President Donald Trump has used Twitter as a weapon so often during his presidency that it has become commonplace. His latest target, Amazon, felt the wrath of the Command and Chief's Twitter tirade this week.
Regarding Amazon as a drain on the United States economy, he blamed several systemic issues within the government on Amazon's business practices.
I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018
Trump's remarks sent share prices for Amazon tumbling, resulting in owner Jeff Bezos losing up to $10B of his investment in the company.
Don't feel too bad for Bezos yet, he is still the world's richest man by far and will likely recoup this week's losses in short time.
Why is Trump targeting Amazon?
Although Amazon and it's business practices have been around for quite a while now, it is only recently that Trump has had a negative opinion of the company. He mentioned during his campaign that Amazon was hurting U.S. businesses, but didn't offer much proof or reasoning why.
His current gripe with Amazon relates to the taxes that the online retailer avoids paying to the government, and how they seem to use the United States Postal Service like their own private delivery division. Both of these issues are nothing new. This makes it hard to argue that Amazon is the sole reason that the post office has been a consistent drain on the United States budget, especially since that issue has been going on for decades.
A more likely reason for Amazon drawing the president's ire may lie with Bezos himself. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, a newspaper that has been overtly critical of President Trump throughout his presidency.
Trump never seems to forget those that slighted him and this may be his was of getting back at Bezos for the negative media coverage.
Though it sounds incredibly childish, this is the world that we are living in these days.
What to expect next?
Luckily for Bezos, despite the sharp decline in Amazon's stock price, it should quickly recover. The business model and system that has made Amazon the top retailer in the United States hasn't changed, and the public opinion hasn't either.
Though Trump surely riled up parts of his base to be anti Amazon, this battle is too personal. Amazon's only crime to Trump right now is existing as they always have. It would be wise for Bezos to just ignore the president's tantrum and wait until he finds a new target to go after.
Unless President Trump forgot, there is still that issue with North Korea that hasn't gone away and will need to be addressed eventually.