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President Donald Trump says tech bro allies Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg “have been great” as the billionaires alter their companies’ policies to fall in line with the president’s agenda.
In a wide-ranging interview, Trump told The Atlantic about how a few of his former foes from his first term have now come to “respect” him during his second term.
In February, Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, announced he was putting a stop to opinion writers from voicing opposition to certain topics: “personal liberties and free markets.” Hours after the sweeping changes, Bezos and Trump dined together. Meanwhile, weeks before Trump took office, Meta CEO Zuckerberg announced the social media giant would be getting rid of its fact-checkers, saying they have become “too politically biased.”
Referring to Bezos, Trump said: “He’s 100 percent. He’s been great,” He then added: “Zuckerberg’s been great.”
“It’s just a higher level of respect. I don’t know,” Trump continued. “Maybe they didn’t know me at the beginning, and they know me now.”
These alliances appeared to start taking shape before Trump reclaimed the White House. Both Amazon and Meta donated $1 million each to Trump’s inauguration.
Days before his historic inauguration, Trump reportedly turned to his friend to show off his recent call log. “Look who called in the past hour,” the President-elect said before scrolling through a list of billionaires who once kept Trump at arm’s length, The Atlantic reported. That list included Bezos, Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
The newfound friendships come after years of tension among the billionaire class.
Following the January 6 Capitol riot — of which a Congressional subcommittee found Trump to be the “central cause” — Meta suspended Trump’s accounts from its platforms for two years. Trump sued the social media giant in 2021; in January, Meta settled for $25 million.
Although Trump repeatedly criticized the Washington Post — and Bezos personally — during his first term, during his second run, the paper opted not to endorse a 2024 candidate.
Aside from Bezos and Zuckerberg, Trump has aligned with the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, during his second term, tasking him with making major cuts to government spending. His second administration is jam-packed with billionaires and Wall Street figures, amassing a total wealth that surpasses the GDP of 169 countries. Trump himself is also the wealthiest president in U.S. history.
In his farewell address, Joe Biden warned that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America.” Since then, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have set out on a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour across America.
Asked if he feels different during his second time in the White House compared to his first, Trump told the magazine: “The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” he said. “And the second time, I run the country and the world.”
