Multibillionaire and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos claimed in an interview that President Donald Trump has been more “mature” and “disciplined” in his second term, an assessment at odds with what the entire world has seen since January 2025.
“I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term,” Bezos said in an interview with CNBC that aired on Wednesday. “Trump has lots of good ideas. He’s been right about a lot of things. You have to give him credit where credit is due.”
Bezos’ comments arrive just ahead of Memorial Day weekend, when millions of Americans will have to contend with gas prices that have skyrocketed to a national average of $4.55 per gallon thanks to Trump’s “mature” decision to attack Iran.
Bezos’ praise for Trump as a “disciplined” figure also comes one day after Trump held a media event at the White House where he discussed at length his plans for a massive ballroom at the White House. Trump said a key feature of the planned facility is “great sniper capacity” because the height means “we get a very clear view of everything all over Washington.”
Americans and others around the world have not seen much of the maturity and discipline that Bezos, a man worth around $270 billion who hardly pays taxes, appears to see.
Bezos also used the interview to defend the massive layoffs he ordered at The Washington Post in February. Those layoffs, along with pro-MAGA takeovers at media institutions like CBS News, have helped the right’s sustained assault on legitimate journalism, taking away valuable resources that are used to watchdog government officials and agencies.
“If people won’t pay for our product, it’s not a good enough product,” Bezos said, arguing that layoffs are part of a strategy to make the paper more profitable. “It’s got to be something that people will pay for because that’s a signal—it’s a signal—that we’re providing a relevant service.”
“The Post is going to continue to be an important institution. In fact, it’s going to be a more important institution because of this financial discipline. It needs to be relevant to readers,” he concluded.
In Bezos’ eyes, the Post being “relevant to readers” appears to mean its editorial page attacking progressives and progressive leaders, like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It also puts into context the millions that Bezos’ Amazon sent to the Trump family when the company bought the rights to “Melania,” a documentary about the first lady that went on to be a box office bomb.
Since Trump won the 2024 election, Bezos has been all-in on him, and the most visible parts of his empire—the Post and Amazon—have been mobilized in service of an administration that caters to billionaire oligarchs like Bezos.
No wonder he sees maturity and discipline that very few people can see.
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