Levin Report

Donald Trump Will Not Rest Until Amazon Is a Smoldering Pile of Radioactive Ash

The president reportedly tried to gouge Jeff Bezos for billions.
donald trump
By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

As you’ve probably heard, Donald Trump’s feelings toward Internet-retail giant Amazon are roughly on par with his feelings toward stairs, and exercise, and steaks with even the slightest bit of pink in the center. Which is to say: he hates Jeff Bezos’s company, and its bevested owner, too—“He’s obsessed with Bezos,” a source told my colleague Gabriel Sherman. “Trump is like, how can I fuck with him?” And, clearly, the president has done little to hide his feelings about Amazon. “Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” he tweeted in March, referring to the company. Then, presumably after catching wind of the many, many reports noting that, out here in reality, the post office makes a ton of money from Amazon, he insisted to his followers, “Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country . . . not a level playing field!” Because that’s how this president operates: in his own fact-free world, where even a cadre of advisers holding his hand and “explain[ing] to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate” can’t change his mind. And while it’s one thing to spout lies and delusions all over social media and during campaign rallies, it’s quite another to try to turn those lies and delusions into weapons against his enemies, which—surprise!—was exactly what he attempted to do.

According to The Washington Post, Trump “has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com,” as well as several other firms, to ship packages, a move that would likely cost the companies billions. Per reporters Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey, Brennan and Trump have met about the matter several times, beginning in 2017 and as recently as four months ago, although the meetings, conveniently, have never appeared on the president’s public schedule. Thus far Brennan, a 32-year veteran of the Postal Service, has resisted Trump’s demand, reportedly telling him “in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission.” Like former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, Brennan has tried to get it through Trump’s head that the Postal Service actually benefits from its relationship with Amazon. On one occasion, clearly knowing her audience, she apparently busted out “a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partner for deliveries.”

Obviously, the most disturbing aspect of this story is not that Trump is incapable of absorbing pretty basic facts that have been explained to him on numerous occasions, but that he’s reportedly trying to use the power of the presidency to hurt Amazon because its owner’s newspaper was mean to him.

Trump . . . has accused the Post as being Amazon’s “chief lobbyist” as well as a tax shelter—false charges. He says Amazon uses these advantages to push bricks-and-mortar companies out of business. Some administration officials say several of Trump’s attacks aimed at Amazon have come in response to articles in the Post that he didn’t like.

In a statement to CNBC, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “We are doing a total look at how the post office is operating. But [we] don’t have anything specific for you on that.”

X content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

If you would like to receive the Levin Report in your inbox daily, click here to subscribe.

Lloyd Blankfein is probably still retiring in December

Back in March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman Sachs C.E.O. Lloyd Blankfein was expected to step down from his post at the end of the year, an announcement that struck a bunch of Goldman alums as particularly cruel, given that Gary Cohn had wanted the C.E.O. job for years and only left for the horror show that is the Trump administration because he’d come to believe Lloyd was never going to retire. After the news came out though, Blankfein claimed that he had no idea where the Journal had come up with its story, tweeting “It’s the @WSJ’s announcement . . . not mine. I feel like Huck Finn listening to his own eulogy.” Strangely, though, he’s had nothing to say about a piece that ran in the Times today reporting . . . basically the same exact thing:

. . . in recent weeks, Mr. Blankfein has quietly laid the groundwork to step down late this year. His exit will likely take place in conjunction with the firm’s annual dinner for retired partners in December, two people said. [David] Solomon, who is 56, would step in [as C.E.O.] shortly after that.

In response to a question about who will succeed Solomon as president, Goldman spokesman Jake Siewert told the Times, “The simple fact is that no decisions have been made.”

Steve Mnuchin Poses with Money, an Ongoing Series

Back in November, the gods smiled upon us with a series of photos in which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton, i.e. the Marie Antoinette of Washington, posed with sheets of dollar bills bearing Mnuchin’s signature, at one point displaying a childlike sense of wonder that denominations that small existed in the first place. And now, we’ve been gifted once again:

X content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

(Obviously this would be better if Louise was included, but we’ll take what we can get.)

Wells Fargo Scams Customers, Another Ongoing Series

In the future, it would probably just be more efficient for us to notify you if the bank goes a day without screwing over clients, but c’est la vie:

Some employees in a Wells Fargo & Co. unit that handles business banking improperly altered information on documents related to corporate customers, according to people familiar with the matter. The behavior again raises questions about Wells Fargo’s risk-management practices and controls. The bank has been sanctioned in recent months by federal regulators for problems in these areas and as a result can’t grow its balance sheet.

The employees in Wells Fargo’s so-called wholesale unit, which is separate from its retail bank, added or altered information without customers’ knowledge, according to the people familiar with the matter. The information added varied from social security numbers to addresses to dates of birth for people associated with business-banking clients, the people said.

In a statement, a Wells Fargo spokesman told The Wall Street Journal: “This matter involves documents used for internal purposes. No customers were negatively impacted, no data left the company, and no products or services were sold as a result.”

Elsewhere!

Cryptocurrency Firms Explore Getting Bank Licenses (W.S.J.)

U.S. gun lobby takes aim at 'gun-hating' banks Citi, BofA (Reuters)

Argentina’s Madcap Century Bond Has Beaten Treasurys (W.S.J.)

Chinese Bank Offered Clients Chance to Dine with Trump for $150,000 (Bloomberg)

Soros Finds Another Route to Profit from Tesla’s Volatile Stock (Bloomberg)

Storm-Chasing Tours Become Big—and Risky—Business (W.S.J)

Starbucks will open new store every 15 hours in China (N.Y.P.)

Miami school faces backlash for bringing tiger to prom (NBC News)