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.
Musk’s Tesla Battered
Musk soon began openly supporting Trump and using his social media platform X to promote far-right ideology. He has been the most effusive in his praise of Trump since he took office, and, at a post-inauguration rally, Musk praised the president, stating, "It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured. On X, Musk celebrated Trump's return to power with the phrase "The Return of the King."
But though Musk, through his role at DOGE, has been able to gut many of the regulatory agencies that would hamstring or force oversight of his businesses, his ties to Trump have caused his net worth to plummet by billions.
Tesla’s stock, once the darling of Wall Street, has been battered. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods hit Tesla’s Chinese sales and supply chains hard. China was supposed to be Tesla’s golden goose; now it’s a geopolitical minefield. Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, once hailed as a triumph of international expansion, appears increasingly precarious. And Musk, once perceived as a brilliant and creative futurist, is now seen by many as unhinged and hyper-partisan.
This perception has hurt Tesla’s brand among key demographics, especially affluent liberals and younger consumers who once fueled the company’s rise. Tesla’s loss of goodwill among environmentally conscious consumers has opened the door for competitors like Rivian and Lucid Motors, who offer a cleaner, less politically toxic alternative.
Zuckerberg’s 180
Zuckerberg, who Trump once threatened to throw in prison for life, did a complete 180 after Trump was elected. He named Trump ally and UFC boss Dana White to Meta's board of directors and promoted Joel Kaplan, the company's most prominent Republican lobbyist, to be its new head of global affairs. Hoping to dodge regulatory scrutiny, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar a Lago and reportedly promised to keep Facebook’s moderation policies friendlier to conservative voices.
None of it worked.
Meta now faces existential threats to its business as the Federal Trade Commission continues to pursue a major antitrust case against the company. The case could result in substantial fines or even a corporate breakup, undoing Meta's Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions. Instead of securing a friendly regulatory environment, Zuckerberg helped catalyze a rare bipartisan consensus: Meta is too powerful and must be reined in.
Had Zuckerberg taken a principled stand against Trump, he might have preserved more credibility with Democratic regulators and lawmakers, but now he has no allies left. To make matters worse, Trump's tariff announcements in April caused Meta's stock price to plummet by nearly 14%, erasing over $27 billion from Zuckerberg's net worth at the time.
Bezos on Receiving End of Trump’s Wrath
While Jeff Bezos donated to Trump's inauguration fund and has worked to shape the Washington Post into a more Trump-friendly media outlet, Trump's trade war with China has significantly affected Amazon's business. Amazon is heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing and imports, and it has seen costs rise sharply due to tariffs. Third-party sellers, who are an essential pillar of Amazon’s business, have been hit hard, with many passing costs on to consumers.
Bezos personally received a call from Trump on Tuesday morning after it was reported that Amazon was considering showing the cost of tariffs right next to the product’s total listed price on its platform. Bezos apparently acquiesced because Trump told reporters on Tuesday following the call that “Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. Good guy.” Meanwhile, Bezos's net worth has plummeted by $30 billion since January, according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, in part due to the stock market slump and economic blowback from tariffs.
Ready for an Even More Expensive iPhone?
Apple, too, has found itself in Trump's crosshairs. Trump has demanded that Apple make iPhones in America, a logistical impossibility given the global nature of Apple’s supply chain. While Trump exempted smartphones and some other electronics from his steepest tariffs, it’s unclear how long the reprieve will last. Trump promises “NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook.’” Tariffs on Chinese imports have forced Apple to rethink its entire manufacturing strategy and shift resources to build up production lines in India and Vietnam.
This shift has been costly and complicated for the company. Meanwhile, the iPhone market share in China (Apple’s most profitable growth market) is shrinking as local competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi capitalize on anti-American sentiment.
Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI Hit, Too
While the CEOs of Google and Microsoft have taken a less overt pro-Trump stance, their businesses have been hit hard too.
Google, a top employer of H-1B visa holders, has faced significant challenges navigating Trump's immigration policies. The company has advised its H-1B employees to avoid international travel because they literally might not be allowed back into the US. These restrictions have significantly impacted Google's operations and harmed the company's ability to retain global talent. Microsoft is facing similar struggles.
Altman, who said that "Trump represents an unprecedented threat to America" back in 2016, pivoted to supporting the president this time around. In January, he visited the White House and praised Trump's $500 billion "Stargate" AI initiative. Shortly after, Altman tweeted, "watching [Trump] more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him (i wish i had done more of my own thinking and definitely fell in the npc trap). I'm not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!"
In the following months, however, OpenAI too began experiencing direct repercussions from Trump's immigration policies. Kai Chen, a Canadian AI researcher who contributed significantly to the development of GPT-4.5, was recently denied a US green card despite living and working in the country for over a decade. The issue was apparently due to a problem with paperwork filed two years ago; however, tensions have been exacerbated by the current political climate. Chen has since relocated to Canada, but OpenAI faces questions about its ability to retain top AI talent, many of whom are foreign nationals.
It wasn't just the tech CEOs who pushed pro-Trump rhetoric, a slew of top venture capitalists and startup founders also embraced the MAGA movement, helping to usher in Trump's second term. VCs, including Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and Chamath Palihapitiya, leaned into right-wing politics, betting that a populist backlash against regulation would create new opportunities for disruptive startups.
Like the tech CEOs, their plans failed. Crypto faces an uncertain future under the SEC. Gig economy firms like Uber and DoorDash are facing labor reclassification battles. And startups relying on Chinese manufacturing or Asian capital are struggling to survive.
Silicon Valley’s pro-Trump pivot is a cautionary tale about trying to leverage fascism for personal gain. Tech's biggest leaders misjudged both the nature of Trump’s politics and the fragility of their own power. They are now besieged with troubles, and Trump's policies will undoubtedly leave lasting scars on their businesses for years.
Taylor Lorenz, author of the new Zeteo column, ‘Network Effect,’ is an acclaimed tech and online culture journalist. For more of Taylor's writing, subscribe to her Substack, User Mag.
Well, happy May Day!!! Best news in 100 days. Serves these craven assholes right. Let’s hope that unabashed self-interest will foment a retreat from their advance obedience and help undermine the maga blitzkrieg.
Once you've been extorted, there is no going back. How many police shows/movies does one have to watch to get this? I thought those tech guys were all so smart.....learning from real life obviously hasn't worked!!!