The reaction of the business community to four more years of a Trump administration is much different this time than it was after the 2016 election. Take Amazon, to use just one example.
The company’s Prime Video streaming service has acquired a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, which Amazon’s streamer confirmed on Sunday it will release in the second half of this year. Needless to say, you would have never seen something like that the first time around, nor a statement about it like this one from the company: “We are excited to share this truly unique story with our millions of customers around the world,” an Amazon spokesperson said about the film, which counts Mrs. Trump as an executive producer.
The news about that forthcoming documentary also follows the disclosure that Prime Video’s parent company is donating $1 million toward President Trump’s second inauguration. Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos himself has also been among the many business leaders to visit Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in recent weeks, which came after Bezos controversially killed his Washington Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris.
To be sure, Amazon and its chairman certainly aren’t alone in business and tech circles for taking a different approach to Trump now. Apple CEO Tim Cook is personally donating $1 million to Trump’s second inauguration, as are Meta and OpenAI. Uber is reportedly kicking in $2 million. Meanwhile, Trump has been welcoming a slew of corporate leaders to his Florida estate, including the chief executives of Meta, Google, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer, among others.
All that said, it’s Bezos who especially seems to have done a 180 on Trump well before the November election, with two of the four tweets Bezos posted in 2024 consisting of praise for the once and future president. “Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” the Amazon founder tweeted on Nov. 6. “No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
As for the Prime Video “behind-the-scenes” Melania Trump documentary, Amazon says that filming began in December, one month after her husband beat Harris to win re-election. Its director is Brett Ratner, a Hollywood producer whose credits include the Rush Hour franchise.