Jeff Bezos Fawns Over Trump in Wild CNBC Interview: ‘A More Mature, More Disciplined Version’ Than His First Term
Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos fawned over President Donald Trump during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, describing the president as “a more mature, more disciplined version” of Trump than his first term in the White House.
“When I last interviewed you, it was about two years ago, President Trump had just won, he was not the president yet,” said CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin during an interview with Bezos on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “And I had asked you what you thought of him at the time, and you said that you thought that he had mellowed, that he was calmer.”
“I still think that,” Bezos interrupted.
Sorkin continued, “Two years later, we have wars and tariffs and all sorts of things that have happened since then. What do you think?”
Bezos replied, “I’m comparing him to his first term, and I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term. Again, I’ve worked with all the presidents, I will work with all the presidents, you know, and I hope to do that going forward if they’ll have me, but we need our business leaders to provide input into the administration, regardless of who the president is.”
“I’m not on the side– you know what, I’m on the side of America, and that is so important. Like, and that’s where business leaders should be,” he continued. “I think we are, but we get perceived as being like, you know, partisan or whatever. Like, I was helping Obama every chance I could. I was helping Biden every chance I could. I still call Obama for advice. He’s a very smart guy.”
Bezos concluded, “Trump has thought some good ideas, and he has done a lot– he’s been right about a lot of things, and you have to give him credit where credit is due.”
Bezos has received criticism from liberals for moving closer to Trump in recent years.
Last year, on the same day that Bezos dined with Trump, the Washington Post owner announced that his newspaper would no longer publish opinion pieces that were not focused on defending “two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.”
The announcement came just one month after more than 400 Washington Post journalists signed a scathing letter to Bezos expressing concern over the political direction of the newspaper.
Watch above via CNBC.
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