As you’ve probably heard, Donald Trump’s feelings toward Internet-retail giant Amazon are roughly on par with his feelings toward stairs, and exercise, and steaks with even the slightest bit of pink in the center. Which is to say: he hates Jeff Bezos’s company, and its bevested owner, too—“He’s obsessed with Bezos,” a source told my colleague Gabriel Sherman. “Trump is like, how can I fuck with him?” And, clearly, the president has done little to hide his feelings about Amazon. “Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” he tweeted in March, referring to the company. Then, presumably after catching wind of the many, many reports noting that, out here in reality, the post office makes a ton of money from Amazon, he insisted to his followers, “Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country . . . not a level playing field!” Because that’s how this president operates: in his own fact-free world, where even a cadre of advisers holding his hand and “explain[ing] to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate” can’t change his mind. And while it’s one thing to spout lies and delusions all over social media and during campaign rallies, it’s quite another to try to turn those lies and delusions into weapons against his enemies, which—surprise!—was exactly what he attempted to do.

According to The Washington Post, Trump “has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com,” as well as several other firms, to ship packages, a move that would likely cost the companies billions. Per reporters Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey, Brennan and Trump have met about the matter several times, beginning in 2017 and as recently as four months ago, although the meetings, conveniently, have never appeared on the president’s public schedule. Thus far Brennan, a 32-year veteran of the Postal Service, has resisted Trump’s demand, reportedly telling him “in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission.” Like former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, Brennan has tried to get it through Trump’s head that the Postal Service actually benefits from its relationship with Amazon. On one occasion, clearly knowing her audience, she apparently busted out “a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partner for deliveries.”

Obviously, the most disturbing aspect of this story is not that Trump is incapable of absorbing pretty basic facts that have been explained to him on numerous occasions, but that he’s reportedly trying to use the power of the presidency to hurt Amazon because its owner’s newspaper was mean to him.