Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, shared his optimism on Wednesday regarding President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, expressing enthusiasm about the possible reduction in regulations in the coming years.
Jeff Bezos expressed optimism about President-elect Donald Trump’s second term during an interview at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York, stating, “I’m actually very optimistic this time around.” He praised Trump’s focus on reducing regulations, saying, “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help do that, I’m going to help him.”
Bezos also remarked, “We do have too many regulations in this country.”
These comments followed his October decision to prevent The Washington Post, which he owns, from endorsing a presidential candidate. This move led to a wave of subscription cancellations and protests from long-time journalists at the newspaper.
In a previous op-ed, Bezos explained his decision to prevent The Washington Post from endorsing a presidential candidate, arguing that such endorsements create a perception of bias, especially at a time when many Americans distrust the media, and that they do not significantly influence the outcome of elections.
In his interview on Wednesday, Bezos also expressed his hope of convincing Trump to reconsider his view on the press. “You’ve probably grown in the last eight years,” Bezos told journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. “He has, too. This is not the case. The press is not the enemy.”
During his first term, Trump often criticized Bezos and his companies, including Amazon and The Washington Post. In 2019, Amazon claimed in court that Trump’s bias had negatively affected its chances of securing a $10 billion Pentagon contract. The Biden administration later pursued contracts involving both Amazon and Microsoft.
Bezos also addressed Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration, stating that while Musk is responsible for cutting regulations, he does not believe Musk will use his influence to harm competitors, including Bezos’ own Blue Origin, which competes with Musk’s SpaceX.
