Amazon Has Found the Easiest Way to Influence the Trump Administration
Amazon is paying Melania Trump a hefty amount of cash to produce a documentary about her.
Puck reports that the media and retail giant is releasing a documentary about the once and soon-to-be first lady as part of a whopping $40 million deal—a staggering amount of money for any figure, let alone one who commands relatively little public interest. It will be directed by Brett Ratner, who hasn’t made a Hollywood movie since being accused of sexual harassment by multiple women in 2017.
The deal includes the documentary, which will be released in theaters and later on Prime Video, and a short documentary series of two to three episodes to follow up on the film. Amazon outbid rivals Disney and Paramount for streaming rights to the project, and Trump stands to receive a hefty amount of cash in the deal.
The Amazon deal raises questions about some of executive chairman Jeff Bezos’s decisions in the last few months. In late October, the Bezos-owned Washington Post refused to make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential election, spiking an editorial that would have backed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Following Trump’s election victory, the billionaire posted a fawning message of congratulations on X, hailing Trump’s “extraordinary political comeback.” Last month, Bezos joined the many wealthy donors to Donald Trump’s inauguration committee by pledging to contribute $1 million, giving him the perk of six tickets to pre-inauguration events, including a black-tie ball, a candlelight dinner with Trump and his wife, and a reception with Cabinet nominees.
Did Bezos make all of these gestures because of the streaming deal he made with the president-elect’s wife? Or are these overtures and the deal part of a new strategy from Bezos to avoid being attacked by Trump? Either way, Bezos and Trump don’t seem to be enemies anymore.
Donald Trump is somehow still harping on his vanity projects to acquire Greenland and Canada, and every day, the trolling feels more real.
In a Truth Social post Monday night, the president-elect published some propaganda to make it seem as if the people of Greenland were completely onboard with his plan to acquire the world’s largest island.
“I am hearing that the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA,’” Trump wrote. “My son, Don Jr, and various representatives, will be traveling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights. Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
It’s not clear that Trump’s oldest son has any plans to meet with officials while in Greenland, but it’s always nice to share your kid’s vacation plans.
Beneath the post, Trump shared the video of an unidentified man in a MAGA hat urging Trump to buy Greenland. “We don’t want to be colonized by the Danish government anymore,” the man said, as he requested a new colonizer.
“We are the richest nation in the world, and we don’t get to use it! Denmark’s using us too much,” he continued, implying that through purchase, the wealth of Denmark would somehow return to Greenland’s small population of 57,000 people and not disappear into the imperialist machine Trump hopes to steer.
Greenland has long sought independence from Denmark, and all of Trump’s ramblings about buying the place seem to have revitalized that conversation. But that doesn’t mean the people of Greenland would have any interest in becoming part of the United States. Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede recently expressed his desire for “ownership and control” over the island, but reiterated that the country isn’t for sale.
Meanwhile, billionaire technocrat Elon Musk cheered Trump’s efforts to convince people that Greenland wants to be part of the U.S., writing in a post on X, “The people of Greenland should decide their future and I think they want to be part of America!”
It’s worth noting that Musk owns the exact kind of popular opinion machine that might work to generate this kind of sentiment, and Trump has a tendency to turn his tedious trolling into reality through sheer repetition and normalization.
Trump’s idea to acquire the territory, which is not only of great strategic importance to the U.S. but contains a wealth of natural resources and minerals, isn’t popular with everyone.
Jim Townsend, a former senior Pentagon official who worked on NATO and Arctic defense policy, told Politico that Trump’s statements are resulting in a diplomatic headache. “Pissing everybody off by saying we’re just going to buy them outright really bruises our bilateral relationship with the Danes and more importantly ruins any kind of way for us to work this out with Greenlanders,” said Townsend.
Trump also doubled down on his........
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