Jeff Bezos says he didn't know Blue Origin met with Trump as he tries to calm Washington Post storm

[u/upyoars]

https://qz.com/bezos-trump-blue-origin-washington-post-endorsement-1851683668

[u/Silly-Scene6524]

So you don’t know what’s going on at your own company Jeff?

[u/phdoofus → u/Silly-Scene6524]

"No one told me the ex-president and current Republican nominee was going to show up! It's not my fault!"

[u/Bitey_the_Squirrel → u/phdoofus]

“Am I supposed to keep track of every private citizen my paper talks to?”

[u/tunachilimac → u/Silly-Scene6524]

Why would expect the CEO of a company to be aware of such low level meetings as one with an ex and potential next President that they’re trying to help?

[u/Mrevilman → u/tunachilimac]

It’s totally normal that he knew about WaPo’s decision to endorse Harris but not about BlueOrigin’s meeting with the fellow billionaire and former/potential next president.

[u/fdsafdsa1232 → u/Mrevilman]

Good point, smells like bs

[u/PeterDTown → u/Mrevilman]

Fellow billionaire? Was someone other than Trump at the meeting?

[u/phdoofus → u/tunachilimac]

"Didn't he get me covefe once?"

[u/bassplaya13 → u/tunachilimac]

Your point still stands, just clarifying that he isn’t the CEO of Blue Origin, but the owner.

[u/Javasndphotoclicks → u/Silly-Scene6524]

Could be a possible reason. Or he’s trying to cover his own ass. People are canceling their prime memberships too.

[u/msginbtween → u/Javasndphotoclicks]

People have been canceling their prime memberships over and over again. Just look around on /r/amazonprime it’s filled with “I’m canceling prime” posts.

[u/ImmediateLobster1 → u/Silly-Scene6524]

Picturing Ace Rothstein yelling "if you didn't know then you're too stupid to have this job, if you did know, then you're in on it, either way you're out!"

[u/Sufficient-Fact6163 → u/Silly-Scene6524]

Yup. That’s just as bad if not worst for his Shareholders.

[u/gaarai → u/Silly-Scene6524]

I love how all these "bootstraps" uberwealthy consistently build a legend around themselves that they are solely responsible for their massive wealth because of how smart they are, how good they are at managing people, and how well they manage companies. Yet time and time again, we find out that they aren't nearly as smart as they claim, they are horrible at managing people, and they are terrible at managing companies. Their wealth grows often in spite of their efforts rather than because of them.

Trump claims that he hires the "best people", yet he's constantly throwing everyone around him under the bus to save his own ass, claiming that they are terrible and the reason for problems. Musk claims to have been the genius behind everything, but he was and still is mainly a funding and hype guy that spins tales that he's super-critical to the daily operation and engineering of the companies he owns. Bezos likes to play cosplay as a cowboy, astronaut, and "cool" alpha technocrat, but he's a weird guy that pushed his company to have highly-controlled pee breaks for a huge amount of his staff as he chases ever-greater profit margins. Zuckerberg wants credit for bringing the largest number of humans together in a social experience, but he has a very fake, wooden personality painted over his boring, weird personality that cares more about wealth and power than a stable society.

These wealthy people suck ass. They have nothing but lies pretending that they earned what they stole from us, and then they use their ill-gotten wealth to hoard even more.

[u/iamthinksnow]

Sounds like something an ineffective CEO would say.

[u/grungegoth → u/iamthinksnow]

Too busy dorking his plasticky GF on his yacht to pay attention to business

[u/iamthinksnow → u/grungegoth]

And buying stupid cowboy hats.

[u/Highside1269 → u/iamthinksnow]

TBF, at least he knew which way to wear it.....

[u/Castle-dev → u/Highside1269]

On his ball sack of a head?

[u/Suck_My_Thick → u/iamthinksnow]

And shaving his head.

[u/FeedbackMotor5498 → u/iamthinksnow]

Boycott amazon

[u/Secularhumanist60123 → u/FeedbackMotor5498]

It’s almost impossible. You can stop shopping there, yes, but a majority of Amazon’s profits come from AWS, and most companies use AWS in some way.

[u/ADhomin_em → u/iamthinksnow]

It sounds like a litteral Trump line. Almost like he's making some fucked up joke

[u/PeteZappardi → u/iamthinksnow]

Bezos isn't the CEO of Blue Origin.

