In 2016, shortly after acquisition ‘The Washington Post", Amazon's founder pointed out an old 17,000-foot museum designed by architect Jefferson Memorial . Shortly after buying it for 23 million dollars in cash, he began renovating it to organize the parties, following the footsteps of a cult predecessor.
“What he intends to do is revive Kay Graham’s legacy and her wonderful social gatherings — bringing together intelligent, interesting people in a social context,” said Jean Case, who, along with her husband Steve, was an old friend of Bezos and his then wife.
It was a prophecy in which a layer of Washington wanted to believe. The thought of a transforming industrialist moving the city's political salon flattered Washington's eternal hunger for social validation: Look, we're not just a bunch of bad-dressed politicians!
That confirmation never came. While Bezos organized respective events at first, the place is usually so lifeless that 1 of the neighbors told me that he inactive remembers the day that 3 cars stood in the driveway. “It’s almost dark all the time,” Marie Drissel, another neighbour said. “I guess there is 4 or 5 nights a year,” she added. In 9 years, she's only seen her celebrated neighbour once.
“It’s a beautiful cool building”
The same impression can be made on the another side of the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia. It's right there. Amazon, to whom Bezos inactive heads, would bring up to 50,000 jobs at the fresh headquarters, which, according to supporters, would announce a drastic transformation of the full region. Virginia's triumph in a loud competition for a fresh seat has delighted the residents, mostly due to the fact that it calmed Washington's another eternal uncertainty: a truly capitalist seat would overwhelm the fear that it was nothing but a government city.
Eight years later and 1 pandemic later, about 8,000 Amazon employees make him the largest private employer in the county. But the large transformation did not occur, and the iconic cylindrical building of the office resembles the abandoned game surrounded by an ugly fence. Last month, Arlington region Board voted to usage part of Amazon space as a temporary location for an alternate advanced school. At its June meeting, the Council will consider granting the company another extension of the building's start date.
— There is any disappointment," said Eric Cassel, president of the Crystal City Civic Association. It's a beautiful cool building.
Of course, these days the architectural deficiencies of HQ2 or events in Calorama are the least of Bezos' problems, at least in the eyes of Permanent Washington . Bezos' position in Washington's polite society has late fallen. In The Washington Post, he abruptly choked support for Kamala Harris, and then decreed that the paper would now only print marketplace opinions — for the first time openly showing ideology. And his ideological tendencies, apparent erstwhile he joined the group of tycoons occupying the main places at the inauguration of Donald Trump, began to look more selfish than selfless. The man who erstwhile praised the safety of democracy began to look like another rich man trying to sneak into the favors of the president's arrangement.
JIM LO SCALZO / PAPUnfinished Amazon HQ2 office in Cristal City, Virginia, 2023.
“Old” Bezos “to be ashamed”
This means that The same people who spent a decade admiring the respectable public statements of a billionaire on journalism and democracy are now angry at him for disrespecting his venerable paper and shameless lick of administration.
However, the early days of the region's romance with Bezos clearly show that dynamics always spoke as much about its inhabitants as about Bezos itself. It is worth remembering during an inevitable conversation in Washington about what the hell happened to the owner of The Washington Post.
At first glance, the differences between Bezos from 2013-2023 and Bezos from the last fewer years are striking.
Old Bezos worshipped in the "The Washington Post" legend Watergate, noblely relying on political pressures on his journalists during Trump's first term. He funded a $100 million prize dedicated to Washington's old favourite aspiration: courtesy. He joined the Alfalfa Club, 1 of the most respected organizations in Beltway.
When he arranged a large dinner for the exhibition at the National image Gallery in 2022, the guest list was full of stars of the establishment specified as Hillary Clinton, Anthony Fauci and David Rubenstein. They came home with masterpieces on the walls, dense scratcheries and various another dark, old-Washington decorations “similar to what can be seen in the Green area of the White House”, according to 1 guest.
Dinner was held the same night as the thirty-year-old Cafe Milano, a restaurant in Georgetown, which is simply a favourite place of political class. According to 1 of the contestants, many guests after dinner just moved to this place. It was that kind of people.
Even after Joe Biden became president and Bezos felt compelled to criticize him for his taxes, he did so on his individual social media, leaving paper pages to professional journalists. “I would be ashamed to interfere. I'd be very embarrassed. I would have blushed," he said in 2018 in an interview with Mathias Dopfner, CEO of Axel Springer, POLITICO's parent company. "I would feel terrible, I would feel disgusting."
PAPArtefacts from the 1970s exhibited in the “room of scandal” of the Watergate Hotel in Washington, USA, 17 June 2022. This area served as an reflection post during the break-in to the seat of the National Democratic organization Committee on 17 June 1972. An effort to break in led to a political scandal, resulting in president Richard Nixon resigning
Something broke in “new” Bezos
On the another hand, the newer Bezos decided for his editors to kill long-planned support for Kamala Harris and abandon the tradition of two-party opinions in ‘Washington Post’, of which he personally announced the latter, alternatively of allowing it to happen through the usual channels "WP". He besides joined the technological power parade at Trump's inauguration. Amazon pays Melania Trump $40 million for a documentary about her life — a task that was discussed at dinner during a December visit to Mar-a-Lago. It was a beautiful good turn for the same man who erstwhile radiated at the premiere. “The Post”A movie about Katharine Graham who defied Nixon.
"People say it »Invasion of body snatchers“ ” said 1 of the Washington observers who closely watched the local activities of Bezos. "Something broke in it".
