It was the week before Christmas, and within the gilded walls of his Florida palace, one man was giddy with delight. 'EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!' boasted Donald Trump, hours after dining with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos, the second richest person in the world, had made the Mar-a-Lago pilgrimage with his fiancée Lauren Sanchez. Midway through their evening, Elon Musk, the richest, joined their table. President-elect Trump was basking in the glow of acceptance. Fast forward four months, and the picture is less rosy. Bezos and Sanchez's much-hyped wedding is now but weeks away. The happy couple have reportedly repaid Trump's Mar-a-Lago welcome and invited him to their upcoming Venice extravaganza this June. But for richer or poorer, will President Trump show up? Bezos and Trump's own bizarre 'bromance' appears to be on the rocks. As the 100-day milestone of Trump's second term approached, the president was effusive on Monday, telling The Atlantic that Bezos is '100 percent. He's been great.' But on Tuesday, the 100th day itself, a report emerged suggesting that the world's largest online retailer, Amazon, would begin displaying the additional costs that Trump's raging tariff war has layered on top of the products they sold. The White House erupted: Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, called the move 'a hostile and political act' and a furious Trump picked up the phone. Bezos managed to calm the allegedly 'p*ssed' president, explaining that the reporting was wrong. Trump, suitably soothed, said later that afternoon that Bezos 'solved the problem very quickly' and 'did the right thing', adding: 'He's a good guy. I've gotten to know him over the last couple of years, and he's done a fantastic job. I appreciated what he did.' Yet a lingering sense remains that this awkward new alliance could be over well before the Bezos-Sanchez armada sails into Italy. Bezos, 61, was never a political animal. He has described himself as a libertarian and has donated to both Democrats and Republicans. He also reportedly dislikes DC schmoozing, sees glad-handing as a waste of his time, and rarely votes. However, the $200billion-man bought The Washington Post in 2013 for $250million, placing him in the center of the political arena – and instigating his first public clash with future president. During the 2016 presidential election, despite Bezos's insistence that he was not involved in the editorial decisions of the paper, Trump refused to accept that he could be so detached and held Bezos personally responsible for their aggressive reporting. 'The @washingtonpost, which loses a fortune, is owned by @JeffBezos for purposes of keeping taxes down at his no profit company, @amazon,' Trump tweeted in December 2015. Bezos responded. 'Finally trashed by @realDonaldTrump,' he replied. 'Will still reserve him a seat on the Blue Origin rocket. #sendDonaldtospace.' He may have come to regret that glib response. Bezos's pained expression in December 2016, as he was summoned to Trump Tower with other tech leaders, spoke volumes. 'Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com. Super excited about the possibilities; this could be the innovation administration,' he said, as Trump went around the table asking some of the most famous men in human history to introduce themselves. But Bezos's civility only accomplished so much. In July 2017, when Anthony Scaramucci was appointed White House director of communications, Trump allegedly called him into the Oval Office and asked point blank: 'Can we break up Amazon? I hate this son of a b***h Jeff Bezos and I hate the Washington Post.' The following year Trump scapegoated Amazon for the postal service's faltering finances, and when Bezos's affair with Sanchez was revealed in January 2019 in the National Enquirer, Trump gleefully mocked 'Jeff Bozo.' Perhaps, Bezos breathed a sigh of relief as Trump grudgingly departed Washington after the 2020 election. But if the business magnate was comforted it was short-lived. For Joe Biden, champion of unions and critic of tech monopolies, was little warmer to Bezos than his predecessor. Jay Carney, Barack Obama's ex-press secretary and a former Biden aide, who became Amazon's communications chief on leaving the White House in 2016, was reduced to begging Biden's staff for an invite to a roundtable. But for Bezos, the tide had truly turned by July 2024, when he picked up the phone to his former arch enemy to encourage him to name former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as his vice president. Burgum had founded an accountancy software company which was bought by Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion in stock, after which he became a senior vice president at Microsoft and a competitor and friend of Jeff Bezos at the tech rival Amazon. Trump ignored Bezos's advice on vice presidents, but the olive branch was well received. And the thaw began in earnest. By the time of the 2024 election, Bezos's newspaper had controversially – and abruptly – ended its policy of endorsing presidential candidates (historically, Democratic presidential candidates) and when Trump's victory was announced, Bezos leapt on social media to praise the president's 'extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory'. Dana Mattioli, author of The Everything War: Amazon's Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power, called Bezos's 'complete 180' astonishing. 'It's as dramatic as any we've seen in corporate America,' she told the Daily Mail. 'Bezos was so apolitical he didn't want to waste his time meeting members of Congress. But Mattioli, who spoke to 600 sources for her book, said those who know Bezos describe him as extremely pragmatic. 'He's a very difficult boss, demanding, and not so nice,' she said. 'But he also knows how to turn on the charm and ingratiate himself with people.' In this he is certainly assisted by his bride-to-be. In 2020, Sanchez, now 55, also began to reconsider Trumpworld: she asked Trump's former campaign chief Kellyanne Conway on advice for dealing with the media. 'Please, have you looked in the mirror?' Conway reportedly replied. 'People are jealous of you.' Fast-forward to June 2024 and Sanchez struck up a friendship with Ivanka Trump, 43, after they both attended Kim Kardashian's birthday party in Beverly Hills. They're now neighbors on the exclusive Indian Creek island in Miami. Bezos and Sanchez own three of the 40 lots in the gated compound, worth $237 million, and announced in 2023 they were abandoning Seattle and making Miami their permanent home. Sanchez is also friends with Bettina Anderson, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr: Anderson lavished praise on Sanchez after her much-mocked space jaunt with Katy Perry, calling her 'my incredible friend'. And the ties are inter-generational: next year Sanchez's son Evan Whitesell, 18, will start at the University of Miami alongside Kai Trump, Don Jr's daughter. Does all this mean that Trump's presence at the wedding is likely? Don't bet on it, says Steve Anderson, author of 'The Bezos Letters.' In wedding planning, as in politics, eight weeks is a very long time. 'Bezos and Trump are very different in their approaches, but they both understand the power of decisive action,' said Anderson. 'I think rather than the two men being allies, they are two leaders who can find common ground when necessary. I suspect they are not friends.' Though, he cautioned, 'I wouldn't be surprised if other incidents like this came up.