Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., drew intense criticism on Monday after she claimed on X that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos should pay more in taxes in response to him sponsoring the Met Gala, with conservatives questioning the senator’s record and accusing her of misrepresenting facts.

«The answer to everything, up to and apparently including bankrupting an airline at the cost of something like 15,000 jobs and the entire concept of budget airfare, is ‘Jeff Bezos has a lot of money though,’» venture capitalist and media founder Mike Solana wrote in response to Warren’s post.

Solana was referring to the recent demise of Spirit Airlines. Conservative commentators claim Spirit could have been saved if Warren hadn’t pushed to block JetBlue’s acquisition of the budget carrier on anti-trust grounds in 2024. 

«If Jeff Bezos can drop $10 million to sponsor the Met Gala, he can afford to pay his fair share in taxes,» Warren said on Monday, sparking the glut of pushback from social media users. 

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Following news that Bezos had cut an eight-figure check to fund the Met Gala, liberals in the entertainment industry such as Mark Ruffalo and Taraji P. Henson joined Warren in criticizing Amazon and Bezos for their allegedly unethical business practices. Protesters appeared outside the gala on Monday holding signs criticizing Bezos. One demonstrator was detained for trying to break into the event.

Warren’s message backfired online, as commenters pointed to the demise of Spirit Airlines and took issue with her tax policies across the years. 

«Jeff Bezos employs over 1.5 million people at Amazon,» X user Gina Milan wrote. «You’re responsible for 17,000 workers losing their jobs and for blocking the merger that ultimately killed Spirit Airlines.»

Spirit put downward pressure on prices at other airlines and its folding could lead to an increase in overall travel prices, industry analysts told USA Today. Estimated job losses stemming from Spirit’s shuttering include approximately 15,000 direct employees and an additional 2,000 indirect employees.

«This myth just won’t die,» Reason Magazine reporter Billy Binion posted, responding to Warren’s assertion that Bezos isn’t paying enough in taxes. «In 2024 alone, it’s estimated Jeff Bezos paid almost $3 billion in taxes. Painting rich people as tax avoiders plays great on social media, but it’s not reality. The U.S. has the most progressive tax system in the developed world.»

Forbes estimates that Bezos paid $2.7 billion in taxes in 2024 after he sold $13.6 billion worth of Amazon stock. He reduced his tax burden that year by donating $2.5 billion in Amazon shares to charity over the three prior years. Bezos paid nearly $1 billion in taxes between 2014 and 2018, according to a ProPublica analysis of tax documents. 

To minimize tax burdens, billionaires like Bezos often take out loans secured against their massive stock holdings to acquire spending money, according to securities filings reviewed by ProPublica. Since the IRS doesn’t consider loans income, this setup gives the wealthy access to cash without having to pay income taxes.

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Billionaire Jeff Bezos attends the DealBook Summit. Critics on social media have accused Bezos of allowing the Washington Post to suffer amid hundreds of staff layoffs. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times)

Some on social media pushed Warren for specifics on how she plans to make Bezos pay his «fair share.» 

«What’s his fair share?» Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked Warren. «What tax rate?»

Warren has proposed a wealth tax, charging households with net worths above $1 billion an annual tax worth 6% of their total wealth. Under Warren’s proposal, households with net worths between $50 million and $1 billion would be subject to a similar 2% tax.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to a staff member before the Senate Banking Committee hearing on oversight of credit reporting agencies on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Much of the growth in wealth experienced by Bezos and other billionaires comes through the unrealized gains of their assets, which Warren’s tax would target.

Writer Mike Coté pointed out that Bezos is «so rich that he can simply leave the jurisdiction or get citizenship elsewhere» if Warren’s tax plans were signed into law.

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«Liz Warren does not want progressive taxation,» he continued. «She wants confiscatory taxation. It’s fundamentally un-American. And it doesn’t work.»

Warren’s office did not respond to a request for comment sent by Fox News Digital Tuesday morning.

Germany is facing a sharp rise in antisemitism, with officials warning that Islamist and left-wing extremist networks are exploiting the war in the Middle East to spread anti-Jewish rhetoric, mobilize supporters and contribute to harassment and violence against Jewish communities.

These groups are using the Israel–Hamas war and broader regional tensions as a pretext to amplify antisemitic narratives, according to a study by the Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which includes accusations of «genocide» in Gaza and portrayals of Israel as a colonial state, language authorities say is increasingly being used to justify hostility and, in some cases, violence against Jews.

German Interior Minister Roman Poseck warned that the trend is escalating.

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«Antisemitism is one of the greatest threats to our social cohesion — especially from Islamism and the left-wing extremist spectrum,» Poseck said in a statement.

The developments are raising broader concerns beyond Germany, as officials and Jewish leaders warn that similar patterns of antisemitic rhetoric tied to Middle East conflicts are emerging across Western democracies, including the United States. With Germany long seen as a bellwether due to its history and legal framework around hate speech, the findings are being viewed as a warning sign of how extremist narratives can move from the fringes into mainstream discourse.

Poseck, who commissioned the report of the Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, warned of a deteriorating social climate, saying that «antisemitic sentiments are becoming increasingly intolerable, even in public spaces.» 

«I am deeply ashamed of what Jews in Germany have to endure 80 years after the end of the Second World War,» he continued. «We Germans, in particular, bear a lasting responsibility never to forget what happened.»

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An anti-Israel protester wears a high-visibility jacket during a march near the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia in August 2025. (Ayush Kumar/SOPA Images/LightRocket)

Forty-six of 102 Jewish communities surveyed in Germany reported antisemitic incidents, highlighting the growing scale of the threat, a new nationwide report by the Central Council of Jews in Germany found. 

Among the most common incidents identified in the Central Council survey were verbal abuse, threatening phone calls, vandalism and antisemitic graffiti. Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they feel less safe living in Germany since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

«Following the explosive rise in antisemitism after Oct. 7, a ‘new normal’ has emerged,» Central Council President Josef Schuster said in the press statement. «A situation in which Jewish communities require constant protection and antisemitism has become normalized as part of the public sphere.»

The report also found that broader geopolitical developments continue to directly impact Jewish communities in Germany. Sixty-two percent of respondents said their sense of insecurity worsened following the recent war involving Iran, while two-thirds said a Gaza ceasefire did not improve their safety.

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Law enforcement officers respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., on March 12, 2026. (Paul Sancya/AP)

Jewish leaders say the consequences are being felt in daily life. Many Jews are increasingly avoiding visible signs of their identity, such as wearing a Star of David or a kippah, or Jewish skullcap, amid fears of harassment. In some cases, communities have canceled events due to security concerns.

At the same time, the report highlights a sharp decline in perceived societal support. Only 35% of communities said they feel solidarity from broader civil society, down from 62% in 2023.

Officials say the normalization of such rhetoric is shifting the boundaries of acceptable public discourse.

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Police arrest a demonstrator during a rally organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, opposite Downing Street in central London on April 30, 2026, following the stabbing of two Jewish men the day before in the Golders Green neighbourhood of north London. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Thursday to boost security for the Jewish community following the latest attack against it, while urging Britons to unite against antisemitism. Facing accusations from angry British Jews that his government has repeatedly failed to protect them, Starmer pledged immediate increased funding for synagogues and other sites but insisted UK society must «come together» to «fight antisemitism». (CARLOS JASSO / AFP via Getty Images)

The findings underscore growing concern that antisemitism, once seen as confined to the margins, is becoming more visible in public life, leaving Jewish communities feeling increasingly isolated and under threat.