Amazon's Spending on 'Melania' Is a Barely Concealed Bribe
by lateforwork on 1/30/2026, 6:14:44 PM
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/01/29/amazon-melania-spending
Comments
by: mkw5053
The $28M to Melania personally is the tell. Amazon could've made this documentary for $5M and marketed it for $10M and still gotten whatever political cover they wanted. Instead they structured a deal where most of the money flows directly to the president's wife. That's not sloppy negotiating, that's the point. Someone at Amazon legal signed off on creating a paper trail that looks exactly like what it is.
1/30/2026, 6:20:02 PM
by: axus
A good reminder to check your AWS bill
1/30/2026, 6:28:57 PM
by: JumpCrisscross
“They’re spending $35 million now, to promote it”<p>No points for guessing which social media company got the bulk of that ad spend.
1/30/2026, 6:21:16 PM
by: MisterTea
109 points and [flagged].
1/30/2026, 6:49:37 PM
by: pwarner
I mostly don't blame Amazon. If the mob boss demands $10M in protection money in order to allow your $2.5T business to operate, you pay, especially if that mob boss happens to be the head of federal law enforcement.<p>Maybe we shift a bit of focus towards Congress, supreme courts and frankly voters who are apparently OK with this.
1/30/2026, 6:47:17 PM
by: ChrisArchitect
Source: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/business/media/amazon-melania-trump-film-critics.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/business/media/amazon-mel...</a> (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813657">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813657</a>)
1/30/2026, 6:43:54 PM
by: ChrisArchitect
Previously:<p><i>Tech CEOs attend Amazon-funded "Melania" screening at White House</i><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46761370">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46761370</a>
1/30/2026, 6:42:31 PM
by: mcphage
I would say there’s no concealment <i>at all</i>. It’s a naked bribe and flattery. But bribery is legal now.
1/30/2026, 6:23:35 PM
by: wang_li
This is a surprise to you? Do you not find it odd that every single presidential candidate gets a ghostwriter for their multimillion dollar autobiography? Paid against royalties. How presidential libraries and foundations get hundreds of millions of dollars post presidency? The Obama's $65 million book deal for their memoires? Their $100 million netflix deal?
1/30/2026, 6:33:08 PM
by: sys32768
Amazon burned $250M just for the rights to produce the goofy and embarrassing "Rings of Power" series. I wonder who was bribed in that deal?
1/30/2026, 6:35:19 PM
by: politelemon
Author has conveniently ignored that the screenings were attended by the Apple CEO as well.<p><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/white-house-vip-melania-screening-mike-tyson-tim-cook-1236484037/" rel="nofollow">https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/white-ho...</a>
1/30/2026, 6:48:10 PM