This week... current Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is in Saudi Arabia with Trump, where he (Jassy) has announced a partnership between the company and an A.I. firm cofounded by close Trump family ally Mohammed bin Salman. Bin Salman is the de facto Saudi leader who is believed to have ordered the 2018 kidnapping, murder, and dismemberment of a columnist at the Bezos-owned Washington Post (at least, that’s what the CIA concluded; bin Salman denies it). Bin Salman was also accused by Bezos himself in 2019 of hacking Bezos’ phone and obtaining information about an extramarital affair that was later published by the National Enquirer. Time heals all wounds, apparently, except for those suffered by the people who were working for Jeff Bezos when Mohammed bin Salman had them murdered. Allegedly.

Years from now, one wonders if figures like Bezos will still expect to command respect and authority in the United States after having supported what is in essence an attempt to make someone king.