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Jeff Bezos congratulates Trump, who has threatened Amazon and The Washington Post

Jeff Bezos congratulates Trump, who has threatened Amazon and The Washington Post

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Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos congratulated Donald Trump this morning for winning the presidency. “I for one give him my most open mind and wish him great success in his service to the country,” Bezos wrote on Twitter.

The statement says basically nothing, neither condemning Trump’s racist, sexist, xenophobic, vitriolic language and, presumably, future policies, nor expressing much support for him, beyond an implicit hope that he won’t tank the country. It’s as much nothing as what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella offered last night, more or less an acknowledgement that they’re stuck together.

Bezos has a lot on the line under a Trump presidency, which may be why he’s now approaching with a halfhearted congratulations rather than reaffirming his offer to shoot Trump into space — a comment he made this time last year.

Trump has repeatedly said that Amazon has “a huge antitrust problem” and that it ought to be paying more taxes. He’s also routinely criticized The Washington Post, denying its reporters press credentials, saying it was merely a mouthpiece for Amazon, and threatening to sue it for reporting on him. Trump’s infamous quote about how he will “open up our libel laws” specifically called out the Post.

Needless to say, Bezos and his companies are in for a challenging four years. And as much as it’d be nice to see some of this country’s most powerful business leaders standing up to Trump’s bigoted ways, no one in tech seems eager to start a fight with him. Especially not Bezos, who’s already on Trump’s grudge list.