Book details claim Trump and Musk mocked Zuckerberg and Bezos for ‘first class groveling’

President Donald Trump and SpaceX boss Elon Musk reportedly mocked Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos behind their backs.

The mocking happened after Zuckerberg and Bezos tried to kiss up to the then-president-elect after the 2024 presidential election, according to a new book from Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times.

Wired magazine, which had a chance to review the book, reported that after the election, Zuckerberg “texted Trump a photo of a letter written by one of his grade-school-age children, who wrote that they ‘looked forward to the golden age of America.’”

Similarly, after the election, Bezos mocked The Washington Post — one of his investments — during a dinner with the president, as previously reported:

Report: Bezos trashed his own newspaper in conversation with Trump https://t.co/EUM9IIUOTi

— BPR (@BIZPACReview) June 18, 2026

After Zuckerberg and Bezos met with Trump following the election, the president began mocking them for “kissing my ass.”

“You would not believe the texts I got from these tech guys,” he reportedly told his friends and associates. “I’ve got to show you.”

“Think of where these guys were in 2016,” the president said during a conversation specifically with Musk. “They hated me. They were doing everything they could to knock me down. And look at them now.”

Musk reportedly replied by describing their behavior as “first-class groveling.”

Months after the election, Bezos met with Trump in the Oval Office to make a business request that he hoped would help make his space company, Blue Origin, more competitive against SpaceX.

Bezos specifically argued that it posed a national security risk for the country to allow just one company, SpaceX, to maintain control over the majority of America’s space infrastructure.

He further suggested to the president that he should direct the government workers in charge of space contracts to pursue “contractor diversity,” which would allow Blue Origin to better compete with SpaceX.

However, the president appeared to ignore Bezos.

“Trump told Bezos that he would consider his request, Haberman and Swan write. But it never came to pass,” Wired reports.

Indeed, in the months that followed, Trump’s friendship with Musk only grew as the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency took off.

BREAKING: Elon Musk Says, “I have discussed with Trump the idea of a government efficiency commission and I would be willing to be part of that commission.”

Would you support Elon Musk serving in a Trump administration?

A. YES
B. NO pic.twitter.com/K57BDwHXoG

— FAN TRUMP ARMY (@TRUMP_ARMY_) August 3, 2024

Regarding Bezos mocking the Post, that happened because the paper’s stubbornly leftist staff refused to listen to him.

“The people there are terrible. They don’t listen. My other companies, they listen,” Bezos reportedly told the then-president-elect at a December 2024 dinner.

Bezos’ remarks were made after The Washington Post, a rabidly left-wing paper, posted losses of over $100 million for 2024.

Months later, Bezos laid off one-third of the Post’s staff and eliminated entire sections of the paper. He also directed the Post’s editorial board to focus on “personal liberties and free markets” going forward.

Trump responded to Bezos by correctly noting that The Washington Post “is really unfair” in its coverage.

“You’ve got to take better care,” he added, according to the book from Swan and Haberman.

“Bezos commiserated with Trump over their December dinner, indicating that he, too, was deeply frustrated with the Post, though for a different reason,” the book reads. “In Trump’s telling, Bezos told him he had lost half his friends over the investment. Bezos would tell others that wasn’t quite right: He hadn’t lost friends, but people close to him had urged him to sell the newspaper.”

While speaking with Swan and Haberman for the book, Trump reportedly admitted that he originally “hated” Bezos because he thought the Post’s editorial garbage was being directed by him.

“He said they write stories about him. And I didn’t believe him the first time, first term. And I hated him for it,” Trump recalled. “And then I believed him.”

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