Mary Trump has launched a scathing critique of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos following The Washington Post’s controversial decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in the upcoming election.
In a blog post published on Saturday, former President Donald Trump‘s estranged niece condemned what she called Bezos’ “egregious decision” to force the newspaper, which he has owned since 2013, to withhold endorsement in what she described as a choice “between a fairly centrist Democrat and a full-blown fascist.”
Newsweek contacted Bezos for comment via email on Sunday.
The Washington Post Guild said in a Friday statement that, “according to our own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement of Harris was already drafted.”
NPR reported that Editorial Page Editor David Shipley had approved an editorial endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris, which was in the process of being drafted. However, the newspaper’s publisher and chief executive officer William Lewis announced that The Post would not only abstain from endorsing in this election but would cease presidential endorsements entirely.
“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election,” Lewis wrote, adding that “our job at The Washington Post is to provide through the newsroom nonpartisan news for all Americans, and thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make up their own minds.”
While Lewis has pushed back against claims of Bezos’ direct involvement, telling CNN that “reporting around the role of The Washington Post owner and the decision not to publish a presidential endorsement has been inaccurate,” adding that “he [Bezos] was not sent, did not read and did not opine on any draft.”
The decision still prompted immediate and widespread backlash.
Actor Jeffrey Wright, who narrated a Harris campaign video at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), publicly shared his subscription cancellation on social media, writing, “Washington Post. Hometown paper. Grew up with it. Bye, b*****.” Democratic strategist Matt McDermott similarly announced his cancellation, calling it the “easiest decision ever, @washingtonpost.”
Critics were also quick to point out the stark contrast with The Post’s previous electoral stances.
In 2016, the paper’s editorial board delivered a scathing assessment of Trump while endorsing Hillary Clinton, describing him as “bigoted, ignorant, deceitful, narcissistic, vengeful, petty, misogynistic, fiscally reckless, intellectually lazy, contemptuous of democracy and enamored of America’s enemies.” The board warned that “as president, he would pose a grave danger to the nation and the world.”
By 2020, the editorial board’s concerns had only intensified. They labeled Trump “the worst president of modern times,” warning that “Democracy is at risk, at home and around the world.”
The board emphasized that “The nation desperately needs a president who will respect its public servants; stand up for the rule of law; acknowledge Congress‘s constitutional role; and work for the public good, not his private benefit.”
Mary Trump’s criticism extends beyond the endorsement itself to what she sees as troubling intersections of billionaire-business and politics.
She noted that the newspaper’s announcement coincided with a meeting between Trump and executives from Blue Origin, Bezos’ space technology company, including CEO David Limp, pointing out that the company holds a $3.4 billion NASA contract.
“Bezos’ cluelessness is likely the result of his arrogance because, like many other wealthy men, arrogance made him overstep. Or maybe it’s just that a lot of wealthy men are members of the Dunning-Kruger club for oligarchs,” she wrote.
She referenced a 2019 incident where Amazon lost a $10 billion cloud computing defense contract to Microsoft, which was “generally seen as a retaliatory move because, in Donald’s view, the Post’s coverage of him was too negative.”
The Washington Post building is shown after the announced sale of the newspaper August 5, 2013 in Washington, DC. Mary Trump blasts Jeff Bezos’ Post in new blog post for failing to endorse a presidential candidate in 2024 election. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Arguing that the newspaper’s non-endorsement decision creates “a gaping void into which the most awful conclusions can be drawn,” Mary Trump warned that “aspiring oligarchs like Jeff Bezos… should not have such an outsize role in our election. And they certainly shouldn’t be allowed to have positions of power in our government.”
