‘President Bezos’ — primed to save America in 2028?

In early 2023, prominent Democrats were antsy about President Biden’s 2024 reelection prospects. A movement emerged to recruit primary challengers.

Prompted by a Hill op-ed advocating for a “superstar” to block then-former President Trump from being reelected, I proposed that Jeff Bezos could “make America Amazon .” “In these perilous times,” I wrote, “Bezos’s skills are needed. New technologies, artificial intelligence, and cyber warfare will rule the world, and China threatens.”

Over three years later, those technologies are spinning out of control, threatening a science-fiction scenario in which “AI could kill all humans.” Most worrisome is U.S. leaders’ inability to understand, legislate, regulate, and manage these fast-evolving, complex technological innovations. Americans are now helplessly watching a Ferrari race a 1908 Ford Model T.

Thus, on Oct. 5, I was fascinated to see a “President Bezos?” headline in the Drudge Report, linked to a Substack exclusive by Rob Shuter. He quoted unnamed sources, which suggests the story was either bunk or a well-placed strategic trial balloon, amplified by Drudge’s well-trafficked site .

Shuter’s sources said that Jeff Bezos’s wife, Lauren Sanchez Bezos, “loves the idea of President Bezos.” After attending the White House state dinner for China’s President Xi Jinping, “Lauren has become increasingly fascinated by Washington.” According to the source, “Lauren looks at Jeff and sees someone who conquered business, built a space company and became one of the most powerful men alive.” That leaves Mrs. Bezos asking, “What’s left?” because “in her mind the presidency is the ultimate final act.”

I would warn against underestimating Lauren Bezos’s drive and influence. In record time, she transformed her once-geeky-looking boyfriend, now husband, into an A-list celebrity. With hundreds of billions of dollars, nothing is impossible.

According to Forbes’ daily tracking of billionaires’ wealth, Jeff Bezos is, at this writing, the world’s second-richest man, worth $373 billion. That is far behind Elon Musk at $914 billion, but Bezos could yet catch up. Perhaps Mrs. Bezos won’t be satisfied until her husband is both the richest and most powerful man alive, not “one of” the most powerful, which explains why the “ultimate final act” is so appealing.

Surely, Bezos has the intellect, management skills, and gravitas to be president, and recent history shows that prior elected office isn’t required. Therefore, one could argue that because managing, taming, and utilizing technology is key to 21st-century national growth, global leadership, and political/economic survival, Bezos should run for president. Moreover, during a recent Fox News interview, Bezos revealed what could be construed as his futuristic policy platform.

A Bezos presidential campaign would start with high national name-recognition; not all of it is positive, but presidential campaigns are about branding yourself for the moment.

Most Americans already have a relationship with Bezos already, through the companies he personally owns and the corporations that Amazon owns . Bezos founded Amazon and still owns roughly 8 percent of it , making him the largest single shareholder with 879 million shares.

Amazon’s cash cow is Amazon Web Services , a cloud computing internet platform and AI behemoth making billions with corporate and federal contracts . It partners with the government — in fact, it is practically an arm of the government.

Let’s say Mrs. Bezos convinced her husband to enter a presidential primary; he wouldn’t need to fundraise. Bezos could easily spend $5 billion on his primary and general campaigns with no financial repercussions. Supporters could attend no-cost “Make America Amazon” receptions.

Amazon’s movie studios could produce his political ads — after all, Trump has normalized the blurring of lines between business and political interests. Amazon could sell “Bezos 2028” branded campaign merch, including watches, Bibles and sneakers , because Trump has set a precedent.

However, presidential candidate Bezos would face a perilous obstacle. In 2023, I assumed he would run as a Democrat . But now he wholeheartedly engages in Trump’s pay-to-play game , supporting the president’s vanity projects and the first lady’s movie . But if Bezos ran as a Republican and criticized Trump’s policies, he would risk losing untold billions in AWS government contracts and, for Blue Origin , Bezos’s space-travel company, his true passion.

He is already familiar with the consequences of Trump’s wrath. In 2019, Bezos lost a $10 billion Pentagon contract for AWS , allegedly because of Trump’s personal vendetta over negative reporting at the Bezos-owned Washington Post.

If Bezos were to run as a Democrat, the financial repercussions could be even greater, creating a no-win situation. Until Trump leaves office on Jan. 20, 2029, he will closely monitor who is with him and who is against him.

The consolation prize for rejecting a presidential run is that Bezos remains very powerful from outside the White House since money equals power. And his new corollary, “success is not villainy,” sums up the billionaire tech-bro era.

Still, if he wants it, and if Mrs. Bezos is interested in running for first lady, their campaign slogan could be, “It’s Prime Time in America!”

Myra Adams served on the creative team of two Republican presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008. Read more from her archive at The Hill .