck with him?,” one source told Vanity Fair.
Trump’s attacks are already having an effect, and Amazon stock has dropped in recent days. There is, of course, an unavoidable irony in the “pro-business” president using his substantial powers and influence to attack a private company. Once again, Trump’s ego hypocritically has trumped his espoused beliefs.
I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
I am right about Amazon costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy. Amazon should pay these costs (plus) and not have them bourne by the American Taxpayer. Many billions of dollars. P.O. leaders don’t have a clue (or do they?)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018
Now, Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney who was fired by the Trump administration, has now waded into the Trump-Amazon scandal with a bold suggestion.
Bharara took to Twitter to suggest that Bezos, who has a net worth of over $120 billion, buy Twitter and then proceed to delete Trump’s account. The move would infuriate the president, and remove his ability to throw public tantrums whenever he likes. In other words, it’s a great idea.
What if Jeff Bezos bought Twitter with the change in his pocket and shut Trump's account?
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) April 3, 2018
