Bernie Sanders gets obliterated online for dragging Melania into left-wing criticism of WaPo layoffs

Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) jumped into the fray over the layoffs at the Washington Post and was immediately met with brutal backlash online.

Sanders tried to lambast the outlet's owner, Jeff Bezos, and tied the layoffs to the Amazon deal to film and promote a documentary about first lady Melania Trump. The movie, "Melania," garnered $7 million in domestic ticket sales in its opening weekend, placing it third behind two major studio films.

'Your financial illiteracy is confusing you again.'

"If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff. Democracy dies in oligarchy," Sanders wrote Wednesday on social media.

Many fired back at Sanders and pointed out that he was a millionaire many times over despite his constant criticism of millionaires and billionaires.

"He didn't fire them because he couldn't afford them. He fired them because nobody's reading them. Maybe the Washington Post should ask why a third of their staff couldn't produce journalism people were willing to pay for," read one popular response.

"84-year drain on the Treasury outraged that guy responsible for an entire percentage point of U.S GDP dislikes wasting money on financial drains like him," replied Luther Abel of National Review.

"Since you’ve never had a real job in your life, let me explain something to you: Bezos is not obligated to continue pouring millions of dollars into a failing enterprise just because a bunch of self-entitled, pompous leftists need affirmation of these grand delusions in print," read another response.

"The lesson here is that no billionaire should ever invest in any progressive institution. They’ll rail you while you own it and they’ll rail you when you try to parachute out. The only winning move is not to play," wrote another critic.

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"Your financial illiteracy is confusing you again. Successful people don’t continue to pour millions of dollars (a billion in 10 years) into failing businesses as you do with our tax dollars," replied another detractor.

Bezos, who became one of the wealthiest men on Earth by founding Amazon, purchased the Washington Post in 2013, but only recently began shifting the focus of the news outlet toward supporting freedom and free markets.

On Wednesday the Post announced layoffs of about 700 of its staff, which is about a third of the employees. Critics accused Bezos of undermining democracy in order to appease President Donald Trump, who has been critical of Bezos as well as the Post.

Bezos attended Trump's inauguration in January 2025.

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