\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2018\/03\/bezos-trump-796x419.jpg\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is suing Donald Trump over the Pentagon\u2019s decision to award a lucrative military artificial intelligence and cloud services contract to Microsoft instead of his company. Normally these kinds of lawsuits are yawn-inducing, but this case has some interesting caveats.<\/p>\n
And, if you\u2019ll let me set the stage first, I\u2019ll explain why I\u2019m convinced the court case will lead to a successful presidential campaign for Jeff Bezos in 2024.<\/p>\n
ICYMI: Amazon prepares to strike back after Microsoft wins $10B JEDI contract<\/i><\/p>\n
The Pentagon started shopping for a partner to build a cloud services suite meant to work as an\u00a0AI and weapons platform for drone deployment and other battlefield technologies a few years back and, naturally, Amazon was the immediate front-runner. Amazon Web Services is a core technology that\u2019s, arguably, far and away ahead of the competition. Nearly every tech expert on record figured the contract was tailor-made for Amazon.<\/p>\n
In fact, Oracle sued the government for stacking the deck against everyone else as a response to both the stringent qualifications and the fact that it\u2019s pretty stupid to use a single-provider cloud service for military infrastructure. Most companies that wanted the contract simply couldn\u2019t qualify for it, so everyone assumed Amazon would win.<\/span><\/p>\n But Amazon didn\u2019t<\/em> win. And former Secretary James Mattis claims that this was because President Trump ordered him to \u201cscrew Amazon\u201d out of the JEDI contract. <\/span><\/p>\n Now, as reported by CNBC on Monday, Amazon\u2018s lawyers aren\u2019t just suing the White House over what they consider an improper snub, they are demanding that Donald Trump and former Defense Secretary James Mattis be deposed in court. The big idea here is that Trump\u2018s personal vendetta against Jeff Bezos and Amazon is relevant and the Commander in Chief should be held accountable.<\/p>\n The alleged personal vendetta supposedly has a lot to do with The Washington Post\u2019s negative coverage of President Trump \u2013 and, of course, Jeff Bezos owns the Post.<\/p>\n Bezos may not need<\/i> a big government payout \u2013 his company is among a handful of businesses valued at over a trillion dollars and he\u2019s one of the richest people in the world \u2013 but he desperately wants one. He\u2019s reportedly jealous of Elon Musk\u2018s ability to talk the Trump administration and local governments around the US into big-ticket, huge budget deals and yearns to land one of his own.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s HQ2 project was supposed to provide that for Bezos and Amazon after drumming up excitement with a reality TV-style contest to see which city would host the new headquarters. Eventually New York and Virginia were to split the campus, but Amazon\u2018s failure to court local politicians ultimately doomed the deal and Bezos, once again, failed to net the Muskian payout he apparently craves.<\/p>\n Read: Amazon\u2019s negotiation strategy for HQ2 was called \u2018Fuck you. We\u2019re Amazon\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n And that brings us to this seemingly silly lawsuit that\u2019s attempting to get the president to sit down for a deposition.<\/p>\n Were this pipe-dream of a legal stipulation to occur, it would mean that President Trump would have to appear in person to answer questions about his alleged feud with Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n Without spending too much time on legalese and jargon, the odds of a sitting president getting deposed in court in this kind of case are so close to zero as to make it pointless to speculate any further. It\u2019s not going to happen.<\/p>\n Trump\u2018s being accused of purposefully influencing a $10 billion Defense contract to satisfy a personal vendetta. Arguably, that would be high treason. At a minimum, it\u2019s something a democratic country would consider illegal.<\/p>\n Amazon\u2018s reasoning for the suit and the deposition request is, according to court documents, to protect the country from the kind of misuse and abuse of authority the president allegedly exercised in his oversight of the Project JEDI contract process.<\/p>\n A company spokesperson told CNBC:<\/p>\n President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to use his position as President and Commander in Chief to interfere with government functions \u2013 including federal procurements \u2013 to advance his personal agenda. The preservation of public confidence in the nation\u2019s procurement process requires discovery and supplementation of the administrative record, particularly in light of President Trump\u2019s order to \u2018screw Amazon.