REUTERS/Marco Bello, REUTERS/Carlos Barria
- Trump reportedly included a photo of Zuckerberg in his upcoming book, writing about his dislike of the Meta CEO.
- Under the pic, Trump wrote that Zuckerberg engaged in a “PLOT” when he donated to election infrastructure, Politico reported.
- It’s unclear whether Trump wrote the caption before or after Zuckerberg called him a “badass.”
Mark Zuckerberg reportedly has a cameo in Donald Trump’s upcoming book of photographs — but the former president doesn’t cast the Facebook cofounder in a positive light.
The new book, “Save America,” hits shelves on September 3 and is full of photographs from Trump’s first term. In it, Trump includes an undated picture of himself and Meta CEO, along with a few choice words, Politico reported.
“He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT,” Trump writes, according to the news outlet.
It’s unclear when Trump wrote the caption, though he seems to be referring to how Zuckerberg and his wife contributed $420 million to fund election infrastructure in 2020 — a move that has previously drawn Trump’s ire.
In a letter to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan this week, Zuckerberg said that he will not be donating to support election infrastructure after Republicans said the money benefited Democrats. Though the claims are unsubstantiated, Zuckerberg said he is wary of even appearing partisan.
“Despite the analysis I’ve seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another—or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”
Trump has launched into tirades about Zuckerberg before.
He has frequently criticized Zuckerberg and Meta for suspending his account after his remarks spurred the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Meta last year reinstated his Facebook and Instagram accounts with “new guardrails” before removing those additional restrictions last month.
In July, he threatened to imprison “election fraudsters,” name-dropping Zuckerberg, if elected in November.
In the text accompanying the photograph with Zuckerberg, Trump reportedly laments the decision regarding his Facebook account and says that “if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
When Zuckerberg said that month that Trump’s reaction to being shot at during a Pennsylvania rally was “badass,” he added he wouldn’t be endorsing any candidate for president this year.
Meta and Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.