Jeff Bezos congratulates Trump on 'extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory'
Billionaire Jeff Bezos congratulated President-elect Donald Trump for "an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory" on Wednesday after the former president defeated Vice President Kamala Harris on election night.
The congratulatory message came after Bezos made headlines and irked liberals when his newspaper, The Washington Post, announced it was not endorsing a candidate in the race despite years of hostile coverage of Trump.
"Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory. No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love," Bezos posted on X.
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After widespread backlash from Washington Post staffers over Bezos not allowing the paper to endorse Harris, the Amazon mogul defended his decision with an op-ed in the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper.
The billionaire Amazon founder, who bought the Post in 2013, insisted that newspaper endorsements "do nothing to tip the scales of an election" but instead "create a perception of bias." He doubled down on the Post's decision to end its presidential endorsements by saying it's a "principled decision, and it’s the right one."
"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. 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," Bezos conceded.
Bezos denied there was any "quid pro quo" that motivated the decision and insisted the meeting the boss of his company Blue Origin had with Trump, which occurred the day of the announcement, was a regretful coincidence, flatly saying, "There is no connection between it and our decision on presidential endorsements, and any suggestion otherwise is false."
He went on to suggest that his paper and other members of the legacy media are out of touch with most Americans.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.