Donald Trump has evolved into a “more mature” and “more disciplined” version of himself since his first term—at least, according to Jeff Bezos.
The Amazon founder, 62, fawned over the president in an interview with CNBC Squawk Box’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday.
“When I last interviewed you—it was about two years ago—President Trump had just won," Sorkin, a Bezos wedding guest, began. “He was not the president yet. 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.”
Before he could even finish the question, Bezos jumped in.
“I still think that,” the billionaire said. “I think he has—I mean, 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.”
Before he found himself on the dais for Trump’s second inauguration alongside fellow tech oligarchs, Bezos had a hot-and-cold relationship with the president.
In 2014, when Trump was still active on the website then known as Twitter, he posted a quote from Bezos in apparent admiration of one of the world’s richest men. (“If you never want to be criticized, for goodness’ sake don’t do anything new,” the quote read.)
Five years later, after Bezos’ affair with his now-wife Lauren Sanchez made headlines, Trump derided the billionaire as “Jeff Bozo.”
But the two powerful men have happily put the past behind them.
After Amazon bankrolled first lady Melania Trump’s pseudo-documentary to the tune of $75 million, Bezos said the project was a “very wise business decision,” though he insisted that he played no part in it. Bezos has been serving as executive chairman of the Amazon board since stepping down as CEO five years ago.
“I’ve worked with all the presidents, I will work with all the presidents, 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,” Bezos told CNBC, adding that he’s “on the side of America.”
“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. And by the way, Trump has lots of good ideas and he’s been right about a lot of things,” he went on. “You have to give him credit where credit is due.”
But Trump’s behavior, particularly toward female reporters, paints a different picture than the one Bezos presented.
This year alone, Trump has been unable to go an entire month without publicly lashing out at a female journalist. So far this May, he has snarled at “horrible” 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell, “dumb” MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner, and “horror show” ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott.
In April, he called Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov “one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television.” In March, he called a female ABC News reporter “a very obnoxious person.” In February, he called CNN’s Kaitlan Collins “the worst reporter.” In January, he attacked another female CNN reporter for a “stupid question.”
One of Trump’s most shocking episodes occurred last November, when he snapped at a Bloomberg reporter who prodded him on the Epstein files.
“Quiet. Quiet, piggy,” he said while wagging his finger in her direction.
After Trump had a meltdown as MS NOW’s Gardner last week, the White House denied that the outburst was related to the reporter’s gender.
“President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency. This has nothing to do with gender – it has everything to do with the fact that the President’s and the public’s trust in the media is at all-time lows," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
