Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who declined to endorse a presidential candidate, defended that decision while adding he is “very optimistic” about President-elect Donald Trump’s anti-regulatory policies.
Bezos expressed his views at the annual New York Times DealBook Summit Wednesday when he spoke with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, according to a report by Mediaite.
“I’m actually very optimistic this time around,” said Bezos, who is also CEO of Amazon.“He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation and from my point of view, if I can help him do that, I’m going to help him because we do have too many regulations in this country.”
Bezos talked about the need for “growth orientation” to try to surmount the country’s debt.
“The most important thing is a growth mindset. And we are the luckiest country in the world. We have all these natural resources, including energy independence,” Bezos said.
Bezos remarked how, in his view, Trump has “grown” and is “calmer” now.
“You’ve probably grown in the last eight years. He has, too. What I’ve seen so far is that he is calmer than he was the first time, more confident, and more settled,” Bezos said.
Bezos also said he has no regrets over his decision to not endorse neither Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris for president as owner of The Washington Post — even though it resulted in people canceling their subscriptions.
“I’m proud of the decision we made, and it was far from cowardly because we knew there would be blowback,” he said. “We did the right thing.”
