Jeff Bezos expresses optimism about Trump and offers to assist in decreasing regulation.

• At the DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, expressed optimism about President-elect Donald Trump.
• "Bezos stated that he appears to have a great deal of enthusiasm in decreasing regulations. If I can assist in that, I will do so."
• During his first term in the White House, Trump frequently clashed with Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.

At The New York Times' DealBook Summit, Jeff Bezos, the founder, expressed optimism about President-elect Donald Trump and predicted a more favorable regulatory climate in the upcoming administration.

"Bezos expressed optimism on stage, stating that he has a lot of energy in reducing regulation. He added that if he can assist in this effort, he will do so."

Despite Trump's repeated attacks on Bezos and his companies, Amazon and The Washington Post, during his first term, Bezos' comments struck a cheerful tone. Trump accused Bezos of dodging taxes, publishing "fake news," and using the U.S. Postal Service to contribute to its demise.

In 2019, Amazon accused Trump of attacking the company behind the scenes, which led to its loss of a multibillion-dollar Department of Defense contract known as JEDI.

The animosity between the two preceded Trump's time in the White House.

During the 2016 election, Bezos criticized Trump's behavior, stating that it "undermines our democracy." He also proposed shooting Trump into space after Trump accused him of using The Post as a "tax shelter."

During the first Trump transition period, Bezos expressed optimism similar to his current tone. Along with top execs from Google, Facebook, and others, Bezos met with Trump at Trump Tower in December 2016. At the meeting, both men were highly complimentary of each other.

"Bezos stated that the meeting with the president-elect, his transition team, and tech leaders was productive. He emphasized the importance of making innovation a key pillar of the administration, which would result in job creation across all sectors, not just tech, including agriculture, infrastructure, and manufacturing."

In the run-up to this year's election, Bezos adopted a relatively conciliatory tone when interacting with Trump. He has posted twice on X this year, expressing his congratulations to Trump the day after his victory in November and praising the president's "grace under literal fire" following the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July.

Before the election, Bezos announced that the Washington Post would not be endorsing a candidate, breaking with tradition. In late October, the paper's editorial page staff had drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over Trump, but Bezos killed the plan.

"On Wednesday, Bezos acknowledged the criticism that followed after doing the right thing, even though he knew there would be blowback. He described the move as "far from cowardly.""

Blue Origin, founded by Bezos, will frequently compete with SpaceX, a company led by Elon Musk, for federal contracts. Musk has been a key ally for Trump during his presidential campaign, donating nearly $75 million to America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC he established earlier this year.

Bezos states that he is proud of not having the Washington Post endorse a presidential candidate.