Former GOP congressman calls out Trump for 'wrong, personal' Amazon vendetta
‘He is fundamentally wrong on this issue.’
Former GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah smacked down Trump’s recent attacks on Amazon Sunday, calling Trump “fundamentally wrong” for launching a “personal” vendetta against the online megastore.
In two separate instances this week, Trump called out Amazon by name and accused the company of not paying enough in taxes and contributing to the economic woes of the U.S. Postal Service.
On Thursday, Trump tweeted that Amazon was using the postal service as its “Delivery Boy.” Two days later, he followed up with a series of tweets saying Amazon’s “Post Office scam must stop” and demanding that the company “must pay real costs (and taxes) now!”
Trump’s new 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale even joined in, tweeting late Thursday that the Trump administration may try to raise Amazon’s postal costs.
Speaking about Trump’s crusade against Amazon on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Chaffetz if Trump’s claims were “right or wrong.”
“You know I’ve been fond of the president and his policies, but he is fundamentally wrong on this issue, and I actually think he knows he’s wrong on this issue,” Chaffetz responded.
He noted that the postal service, which has had financial problems stretching back for years, actually makes money on its deliveries for Amazon.
“The fact that they have more customers in Amazon is a blessing,” Chaffetz said.
As for the accusation that Amazon is skirting taxes, Chaffetz flatly debunked Trump’s claims, noting that “Amazon is paying quite a bit in taxes — more than they paid before.”
Trump has long been obsessed with Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, who is also the owner of the Washington Post — a newspaper that has played a key role in exposing Trump’s corruption and incompetence.
In June, Trump threatened to sic the Internal Revenue Service on Amazon and the Washington Post just days after the Post revealed that Trump had framed and displayed a fake TIME Magazine cover with his name and face on it. A month later, Trump accused the newspaper of “being used as a lobbyist weapon” to keep lawmakers from looking into Amazon’s business practices.
As recently as this weekend, Trump was on the attack again — this time, going as far as threatening to make the Post register with the government as a lobbyist. This weekend’s threat came on the heels of a Washington Post report detailing the massive incompetence within the White House Presidential Personnel Office.
Unfortunately for Trump, even his supporters like Chaffetz see his actions for what they are: an abuse of a government position to carry out a personal vendetta against a private company.
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