Trying to Thread a Needle with Boxing Gloves

There is a famous maxim, "It is better to be thought a fool and remain silent than speak and remove all doubt."

Jeff Bezos apparently is unaware of it.

In an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box,  Amazon founder and owner of the Washington Post Jeff Bezos, the second-richest man in the world, tried to rehabilitate his once-liberal reputation that’s become tarnished as a lackey for Trump. 

This came about when the CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin pushed Sorkin on how his relation has changed drastically with Trump, a person who Bezos once called a "threat to democracy."  And who donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, sat in the "billionaire row" at the inauguration, and paid $40 million for a documentary on Melania Trump.  Not to mention all the egregious editorial decisions he’s made at the Washington Post – including his mandate that the opinion section no longer include political views, but instead only publish columns supporting "personal liberties and free markets."

Unfortunately for Bezos, in attempting his balancing act to distance himself from his new pro-Trump persona, his words only served to reinforce that sullied perception.

"I still call Obama for advice," he said, which seems on the surface a good start, but is sort of the billionaire version of someone trying to fend off charges of discrimination by saying, “Some of my best friends are [fill in the blank]”.  Never mind that your actions go contrary to that.

Jeff Bezos may well call Barack Obama for advice.  But the problem is that he now acts on Trump. Especially when it comes to making his Washington Post business decisions, so many of which appear to be designed to appease Trump. Many of the decisions often made preemptively, which tends to be worse since they might not even be necessary, but it shows that he doesn’t want to even risk taking a chance of hurting his many, diverse business interests.

Yes, it’s really cool that he asks President Obama for advice. (Let alone that he’s in a position where he’s able to ask Barack Obama for advice.  Or ask him anything!)  But you're not also supposed to kowtow to a fascist.  I’ll bet cash money that if he asked Barack Obama for advice on "Should I block my Washington Post Editorial Board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president?”, he would have advised, “Oh, dear God, no!!!”

But much worse than this is how, when trying to rehabilitate his reputation, Jeff Bezos, in his own words, openly, out loud, in public, to a reporter, knowingly, made as good a case as it would seem possible for how he had rolled over completely for Trump.

Speaking about Trump, Bezos actually said -- "I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term.”

Yes, really.  And he knew he was on the record.  And knew he was trying to make the case that he wasn’t in the pocket of Trump.  By the way, he went on and made that statement even more pathetic, but it’s hard not to stop here for a moment and get your bearings.

"I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term”?????  From the diagnosis of expert psychologists and psychiatrists, who wrote about it early in his first term, Trump has dementia, which is degenerative.  It’s almost impossible medically for Trump to be more mature and more disciplined.  Since his first term, we’ve seen Trump stop taking questions at a Town Hall and instead dance for a half hour, wander around on the roof of the White House shouting down answers to the press on the ground, shift a Christmas party speech for families at the White House to talking about deadly snakes for almost 15 minutes, sit down with little children at a White House Easter gathering and tell them about autopens and complain about President Biden, want to make Canada the 51st state, threaten a war against our ally Denmark to take over Greenland, ignore almost all business advice by imposing tariffs on every country in the world – including a territory in the Antarctic where only penguins live, tear up an anti-nuke deal and start a war against Iran causing a world energy crisis, fall asleep regularly in public events, tear down part of the White House to build a ballroom, want to build a monolithic triumphal arch, build a golden bathroom, regularly tell female reporters that they’re very stupid and much, much, much more.

This is about who Jeff Bezos says, "I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term.”

But he then continued on from that sentence, as he attempted to thread the needle on how his reputation should not be perceived as him being in subservient thrall for Trump – while not wanting to offend Trump.

“Trump has lots of good ideas,” Bezos went on. “He's been right about a lot of things. You have to give him credit where credit is due."

At the moment, 34% of the American public think Trump has truly terrible idea and has been wrong about almost everything.  Even his signature issues like the economy and immigration, where his poll numbers are deeply under water.  On his ideas about inflation, for instance, public support sink below that, down to 20%.  The issue isn’t whether Trump is right about whether the Kennedy Center is in need of repair.  It’s that he’s deeply and problematic wrong about having ICE agents arrest and deport people without due process, including many who are literally American citizens.  And deeply and problematically wrong about withdrawing from the World Health Organization, cutting support for the Center for Disease Control, undermining the use of vaccines, decimating the Department of Education and on and on and on.

"I'm on the side of America," Bezos told his interviewer. "I was helping Obama every chance I could. I was helping Biden every chance I could.”

The problem for Jeff Bezos is that so many of his action belie his words.  The problem is that America is made up of a great many sides.  And Bezos has chosen the side led by Trump that is pushing America towards fascism.  Trump hugs American flags.  He says he’s loves America, too -- and says that Democrats and most anyone who opposes him are traitors.  It’s so nice that Bezos “was” helping President Obama.  And “was” helping President Biden.  The problem for him is that, now, he is helping Trump, who is a fascist, and a malignant narcissist who has dementia, which is degenerative.

I suspect that if Jeff Bezos had asked Barack Obama for advice on whether he should tell a reporter he thinks Trump "is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term. Trump has lots of good ideas. He's been right about a lot of things. You have to give him credit where credit is due" -- President Obama would have said, “No, Jeff, that would be a very, very bad thing for you to do.  That would not only eliminate any perception you’re trying to make that you’ve kept your liberal standards, but it would make you seem ludicrous and out of touch with reality.  Remember, it is better to be thought a fool and remain silent than speak and remove all doubt."

But I wouldn’t be surprised if Bezos would have gone ahead and said it anyway.

Because that’s who Jeff Bezos is today.

In 2017, the Washington Post adopted a motto for its front page:  "Democracy Dies in Darkness."

In a cruel irony, what is a noble ideal for the newspaper has given a separate perspective to Bezos himself.

As political operative Steve Schmidt has said, "Everything Trump touches dies."