This shock caused chaos in the "WP" which experienced the exodus of the top talents and met with fierce criticism from erstwhile loyalists specified as erstwhile editor Martin Baron, whose memories portrayed Bezos as unbreakable in the face of very real financial force from Trump's first administration. The Baron accused Bezos of cowardice in the face of White home intimidation (Bezas typical refused to comment on this story).
Besides the “Washington Post”, the same dynamics turned Bezos into a pop-psychological salon game in Beltway: what changed the guy who publically worshipped Washington customs, into a man who seems willing to reject them?
According to any accounts, it's Bezos' divorce with citizen Mackenzie Scott and later engagement to hit Lauren Sanchez turned him against the kind of Beltway (and motivated him to build a figure that more resembles actor Channing Tatum than writer Bob Woodward). According to that theory, he thought we were small smart guys and went to Miami.
According to another version, Biden's business policy prompted Bezos to join technological tycoons, discouraged from the grey eminence that dominated the White House. There is another explanation that, like many wealthy media owners, Bezos began to simply get tired of what he saw as prudeish, reluctant to change journalists — and turned against the full cast of characters in Washington as an extension of that dynamics.
AA/ABACA/ PAPJeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez at the 11th yearly Breakthrough Prize Ceremony, Los Angeles, USA, April 5, 2025.
It's not Bezos that's changed. It's the rules in Washington.
I think the answer is completely different: the Bezos core has not changed. Washington rules have changed.
People who know him say he never truly cared about Washington. As a technological mogul, he shared the same economical views and contempt for bureaucratic procedureism as younger giants, specified as Elon Musk — only that he had better social skills and more comprehensive education (plus nerd interest in history), making him much more typical in the Beltway circles.
On the another hand, it is besides very applicable — it understands that there are any best practices for cooperation with Washington, possibly optional for an information magnate, but essential for a business leader.
These features meant that erstwhile Bezos spoke as an ambassador to an information organization he purchased, he did so in a way that did not destruct the place. He spoke respectfully of civic heroes specified as Katharine Graham, buying a replica of the newsroom whistling to commemorate Graham's opposition to Nixon's administration's threats that he would "allow her through a grifter" for allowing aggressive relations. He visited the legendary editor of The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee, suffering from dementia at the time. He acquired the castle that the Watergate burglars broke, sold at auction for $62,000.
Of course, it can be seen that almost all owner would commend the iconic past of venerable fresh property. But in Washington, especially after the first Trump administration took office, displays of respect for the old order were honey on the ears of the restless establishment of Beltway. Especially since Bezos, who may have lost a multi-billion-dollar contract with the Pentagon, as Trump did not like the content in "WP", seemed to be verbal. He invented the slogan “Democracy dies in the dark”.
However, there is simply a little romanticist way to explain his courage: it was besides a wise move.
At the time, it was assumed that Trump's word could only be a blink of an eye, and an old organization culture would return, possibly stronger than ever. Finally, HQ2 was built close the Pentagon, whose contracts were worth a luck to Bezos companies. For a tycoon with many interests, from Amazon to Blue Origin, being seen in Washington as individual who respects tradition was a wise play. This culture was a powerful regulation for the tycoon.
SHAWN THEW / Pool / PAPIn the photograph from the left of Priscilla Chan, CEO Mety Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, businessman Jeff Bezos, CEO Google Sundar Pichai and businessman Elon Musk during the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States, Washington, USA, 20 January 2025.
Bezos played by the rules all the time
But this is no longer the case — and Bezos may have realized it before the old Washington Guard.
Trump Reelection Last Year came after a change of perception of the game in Beltway. The Biden era never imprinted on the city's kind and expectations, even erstwhile Trump was exiled to Florida. When it became clear in 2023 and 2024 that the 45th president could truly become the 47th President, this led to a change in the culture of respect in Washington, which coincided with a change in the media.
These fresh rules are now visible everywhere. close the Bezos residence a fresh cohort of tycoons, specified as Mark Zuckerberg And Peter Thiel, she bought her own homes. As I reported at the beginning of this month, Zuckerberg matched Bezos by buying his own home for $23 million. , which according to high-end real property brokers is part of the trend of oligarch buyers in Washington to cultivate Trump's favor.
There are fewer Washington speculations that residences will become fresh epicentres of a two-party comedy; their owners are not here to gain a crowd for the party. likewise in the media, the best interviews with representatives of the administration and possibly the best places in the briefing area go to sharp biased media. There is small evidence that old-fashioned honesty is simply a way to increase influence.
Is it any wonder that a applicable man like Jeff Bezos, individual who has many different interests, would adapt his moves to this fresh set of conventions?
— That's the balance that's tilted. Trump 2.0 differs from its first term," said Cameron Barr, a erstwhile managing editor who broke off relations with the "Washington Post" early this year due to the announcement by Bezos that he would not print any opinions that are not pro-market and pro-freedom. “The balance of power is different. The mechanics of "cooperation with Washington" have changed.
Barr is 1 of the ‘WP’ veterans who think it would be better if Bezos got free of the company. However, this does not seem to warrant a better consequence for individual who wants the publication to develop. “I think even now you can have a worse owner than Jeff Bezos, so I say this with any concern,” Barr added.
This is partially due to the fact that the fresh Washington rules mean that many people with deep pockets who could buy it would be susceptible to the same set of pressures that allowed Bezos to argue the old norms.
Which brings us back to the early days of Bezos' word and the breathtaking possible that he can rebuild the capital in a very different way from what happened. In retrospect, all of this resembles the musical “The Music Man”. Enchanted by the imaginary image that matched the various complexes of the capital, possibly we were besides excited to announcement that he simply played by the rules. Worse still, many people realized besides late that the rules had changed.