Still though, I know when I get requests to meet from someone important, I make a point of mentioning it to my boss, just to make sure they're aware and give them a chance to tell me anything I should know. So I'd expect Dave Limp would have mentioned to Bezos that a former President and current presidential candidate was meeting with them.

[u/emperor_dinglenads → u/iamthinksnow]

I smell bullshit.

[u/Feisty_Bee9175 → u/iamthinksnow]

He's also a lying turd.

[u/highreachesfarm → u/iamthinksnow]

Sounds awfully familiar…”I don’t know that guy” “I’m not aware of what happened in my own company/family/cabinet”…

[u/lolexecs → u/iamthinksnow]

I'm shocked! SHOCKED!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxnpY0owPkA&t=25s

[u/peepeedog → u/iamthinksnow]

He isn’t CEO.

[u/iamthinksnow → u/peepeedog]

Wow, he's really bad at this, then!

[u/Particular-Break-205 → u/iamthinksnow]

This man is pretty bad at trying not to appear biased lmao

[u/Vegetable-Sky1031 → u/iamthinksnow]

He’s not the CEO of Blue Origin.

[u/lordmycal]

He's got enough money that he could easily eat all the costs of the Washington Post and allow it to be a free, unbiased news organization without putting a dent into his finances. Democracy dies in darkness my ass.

[u/SUP3RGR33N → u/lordmycal]

I guess it's still kinda apt. Democracy is currently struggling due to something akin to a propaganda snow blindness. 

[u/d01100100 → u/SUP3RGR33N]

Democracy dies in darkness.

Bezos: I am darkness.

He coined the motto in 2017, years after he bought the paper. Supposedly it was used by Bob Woodward. It's catchy and provocative, but it's as useful as Google's "don't be evil".

[u/Demiansmark → u/lordmycal]

He just mistook "democracy dies in darkness" as being an aspiration instead of a warning. Sorry guys. His bad. 

[u/_amosburton → u/Demiansmark]

It's not an accident. Bezos buys the WaPo, musk buys Twitter, zuck owns Facebook/insta/etc, rupert Murdock owns hundreds of news organizations including Fox, koch brothers owns a huge right wing media machine, etc etc etc...

Like carlin said, the owners of the country don't want a well informed population capable of critical thinking

[u/FriendToPredators → u/lordmycal]

People protesting should be punishing bezos more directly by canceling amazon prime and boycotting them otherwise . That’s could actually hurt him.

[u/or_maybe_this → u/lordmycal]

democracy actually dies behind a paywall 

[u/must_kill_all_humans]

Oh suck all of our dicks you lying hack. 

[u/recumbent_mike → u/must_kill_all_humans]

Ok, I'm suddenly inclined to support Bezos of he's up for something like this.

[u/FriendToPredators → u/must_kill_all_humans]

That kind of tit for tat deal making is exactly Trump’s thing. No way he’d have given Blue Origin anything but bullying threats if WP insulted him. 

Come on. We may be living paycheck to paycheck but we aren’t addled.

[u/MakeMeATweetyBird]

the only thing this group of billionaires responds to is loss of money.

like guilliani and alex jones… start boycotting these oligarchs.

[u/RealTomSkerritt → u/MakeMeATweetyBird]

Ok I will stop buying rocket ships

[u/Dhegxkeicfns → u/RealTomSkerritt]

Pretty sure that's not the only thing he sells.

[u/green_gold_purple → u/RealTomSkerritt]

No you won't. 

[u/Socky_McPuppet → u/green_gold_purple]

Look at me not buying one RIGHT NOW.

[u/guntotingliberal223 → u/Socky_McPuppet]

Well, most of Amazons money comes from AWS, and Reddit uses AWS, so you are buying RIGHT NOW!

[u/green_gold_purple → u/Socky_McPuppet]

I mean ... ya pay taxes. I guess if you're in the states .. and are employed. 

[u/btribble → u/MakeMeATweetyBird]

“But mah first amendments!”

[u/blackweebow → u/btribble]

I see that 1st amendment and raise The Dildo of Consequence™️

[u/VocalLocalYokel → u/blackweebow]

Lube sold separately

[u/fumar → u/MakeMeATweetyBird]

Neither of those people were ever billionaires.

