Whew.

This was going to be the latest edition of The Washington Pist. I had written it, my finger poised over the “Send” key, when something told me to check a lot deeper into a story bubbling around the internet, spread most prominently by People magazine and confirmed by AI. AI had answered my question about it thus:

“Yes, Jeff Bezos attended the dinner hosted by President Trump at the White House on November 18, 2025, in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He was among several tech leaders, including Elon Musk, who were present at the black-tie event.”

You see why this attracted my attention.

Upon further checking, I came to the conclusion that Bezos had avoided the affair, as he should have. Bin Salman is the man who ordered the assassination of a Washington Post writer who was critical of his regime; the writer, Jamal Khashoggi, was ambushed by henchmen, asphyxiated, chopped up by a Saudi pathologist, and stuffed in a suitcase for disposal.

As owner of The Post, Jeff’s attendance would have been, y’know … gauche.

This in no way absolves Mr. Bezos of many of his prior heinousnesses and suckup-eries and cooptations, but it does suggest that there is a ceiling to it, and I applaud him for that. In a larger sense, it might herald a faint but telltale wheezing and clanking in the engine of Trump Steamroller.

How could this have happened? It’s puzzling, because it seems to have arisen from one incorrect report — People’s — compounded by other news sites picking it up. Telltale sign: most of the followup accounts did not declare that Bezos was there in so many words (“Bezos was there”) — they said that Bezos was “spotted” there, which is a mushy step away from hard certitude. Also, no really big news sources carried it.

I think I know what happened, based on an observation from a commenter online. Apparently celebrity watchers mistook this fella — also a short, bald, nebbishy but trim guy in late middle age — for Bezos. He is Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA.

Infantino

Bezos

So I am just letting you all know that if you spot the original tidbit, ignore it. It might actually be a small spark in the darkness.

I don’t usually get to do this sort of thing, and am grateful for the opportunity.

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See you later today in The Invitational, where irony is bearable, and it is still possible to laugh.