Donald Trump said Amazon and Jeff Bezos have a ‘huge antitrust problem.’ Now they may

Recode ^ | Nov 9, 2016 | Jason Del

[TigerLikesRooster]

Donald Trump said Amazon and Jeff Bezos have a ‘huge antitrust problem.’ Now they may.

The president-elect is certainly one to hold grudges.

by Jason Del Rey@DelRey Nov 9, 2016, 12:10pm EST

Let’s state the obvious: Donald Trump and Amazon CEO, and Washington Post owner, Jeff Bezos do not see eye to eye. And that becomes a more concerning prospect for Bezos and Amazon now that Trump is president-elect.

In May, after learning of the large team of Washington Post reporters looking into his past, Trump told conservative TV commentator Sean Hannity that Bezos was using the paper to damage Trump’s chances because he feared what a President Trump would mean for Amazon.

"He thinks I'll go after him for antitrust," Trump said at the time. "Because he's got a huge antitrust problem because he's controlling so much, Amazon is controlling so much of what they are doing.

"He's using the Washington Post, which is peanuts, he's using that for political purposes to save Amazon in terms of taxes and in terms of antitrust."

Trump’s campaign later reiterated this narrative in a statement claiming that the Post was being used as political leverage so Amazon doesn’t “get sued for monopolistic tendencies that have led to the destruction of department stores and the retail industry.”

[TigerLikesRooster]

To me, this election ended with the best possible results. Hillary campaign managed to string along all establishment players, making them go to extreme lengths to prop her up. In the process, we saw the stark display of the blatant corruption and collusion among big corporations, media, politicians, and sinister foreign powers (such as Saudi Arabia.) Those who need to keep some discrete distance are all in it together. Jeff Bezos was eager to play a shameless and brazen propagandist. Google and Facebook are shown to be closely linked up with Hillary campaign. Eric Schmidt and Sheryl Sandberg were in direct contact with Hillary campaign. It was more than giving huge sum of campaign donation.

CNN and WaPo basically went for broke. We all knew they were in the tank with liberals, but they all exceeded our wildest expectation. They can no longer walk back from what they did. There is no room for spin. The same goes with all pollsters, except a few. So are all GOPe politicians. We suspected all along that they were no good. But I am glad that they left us no doubt with their actions, showing clearly where they stand. What we have always suspected is vindicated ten times over. What is better is that we can now convince lots of others who were not sure.

I am sure many would rather wanted a huge landslide in terms of popular votes, but it is indeed the landslide considering all forces arrayed against Trump. All ruling class elites and oligarchs overextended themselves to shore up damaged good like Hillary. Had they cut their losses early, we have not been able to see clear public display of their extensive corruption and abuse of power. Good to see that it all blew up in their face and the whole thing went down like Titanic.

Hillary forced them to hitch their fortune with her, and managed to sink all of them along with her. For that, I am grateful.

[Steely Tom]

They chose... poorly.

[Kudsman]

We all knew they were in the tank with liberals, but they all exceeded our wildest expectation. They can no longer walk back from what they did. There is no room for spin.

Excellent analysis. Agree completely.

[Uncle Miltie]

Has Amazon ever paid any income taxes?

[TigerClaws]

Below owns the Washington Post and weaponized it against Trunp.

There will be payback.

[seeker41]

Break em up Trump! Amazon and ATT for starters.

[oh8eleven]

Has Amazon ever paid any income taxes?
I think they only had their first profitable year a year or two ago. My guess is their taxes have been slim and none up until then.

[M Kehoe]

Methinks I’m going to enjoy a Trump presidency.

5.56mm

[Mouton]

I think if there is legal basis for those arguments, he should use the entire power of the anti trust division to go after them in spades. If not, he would look foolish because he will lose in the democrat court system.

[libh8er]

Well said.

[floozy22]

Hopefully President Trump enforces antitrust laws, and not only for Amazon.

[Lisbon1940]

Level the playing field for brick and mortar. Maybe free shipping shouldn’t be allowed.

[TigerLikesRooster]

All tech giants are vulnerable to anti-trust charge, since they are moving into so many disparate industries. There is a real possibility that some tech giant will become a huge mega corporation controlling many industries, let alone corporations.

[Uncle Miltie]

Is Amazon just a laterally integrated tax avoidance scheme?

[Buckeye McFrog]

Payback’s a bitch for those 20 WaPo reporters you unleashed on him, Jeff.

This is actually smart strategy. Make the companies and the executives that allow this corrupt press to function under their auspices pay an ACTUAL FINANCIAL PRICE.

I think you’ll see thing start to change in a hurry.

[oh8eleven]

I really don’t know, but wouldn’t be surprised.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

No problemooooo

[TigerLikesRooster]

This is actually smart strategy

Agreed. He knows where to hit.

[floozy22]

There is a real possibility that some tech giant will become a huge mega corporation controlling many industries

Let's hope that doesn't happen.

My original comment was more referring to the AT&T/Time Warner deal (of which the President-Elect doesn't approve).

[COUNTrecount]

Great post, thanks!