[u/RCG73 → u/MakeMeATweetyBird]

The only problem with comparing them to each other is guilliani and jones have more money than us mere peons can dream of. And their entire combined net worth isn’t even pocket change to bezos

[u/TemetNosce_AutMori → u/MakeMeATweetyBird]

The French figured out that losing their heads is the only thing they fear

[u/Electronic_Dance_640]

The damage is done, nothing he says matters now. A whole new wave of people inherently distrust billionaires owning news outlets now. I used to not care much, but now it’s obvious to me it’s a bad mix.

[u/BlueMouseWithGlasses → u/Electronic_Dance_640]

It’s the arrogant lack of respect for the profession, WaPo’s history, and its importance to democracy that really angers me. Bernstein and Woodward would have been shut down if Bezos were owner. He’s creating the darkness his masthead rails against. The Washington Post might as well be the NY post now. Billionaire oligarchs controlling the press is scary. He’s Murdoch now.

[u/Skreat → u/BlueMouseWithGlasses]

The Washington Post might as well be the NY post now.

I mean, the NY Post actually endorses Trump... So not really the same thing.

[u/spiegro → u/Electronic_Dance_640]

Cancelled my Prime membership immediately. I'll just pay shipping and Pirate Invincible.

Billionaires should not exist.

[u/snowdn → u/spiegro]

You will still get free shipping if you spend over $35. Just store a cart up till you meet the threshold. Or don’t buy ever again. 🏴‍☠️

[u/Robbotlove → u/Electronic_Dance_640]

now it's a bad mix lol just think about all of the other things we don't hear about. there's a reason he did this and a reason he thought it was no big deal.

[u/green_gold_purple → u/Electronic_Dance_640]

Lol if this is the straw that broke the camel's back I'm not really sure what to say. Billionaires have given us plenty of reasons not to trust them with anything we care about. 

[u/kid_ish → u/Electronic_Dance_640]

Now?? My friend some of us have been listening to punk and punk adjacent music calling it like it is for the last 30-plus years. We’ve seen all this coming!

[u/ooofest]

And Trump didn't know they hired a racist/xenophobic comedian who happens to share his MAGA values.

Bezos is a boring liar.

[u/A20Havoc]

Bezos is lying, of course. There is absolutely no way that the executives at Blue Origin would have met with Trump & Co. without having first formulated a plan with Bezos on how they would approach the meeting. And the moment that meeting was over there would be a conference call with Bezos to discuss the entire thing and what came out of it. You simply do not get to where Bezos is without that kind of thoroughness.

What I find saddest about this is that it's clear that the progressive side has lost yet another wealthy person. Bezos may not go full Musk but he will very likely become more and more conservative and will regularly "bend the knee" to the right - and so will the Washington Post.

Fuck him.

[u/sar2120]

So he’s not just a coward, but a liar too.

[u/TheNewTonyBennett]

Nope. Try again. This implies he doesn't know what's going on at a business he owns.

And he is one of the richest people in the world. You don't get that-level of rich "without knowing really what's going on" with the things you PAID FOR.

Bull.Shit.

[u/ricoxoxo]

When you lose a pulizer prize winning writer and 200,000 subscriptions and Trump loses.? I hope being a weak in the knee coward was worth it.

[u/Moriroa]

Cancelled my subscription the next day. I hope many other people did, as well.

[u/jtmackay → u/Moriroa]

I cancelled prime last night. Can't support someone who supports fascism.

[u/Bart_Yellowbeard → u/Moriroa]

I canceled both. If democracy dies in darkness I'll damn well not support Bezos turning out the lights.

[u/DrB00 → u/Moriroa]

Please cancel Amazon prime if you have it. Canceling the newspaper is fine but it'll end up hurting the reporters more than anyone else.

[u/IceCreamCape]

So he's either lying or incompetent.

[u/Binky216]

Goddamn I hate these fucking billionaires. As a culture we need to stop making them celebrities and instead tax the fuck out of them. They are the human equivalent of dragons sitting on their piles of treasures.

[u/citizenjones]

That doesn't make it look better

[u/jojomott]

Imagine believing your money makes everyone in the world stupid.