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The brass tacks that all this comes down to, however, is it\u2019s either a flex by Amazon and Jeff Bezos just wants to tie up taxpayer dollars and waste President Trump\u2018s time (rather, his legal team\u2019s), or it\u2019s a political move paving a path for a 2024 Bezos presidential run.<\/p>\n Okay that\u2019s wild speculation, but it\u2019s not entirely unfeasible. Trump\u2018s the best friend that the one-percent has ever had. Simply put: if Bezos can\u2019t get a giant payout to throw in Musk\u2018s face during Trump\u2018s second act, he may as well give it up. None of the Democrats running in 2020 are likely to be kind to big tech if they\u2019re elected. And there certainly aren\u2019t any Republicans in sight who\u2019d be chomping at the bit to get in bed with Amazon after the company\u2019s tried to \u201cdepose the King.\u201d<\/p>\n As The Wire\u2019s fictional Omar Little once quipped, \u201cYou come at the King, you best not miss.\u201d And if Amazon thinks that screwing with Trump in court is going to get it any modicum of justice or payback, then the company\u2019s genius is severely over-rated. In this case, I think Bezos is smarter than that. He\u2019s stirring up the hornet\u2019s nest on purpose to prep the media and the public for his political coming out.<\/p>\n Instead of running against Trump in the 2020 race, he\u2019ll run against Trump\u2018s phantom<\/em> in 2024. Just like Trump\u2018s continued to vilify Hillary Clinton at every rally he\u2019s held since being elected the first time, Bezos could \u201cTrump\u201d his political rivals both Democrat and Republican by making his campaign all about Trump. It\u2019s a strategy that\u2019s worked extremely well for The Donald.<\/p>\n Well, that and digitally gerrymandering the election using Facebook, Twitter, and Cambridge Analytica. However, Jeff Bezos isn\u2019t exactly Hillary Clinton \u2013 his tech savvy and resources might make a bigger difference than other democratic candidates \u2013 assuming of course Bezos runs as a Dem. I\u2019m thinking he might try to pull a Ross Perot and resurrect the idea of a strong third-party candidate.<\/p>\n If Bezos\u2019 spends the next four years drumming up his feud with Trump during speaking engagements and media appearances, we\u2019ll get the opportunity to see if the \u2018smartest person in the room\u2019 can win against the biggest bully. It could set the stage for a \u201cBezos versus the field\u201d election atmosphere in 2024.<\/p>\n And, in a world where hearts and minds are won online, it\u2019ll be interesting to see how the CEO of one of the world\u2019s largest AI companies does in that arena against the Tweeter in Chief.<\/p>\n I\u2019d say it\u2019s about 50-50 whether Bezos runs. Trump\u2018s made the Emoluments Clause obsolete, so Bezos wouldn\u2019t have to lose money or divest, he\u2019d just stop being CEO of his companies for his term. And, let\u2019s not forget that alongside the Post and Amazon, Bezos owns a spaceship company called Blue Origin that\u2019s played second fiddle to Elon Musk\u2018s SpaceX when it comes to government contracts. There\u2019s plenty of incentive for the Amazon chief to take his shot in 2024.<\/p>\n Then again, Bezos has also gone on the record saying he was too happy with his life and running his companies to consider the presidency. So maybe it\u2019s a scenario too outrageous even for US politics. Let\u2019s hope so.<\/p>\n What\u2019s left of US democracy may not withstand the threat we\u2019d face with the head of the company that owns Ring and provides law enforcement with facial recognition software getting himself elected just to stick it to his enemies.<\/p>\n You\u2019re here because you want to learn more about artificial intelligence. So do we. So this summer, we\u2019re bringing Neural to <\/span>TNW Conference 2020,<\/span> where we will host a vibrant program dedicated exclusively to AI. With keynotes by experts from companies like Spotify, RSA, and Medium, our Neural track will take a deep dive into new innovations, ethical problems, and how AI can transform businesses. <\/span>Get your early bird ticket<\/span> and <\/span>check out the full Neural track<\/span>. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \n Published February 12, 2020 \u2014 21:18 UTC\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n