How the Tech Billionaires’ Plan to Cozy Up to Trump Backfired
Silicon Valley’s disastrous pro-Trump pivot is a cautionary tale about trying to leverage fascism for personal gain.
Silicon Valley's leaders have gone to extraordinary lengths to show support for Donald Trump since he won the election last fall. On the day of Trump's inauguration, billionaire tech CEOs, including Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman, watched just feet away as Trump was sworn in. Many rolled out Trump-friendly platform policies and showered Trump with millions of dollars by donating to his inaugural fund.
But now, 100 days in, tech leaders' unabashed support for Trump is blowing up in their faces. Their plan to cozy up to the president and receive favorable treatment has backfired, and the CEOs have been left reeling as they attempt to navigate the chaos the administration has wrought on their businesses.
Tesla’s stock has cratered. Zuckerberg is fighting an existential antitrust battle. Amazon and Apple are reeling from tariffs and supply chain disruptions, forced to pivot costly manufacturing operations out of China. Far from the deregulatory paradise they envisioned, tech titans now face a harsher business climate, bipartisan distrust, and a political minefield of their own making.
It didn't have to be this way. Back in 2016, much of the public was horrified by Trump's victory. Silicon Valley execs attempted to navigate Trump's first term by playing both sides, but Democrats and the news media suddenly began to take a more skeptical look at the major tech companies that largely received a pass under Barack Obama. Suddenly, tech CEOs were receiving a tidal wave of critical reporting, and the techlash, a broad-based backlash toward Silicon Valley, emerged by the late 2010s.
This left many in Silicon Valley feeling salty. Rather than acknowledge their companies’ flaws and work to build more responsible platforms and businesses, tech CEOs began to veer right. This shift was accelerated by the start of the pandemic.
Trump’s promises of corporate tax cuts, deregulation, and an "America First" policy seemed appealing to Silicon Valley leaders who were desperate to maintain global dominance. It was a cynical calculation: ignore Trump's ugly rhetoric in exchange for market-friendly policies. What many underestimated, however, was how fundamentally unstable Trump is and his willingness to turn on literally any ally when politically convenient.