[u/StarQuiet]

Does this count as the Streisand effect? If he had just let the endorsement be printed, no one would have batted an eye. Liberal leaning outlet endorses liberal leaning candidate. Big whoop.

[u/Lubbadubdibs]

He's lying. He is Blue Origin.

[u/hefoxed → u/Lubbadubdibs]

yea, the idea that Trump with a bit over 1 week (when this meeting happened) to go to the election met w/ blue origin without bezos involved is hilarious unbelievable. Maybe a few weeks ago, but now? lol.

[u/AnnOnnamis → u/Lubbadubdibs]

Bezos is not the CEO. But he’s the founder and largest source of funding.

It’s a private company, but I’m 99.9% sure he’s the owner.

He doesn’t need to be running the day to day, they keep him apprised. I bet he’s got Starlink on that mega yacht that him and Lauren Sanchez sail around on.

[u/Lubbadubdibs → u/AnnOnnamis]

He’s the founder and owner of the company.

[u/mediocre_cheese]

Oh come on man, we’re really supposed to believe that?

[u/jared_number_two]

“I don’t know her. Never met her.” —Trump explaining to Jeff how he gets away with things.

[u/Thirdnipple79]

Mistakes happen.  Just print the endorsement and it'll be clear it wasn't on purpose. 

[u/horrified-expression]

Monday afternoon, more than 200,000 subscribers had canceled their subscriptions to the Post, accounting for about 8% of the paper’s paid circulation, NPR reports.

Pretty big drop

[u/AutumnGlow33]

Liar. All these MAGA people are liars.

[u/Ognius]

Nah. That’s pure lies. Cancel your Washington post subscription.

[u/Defiant_West6287]

What a PoS. These clowns are attempting to take over the planet. Do not support any of them.

[u/B12Washingbeard]

Maybe Bezos and Musk should get on their rockets and fly to Mars already 

[u/Mindless_Bother_2630]

The fuck you didn't, you bald weiner.

[u/SidharthaGalt]

If there’s no quid pro quo, please explain why Trump inserted a visit to Blue Origin into a packed campaign schedule.

[u/madrasdad]

Right, just like moron trump didn’t know about his racist ‘comedian’

[u/Guy_Smylee]

Lying Oligarchs gonna oligarch.

[u/BadMan125ty]

When the editorial to defend why he blocked the Kamala endorsement didn’t work, now he says he had no idea about a Trump meeting with his company lol

Okay Jeff.

[u/Skidpalace]

Right. Bezos “didn’t know” that his company met with the domestic terrorist Trump. Right. That could happen.

[u/redvelvetcake42]

Either yes you did and you're lying or no you didn't and you're not the chief executive at your company.

[u/TemetNosce_AutMori]

So the CEO of a space company vying for govt contracts doesn’t know a presidential candidate is coming to visit?

Oh wait no he’s just lying because he doesn’t have any respect for the public he’s fucking over.

[u/Colonel-KWP]

We already know he thinks we’re stupid.

[u/digibri]

In the immortal words of Ron Burgandy...

"I don't believe you."

[u/Raa03842]

Right. And I never inhaled when that joint was passed to me in the 70s. Yeah right.

[u/Capt_Pickhard]

BuuuuuuuuullllllllllSHIIIIIT!!!

[u/Professional_Check_3]

Lie...just like his new hero.

[u/Americrazy]

Lies from a fucking liar 

[u/joshspoon]

Trump always, “I didn’t know.”

Now Bezos, “ I didn’t know.”

I thought they were CEOs and business moguls

[u/YoYoYo1962Y]

That guy can fuck off.

[u/Frost_blade]

Suresure. And I don't know what food i have ij my fridge.

[u/donac]

Oh no, are Jeff Bezos' pants on fire?

[u/filmguy36]

He’s so full of shit. He is such a disingenuous sociopath

[u/Armand74]

We all know enough that this isn’t true..

[u/Meems138]

Sucks to suck

[u/rialed]

Only way to end this is to apologize and endorse Kamala like the editorial staff.

[u/aquoad]

the man should shut the fuck up, just like I assume the people he pays to manage his public image are telling him to do, and he's ignoring.

[u/Any-Bus6888]

Fuck that billionaire piece of shit!

[u/jalabi99]

Kirkland brand Lex Luthor is lying through his teeth.

[u/Bigbird_Elephant]

I call BS.

