Silicon Valley has traditionally been a reliable gold mine for the Democratic Party and progressive causes. But there is a shift to the right. The first fault lines popped up years ago with Elon Musk, but the shift has been accelerating in recent months, with many movers and shakers throwing their weight and wealth behind Donald Trump. Silicon Valley isn’t as comfortable being a Democratic lapdog as it once was.
From hedge fund manager Bill Ackman to Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, the Winklevoss twins, David Sachs, Joe Lonsdale, Doug Lyon and many others are now coming off the reservation and openly supporting Trump and opposing Kamala Harris. The Democratic Party’s Agenda for America.
The Silicon Valley titans want deregulation and a place to grow AI and exploratory technologies. Whether that’s an entirely positive or negative direction for the right to head in the future remains an open debate, but the point is that the tech shift toward Trump isn’t just about emotions; It’s about business.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also back with a new sun-kissed look and a less woke look. Although he won’t be endorsing Zuckerberg this election cycle Recently accepted Trump’s defiant, fist-raised reaction to being nearly killed in Pennsylvania was “one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
It’s just a coincidence that Meta recently removed her “Misinformation Tracking Tool,” Or could it be because Zuckerberg is tired of the hype?
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss furiously gave back cryptocurrency and gave Trump $1 million each (though The donations were later returned per campaign rules) while also funding a down-ballot effort to unseat anti-crypto Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) in Massachusetts. They also want their “lapdog,” Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, gone. Speaking at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville in late July, Trump promised that if he is re-elected. He also confirmed his strong support for cryptocurrency, which he previously said looked like a “scam” in 2021.
As Kamala Harris discovers More support in Silicon Valley And strengthening his existing ties, the growing support for Trump is not lost on anyone. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, previously worked for Peter Thiel, who founded Mithril Capital, and reportedly invests in Thiel-backed AI defense technology. Enduril Industries. He also has a significant amount of his own money in tech stocks and cryptocurrencies and has a keen interest in tech startups. Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Delian Asparohov celebrated his selection as Trump’s VP pick, praising the choice to put a “former tech VC in the White House.”
Vance’s selection certainly strengthened the base in Silicon Valley and is part of the Ohio senator’s broader pro-tech efforts, which include naming a donor organization. Rockbridge Network which he co-founded With Chris Buskirk to finance conservative election victories across the country.
With a budget of about $75 million for 2024, Rockbridge helps conservatives win elections with PACs and a number of political groups, including get-out-the-vote efforts in battleground states and funding for investigative reporters. It includes leftist-turned-conservative Omid Malik among its investors and is also said to have backing from Thiel and Rebecca Mercer, according to Reuters.
Despite a distinctly left-wing slant in its widely shared views, Silicon Valley is a place of innovation and has a business-friendly mindset that doesn’t always mesh well with democratic ideology. Tech businesses want tax cuts to grow their industries. But the vast majority of the field is populated by socially liberal individuals who would be shamed and socially ostracized for admitting a conservative or right-wing bone in their body.
As Sacks Tweeted His disdain for Silicon Valley’s censorship culture: “Tech industry publication The Information only casually mentions that being a Trump supporter got you pink-slipped into Silicon Valley. Because, you know, liberals are too tolerant.
On the receiving end of a healthy dose of liberal tolerance, Sachs has come out swinging against the left’s word and belief police. He has too Come out strongly against VCs who support KamalaSays they are “gaslighting” others in the tech industry in an attempt to sell such a formidable candidate. Large numbers of people in Silicon Valley and the tech sector are tired of pretending to support the left only to be accepted by their peers.
For his part, recently Lonsdale Heard about The prospect of a Harris presidency, agreeing with a friend who found the Democratic National Convention full of “terrible people/policies” and called Harris a “dangerous radical.” He urged Americans to “look at the UK and the EU and what’s happening there,” adding that “the right direction is clear.”
Things got personal for others like Horowitz, who recently accused Michael Moritz, a senior adviser at left-leaning Sequoia Capital, used the new publication to try to destroy Horowitz’s wife by character assassination.
“Michael Moritz now has his fake disinformation ‘newspaper’ fabricating hit pieces on his business rival, me. And, he chose to attack my wife, Felicia.”
Moritz has said that it is Silicon Valley people who support Trump “delusional” And has been honored on CNN and other media outlets for his pushback against the pro-Trump tech wave. Moritz has asserted that there is no real base of support for Trump in Silicon Valley and that a “small number” of Trump-supporting techies are unimportant idiots who have embraced “dictatorship”. He asserts that some defectors in Silicon Valley have only entered the public attention and media spotlight because of their ability to successfully attract attention and go viral on platforms like X.
“I think he’s succeeded in elevating his voice and his emotions beyond the reality of the details of Silicon Valley, which is anti-Trump, as it has been for the last two elections,” Moritz commented in a statement. Recent visitAdding that in Silicon Valley in 2016 and 2020, Trump “got barely 20% of the vote, and that will be the same result this time.”
A dismissive attitude like Moritz’s is part of the reason some influential tech titans are deciding to back Trump. They are tired of groupthink and being offered only one option to steer the ship of state.
However, the shift toward Trump isn’t just tech guys who enjoy the jokes or get tired of liberal word policing. It’s also about the bottom line: The decidedly Randian bent in Silicon Valley is turned off by many Democratic pitches, including wealth taxes that hurt their bottom lines.
The Silicon Valley titans want deregulation and a place to grow AI and exploratory technologies. Whether that’s an entirely positive or negative direction for the right to head in the future remains an open debate, but the point is that the tech shift toward Trump isn’t just about emotions; It’s about business.
Whether Moritz thinks it makes a difference, Peter Thiel and (Future Trump Cabinet Member?) Elon Musk A very important pro-Trump Silicon Valley is on the crest of a wave.
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