Amazon announced on Monday that it will begin streaming old episodes of “The Apprentice,” the reality competition show that helped President Donald Trump sell himself as a national figure before becoming a politician.
This move is the latest in a series of pro-Trump decisions by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, who has recently pivoted his companies and personal wealth to benefit Trump and the Republican Party.
“I look forward to watching this show myself—such great memories, and so much fun, but most importantly, it was a learning experience for all of us!” Trump said in a press release.
After years of Trump business failures—including a shuttered casino, airline, and steak company—“The Apprentice” created a mythological image of Trump as a successful businessman while also making him millions, allowing him an escape from his financial quagmire.
The decision to stream the show now, and likely provide a financial pipeline to the president, highlights the growing relationship between Bezos and Trump.
As the announcement broke, longtime Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus announced that she is leaving the paper in response to Bezos’ recent decision to pivot the opinion section to the right.
“Jeff’s announcement that the opinion section will henceforth not publish views that deviate from the pillars of individual liberties and free markets threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe, not what the owner has deemed acceptable,” she wrote in her resignation letter.
Marcus had been with the paper for more than four decades.
Similarly, according to NPR, more than 75,000 of the Post’s digital subscribers canceled their subscriptions after Bezos announced in February that it would no longer publish pieces from across the ideological spectrum.
Marcus told NPR that Will Lewis, opinion editor of the Post, had spiked a column of hers because it dissented from “Jeff’s edict.”
And at Bezos’ behest, the Post also spiked an endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election.
Other financial ties to Trump include Amazon’s $40 million deal to produce a Melania Trump documentary and Bezos’ personal contribution to Trump’s inauguration, which he attended in January.
Bezos—along with DOGE bro Elon Musk and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg—is among the most prominent of the wealthy media and tech oligarchs offering up their services to Trump in the last few months … even as Trump claims to fight for the middle class.