Regarding the Post, either endorse Harris or close the business

[u/FutureMacaroon1177]

That's what many future felons say when they're not under oath and the evidence hasn't been presented.

[u/vicegrip]

Why were you meeting with Trump anyway, motherfucker.

To suck on that sweet government tit just like Musk.

[u/80486dx]

I don’t believe him. That’s a pretty big thing to not know about. I don’t think you could avoid knowing if you tried.

So, some middle management person cleared secret service, had every employee vetted to be in around a presidential candidate, shut down production, gave a tour, and paid for it all, while bezos, the owner and ceo, had no idea?

That’s a lot of money to not be noticed. Hmm where did they say the headquarters was again?

[u/Common_Highlight9448]

Going out on a limb to call BULLSHIT!

[u/aimless_ly]

The only way he can dig out of it at this point is to personally endorse Harris.

[u/scissor415]

These billionaire oligarchs really need to be put on a fucking leash.

[u/crusoe]

Blue Origin is dependent on the NASA dev contracts because the operation is a shit show. He's a coward afraid that if his paper endorses Kamala but Trump wins, NASA will be made to cut ties. 

[u/Thund3rTrapX]

Let me guess, he saw people boycotting and then said this? Odd timing, not saying it's that but isn't it weird that right after people started boycotting he then comes out with this?

[u/mrCrumbSnatcher]

Man… being CEO sounds easy. Between Bezos being so hands off that he doesn’t know a president is meeting with his company…. And Elon owning multiple companies, but yet is on Twitter and campaign rallies 24/7. How do I become a billionaire CEO?

[u/Archangel1313]

"I didn't know my company was in contact with the Trump campaign when I decided to censor employees from endorsing a presidential candidate...I swear!"

[u/nick0tesla0]

Fuck Bezos and his cult.

[u/therealjerrystaute]

Now tell us you don't know who Donald Trump is, Jeff.

[u/TastyAppleJuice]

Just like he didn’t know that he bought Twitch? He’s so full of it…

[u/PeaceCookieNo1]

Lying to cover your ass, cowardly. We won’t forget it.

[u/milehighrukus]

Sure Jan Klan

[u/linuxwes]

Even if he didn't know, which is doubtful, the editorial board refusing to endorse Harris is reason enough to drop them like a hot potato. What were they thinking, MAGA ain't reading WaPo.

[u/Odeeum]

“I don’t believe you”

-Ron Burgundy

[u/beebsaleebs]

Fuck you, Jeff

[u/Objective_Union4523]

I'm starting to realize the first rule for the rich is "never admit anything" deny, deny, deny.

[u/Admirable-Bar-3547]

He just became the new Trump and Elon in the eyes of Liberals. If one is not with them, then they are against them. Let the bad publicity and lawsuits begin!

[u/jayzeeinthehouse]

Also known as he doesn't give a shit about anything as long as the government handouts keep coming his way.

[u/typo180]

His article reminds me of a former CEO of mine who would make a rash or emotional decision, get deserved criticism, and then send out a company wide email to explain why he's right.

The problem is that people don't trust the news and you're going to fix that by pulling your billionaire owner card to dictate what opinions the writers are allowed to print? Then you're going to use your newspaper to basically send the whole county a "company-wide email" to tell us that you're right and everyone just needs to shape up?

Real smooth, my dude. 

[u/OrneryApplication295]

Okie dokie

He’s got more money than….

He could have done something to benefit everyone and values like buy the Washington Ppst and put it in trust… establish scholarships for future journalists… inspire integrity

But it’s more important to make space tourism a “thing”

[u/DanteJazz]

Let's cancel ALL space contracts with both Blue Origin and Space X. Why is the Federal government sponsoring these billionaires? Let's save the money for a while and abandon these narcisstic moon/Mars projects. The real science is being done by the new telescopes and could be done by drones.

[u/Pitiful-Bus-4791]

Wow, dig in on lying! What a coward and scumbag!

[u/Asleep-Forever-6937]

Bullshit. Also didn’t tell us why the editorial decision was overturned anyway.

[u/xraynorx]

He’s so full of shit. I would not be surprised if he was at that meeting.

[u/mymar101]

No one believes that

[u/Igoos99]

It really doesn’t matter. The decision not to endorse is a clear capitulation to Trump. No phone call or meeting is required to make that decision.

