Jeff Bezos looks ready for a boxing match.
Like a heavyweight boxer, he is ready to strike. It's as if he was preparing for this match, any round of which can send him flying to the ground.
Years after he avoided responding to attacks from politicians on all sides, the second richest man in the world has decided to fight back. As a challenger determined to bring down the defending champion, Bezos has chosen to be on the offensive. It is he who will dictate the fight by engulfing himself in any opening that his opponent will give him. His tactic is clear: takes a page out of Elon Musk's book.
As Musk's detractors and critics have learned the hard way, he likes to fight his battles in public and there's no better public place than the social network Twitter, described by the billionaire as the de facto Times Square of our time.
The second rule established by the CEO of Tesla (TSLA) is not to be afraid of any adversary regardless of their rank, regardless of their powers and regardless of the risks.
Finally, the third rule that Musk often applies is not to be afraid of ridicule and above all to attack the opponent's weaknesses.
Bezos Is Becoming Very Active on Twitter
Bezos seems to have observed his fellow Tech tycoon well because he has just rolled out this strategy wonderfully. To begin with, the billionaire has become very active on Twitter since the May 13 weekend. On May 13 alone, Bezos sent and retweeted at least eight posts when he could go days without reporting anything on Twitter.
Between interactions with users about how to edit a typo on the social network and giving his opinion on Dyslexia, Bezos is now present on the platform where he currently has just over 4.3 million followers. But it's a safe bet that this figure will grow in the coming weeks.
Bezos, who stepped down as CEO of Amazon (AMZN) in July 2021, made a first splash by intervening on inflation, which currently affects almost all economic agents and poses a threat to growth. He notably accused President Joe Biden of "misdirection" when the latter tweeted that one of the solutions to curb inflation would be to tax the richest companies more.
"You want to bring down inflation? Let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share," Biden posted on May 13.
"The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non Sequitur Board instead," the billionaire commented, referring to the Department of Homeland Security's newly established Disinformation Governance Board. "Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection."
'Misdirection Doesn't Help The Country'
Less than 48 hours later, Bezos has just launched a new attack on Biden and the Democratic administration still on the economy. It all started with a new tweet from President Biden attacking his predecessor Donald Trump over the deficit. In passing, Biden claimed to be reducing the deficit.
"Under my predecessor, the deficit increased every single year," the Democratic president wrote. "This year, we’re on track to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion – the biggest one-year decline ever. It matters to families, because reducing the deficit is one of the main ways we can ease inflationary pressures."
"This is so silly," account Neoliberal commented. "The deficit is decreasing because we’re not doing pandemic aid anymore, and federal receipts are up because of inflation. Congress, or the Biden administration, didn’t do anything to lower the deficit."
That's when Bezos stepped in.
"In fact, the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves," the billionaire said, referring to U.S. senator Joe Manchin (D, WV). "Inflation is a regressive tax that most hurts the least affluent. Misdirection doesn’t help the country."
In two days, in two successive attacks, Bezos accuses the Biden administration of "misdirection." Interestingly, the mogul's attacks come as CEOs grapple with the impact of their policy interventions following the Florida governor's decision to sanction Disney for taking a stand against the "Don't Say Gay" bill in the state.
Bezos thus seems to join Musk as the very few entrepreneurs who speak up despite a potential political backlash. It should be remembered that his spaceflight venture Blue Origin, to which he now devotes his time, has federal contracts. In other words, Bezos has every interest in avoiding friction with the federal government.
Comments on the billionaire's attacks on Biden were mixed. Some Twitter users were keen to remind him that he had remained silent in the face of Trump's relentless criticism.
"Funny How Trump constantly attacked @JeffBezos and he stayed silent but with Biden he's a tough guy," one user commented.
