Trump mocked Zuckerberg and Bezos for ‘first-class groveling’, new book claims

A new book paints an unflattering picture of how Silicon Valley's most powerful men handled Donald Trump's return to power. According to its authors, they grovelled. And Trump, they write, mocked them for it behind their backs.

The book is “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump”, by the New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. Wired obtained a copy ahead of its release on 23 June.

Details of the alleged groveling

After the 2024 election, the book says, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos rushed to win Trump over. At Mar-a-Lago, Trump allegedly showed Elon Musk the texts they had sent him. “Think of where these guys were in 2016,” he is quoted as saying. “They hated me ... And look at them now.” Musk's reported reply was blunt: “first-class groveling.” Trump, the authors add, later told associates the executives were “kissing my a, “. He also boasted, “You would not believe the texts I got from these tech guys.”

• The book claims Zuckerberg texted Trump a photo of a letter from one of his young children, who wrote that they “looked forward to the golden age of America”, echoing a Trump campaign slogan.
• When Zuckerberg visited around Thanksgiving 2024, the authors say, Trump played the national anthem as recorded by a choir of jailed 6 January defendants.
• Bezos reportedly criticised his own newspaper, The Washington Post, saying “The people there are terrible. They don’t listen.”
• Bezos urged Trump to spread federal space contracts more widely, arguing that relying on a single contractor, Musk’s SpaceX, was a national-security risk.

Meta's separate lobbying effort

Meanwhile, Meta has lobbied the U.S. Congress for legal immunity from child-harm claims tied to social media products such as Instagram, as it faces thousands of lawsuits from young users and their families. According to proposed legislative language reviewed by Reuters, if adopted as part of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) under consideration in the U.S. Senate, such a provision could undermine lawsuits against Meta and other online platforms over harms to minors.

Critics argue that features such as infinite scrolling, activity notifications, and appearance-altering photo filters are key tools for driving user engagement that have become central to legal and regulatory battles over youth safety. The proposal comes as lawmakers and courts increasingly scrutinize how social media platforms are designed and used by minors.

The White House did not address the specifics of the book's claims. It said only that Trump wants to work with “every American business ... to cement America's innovative dominance”. Still, the account lands on a theme that is hard to ignore: how quickly Silicon Valley bent toward Trump after the election. If the book is right, Trump enjoyed the spectacle but did not respect it. It is also a reminder that the Bezos-Musk-Trump triangle is as tangled as ever.