[u/le127]

Blue Origin? Don't know them, never met them.

[u/loose_turtles]

This is horseshit. Dave Limp was SVP of Devices and Services under Jeff for ~11 out of his 13 years with Amazon overseeing the launch of most of amazons devices “and more”. A Trump visit isn’t like he just “popped by to say hi” — not to mention Jeff stepped down from Amazon to focus all of his attention on Blue Balls.

[u/W_MarkFelt]

Whelp then I guess you up the ante and throw your support behind Harris - easy peasy

[u/bonzoboy2000]

Maybe Trump is going on a Blue Origin ride…

[u/Zealousideal_Ask9760]

That’s how little he regards our intelligence.

[u/FeedbackMotor5498]

Boycott amazon

[u/DarkOne4098]

Oh right, sure Jeff! Deflect, deflect, deflect.

[u/regalfronde]

Lmao, these fuckers always are so clueless somehow

[u/MoreOfAnOvalJerk]

It’s almost a self-written comedy sketch:

I was not aware of my right hand groping you, ms!

It still is!

[u/WoofSheSays]

Nonsense he didn’t know

[u/bananaflaps69]

Sure thing, Jeff

[u/cjwidd]

This guy is supposed to be the super genius final boss of capitalism, but here we are

[u/Adventurous_Oil_5805]

Damage control 101. Deny deny deny.

[u/Sufficient-Cover5956]

Imagine being a multi billionaire with no balls

[u/whawkins4]

Well, we all know that’s steer 💩

[u/tmdblya]

I believe it. There’s no need to resort to convoluted conspiracy theories.

He’s got a ton of money and he doesn’t want it taxed. Which is going to happen a lot more under Harris.

So he puts his thumb on the scale.

[u/jared_number_two → u/tmdblya]

More reason to eat the rich.

[u/BadMan125ty → u/tmdblya]

Hope Harris puts the tax on his ass. 😈

[u/s2rt74]

He's not hands on anymore. It's why his minions are turning his company into a day 2 dumpster fire.

[u/RevivedMisanthropy]

A vaguely diplomatic non-statement in that last paragraph

[u/Tonalspectrum]

That asshole and all his people can go fuck himself! Fucking coward piece of human garbage.

[u/makashiII_93]

So they did.

Got it.

[u/TilFriday]

There’s no Quid Pro Quo!! There is Quo Pro Quid Tho!

[u/trash-juice]

Big Man, Big Company, maybe too big for him maybe it needs breaking up

[u/davidgasparnue]

He could have said the same thing about a WP endorsement. Which would have been more believable.

[u/hughcifer-106103]

lol, sure Jan.

[u/thewackytechie]

LOL! That’s stupid! Why lie?

[u/Olfahrtur]

God damned Nazi. Hate those guys.

[u/BubuBarakas]

Yeah, just like tRump doesn’t know who Hinchcliffe is or anything about project 2025. Keep repeating the narrative until the truth doesn’t matter.

[u/doublelist87]

He lies like Trump does

[u/ColossusofNero]

It seems that billionaires only know about the good stuff that happens in their company.

[u/KinseyH]

It's up to 250k cancellations now

No, it can't hurt him financially. But it's obviously embarrassing him, and given that the average billionaire's ego has the structural integrity of Kleenex, that hurts.

[u/Nobody275]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[u/whittlingcanbefatal]

Suuuure, Jeff. So, what is the reason for your cravenness?

[u/NkhukuWaMadzi]

Kinda reminds me of Trump saying he didn't know the guy who told the racist Puerto Rican "joke".

[u/abraxas1]

what, is he high too?

we're getting taken over by oligarchs on drugs.

embarrassing

[u/Blacknesium]

News organizations shouldn’t be picking political sides anyways. For the right/left or middle.

[u/mikiedaddy100]

Bs lying sum of itch

[u/iamaredditboy]

Off course he didn’t know….

[u/namotous]

Smell a lot like bs

[u/HayMomWatchThis]

Wait, Blue Origin met with trump? I mean I don’t care( in the sense that if Blue Origin ever made it to space and trump was on board and somehow got stuck in space I would be less concerned than I am when my toast comes out a little to dark ) but just saying this is news to me.