Trump Mocked Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos by Showing Off Fawning Texts

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sought to ingratiate themselves with President Donald Trump after he gained the 2024 election, and in return he mocked their efforts behind their backs, in keeping with a brand new e-book by The New York Occasions reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

Zuckerberg as soon as texted Trump a photograph of a letter written by one in every of his grade-school-age kids, who wrote that they “appeared ahead to the golden age of America,” a slogan Trump had repeated at rallies throughout the presidential marketing campaign.

And over dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership, Bezos denigrated The Washington Put up to Trump and primarily described the newspaper as one in every of his worst monetary investments, months earlier than he unsuccessfully sought a enterprise favor from the president.

These episodes are detailed within the e-book Regime Change: Contained in the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, a duplicate of which WIRED obtained forward of its launch on June 23. They illustrate the extraordinary scramble by a few of the strongest males in Silicon Valley to curry favor with Trump earlier than the beginning of his second time period.

Weeks after they met with Trump, he was nonetheless regaling associates with tales of how Zuckerberg and Bezos had been “kissing my ass,” in keeping with the e-book. “You wouldn’t consider the texts I received from these tech guys. I’ve received to indicate you,” Trump is quoted as telling some visitors.

The episodes additionally present how Trump reveled within the genuflections of the titans of Huge Tech—Google’s Sundar Pichai and Apple’s Tim Cook dinner additionally met with the incoming president—earlier than relentlessly deriding their efforts.

“Consider the place these guys had been in 2016,” Trump is quoted as saying of Zuckerberg and Bezos in a dialog with Elon Musk recounted within the e-book. “They hated me. They had been doing the whole lot they might to knock me down. And take a look at them now.”

Musk appeared delighted within the humiliation of his rivals, in keeping with the e-book. “First-class groveling,” Musk is quoted as replying.

Introduced with the e-book’s reporting, White Home spokesperson Kush Desai didn’t straight reply. “President Trump is dedicated to working with each American enterprise and enterprise chief to cement America’s progressive dominance, re-shore essential manufacturing, and speed up financial development,” he mentioned.

An individual accustomed to the Bezos episodes mentioned the Amazon founder has been working with Trump in the identical manner that he has labored with each president since Invoice Clinton, together with donating $100 million to Barack Obama’s presidential library, and supposed to work with whoever subsequent occupies the Oval Workplace. A spokesperson for Bezos’ Blue Origin didn’t reply to requests for remark. Musk and spokespeople for Meta additionally didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The e-book exhibits Trump continuously mocking Zuckerberg and Bezos as they tried to win his favor following the 2024 election—revealing, for instance, textual content messages he acquired from the Meta CEO to numerous visitors.

When Zuckerberg arrived shortly after Thanksgiving 2024, the authors write, Trump performed the nationwide anthem over the audio system. It quickly turned clear that this was no abnormal rendition, however one by a gaggle of detained January 6 rioters often called the J6 Jail Choir.

Weeks later, in keeping with the e-book, as Trump confirmed visitors and guests a few of the ingratiating texts that Zuckerberg had despatched, he stopped on a photograph of the “letter to the president” written by one of many Meta CEO’s three kids, the oldest of whom would have been 8 or 9 on the time.

Trump was additionally unsparing with Bezos, who’s portrayed by Haberman and Swan as transactionally obsequious in indulging and doubling down on Trump’s criticisms of The Washington Put up, in addition to sending Trump a selfie that includes himself and his then-fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, over textual content.