AP Photo/John Locher, File
Billionaire Jeff Bezos offered a “Big congratulations” to former President Donald Trump on his electoral win in a tweet he posted Wednesday morning.
Bezos, who has been one of the top wealthiest people in the world for the entire twenty-first century so far, founded Amazon and also owns aerospace company Blue Origin and The Washington Post.
His ownership of the newspaper in the nation’s capital was at the center of controversy last month when he blocked the Post from issuing an endorsement of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. The decision led to sharp criticism from Marty Baron, the Post’s former executive editor, and legendary Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who broke that story while reporting for the Post. Multiple staffers resigned from the editorial board, and the Post lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
Bezos defended the decision in an op-ed published in late October, arguing that “[p]residential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” and only undermine trust in journalism.
“By itself, declining to endorse presidential candidates is not enough to move us very far up the trust scale, but it’s a meaningful step in the right direction,” he added. “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
Trump has loudly criticized the Post in the past over its coverage of his campaigns and first presidential term, sometimes calling out owner Bezos by name as well, but he lauded the decision not to publish an endorsement of Harris as vindication that “they think I’m doing a great job.”
The former president secured sufficient Electoral College votes late Tuesday evening to send him back to the White House, and Wednesday morning, Bezos posted a tweet offering his congratulations.
“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” Bezos wrote. “No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
Bezos is not a prolific user of social media. His last tweet was back in July after Trump survived an assassination attempt, writing that Trump had “showed tremendous grace and courage under literal fire tonight” and expressing that he was “[s]o thankful for his safety and so sad for the victims and their families.” Before that, his tweets are posts about Blue Origin space flight projects and other aerospace exploration topics every few months.
