Catherine Rampell: Trump ‘Trying to Punish’ Amazon – ‘This Is Something Tinpot Dictators Do’

On Monday’s “CNN Newsroom,” Washington Post columnist and CNN Political Commentator Catherine Rampell stated President Trump is doing “something tinpot dictators do” by “tweeting, apparently with the express intention of driving down” Amazon’s stock price “to punish a perceived political enemy in Amazon.”

After anchor Brooke Baldwin pointed to a chart showing the decline in the stock market and said the president is “doing this to Amazon stock.” Rampell stated, “To Amazon stock, to the stock market in general, because of these fears of a trade war. These are self-inflicted wounds. And I think we need to step back for a second and think about how bizarre it is that we have a sitting president who is tweeting, apparently with the express intention of driving down a stock price. I mean, this is something tinpot dictators do, right?”

Rampell continued, “This is an American president, the leader of the free world, somebody who says he wants to be great for the economy, great for stock markets. And yet, he is trying to punish a perceived political enemy in Amazon.”

She added that the Washington Post is “an independent news organization. We are not owned by Amazon. And yet, basically, every time Trump gets upset about something that appears in the Washington Post, he decides to lash out against Amazon, to drive down the stock price, to perhaps, erode Jeff Bezos’ net worth, who knows?”

(h/t Grabien)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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