The Tech Bros Love Trump Because the Democrats Pushed Them Away
What Elizabeth Warren has achieved.

Four days before Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared on X a threatening letter he had received from Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Michael Bennett (D–Col.). In the letter, the senators expressed dismay that the tech entrepreneur had donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.
"We are concerned that your company and other Big Tech donors are using your massive contributions to the inaugural fund to cozy up to the incoming Trump administration in an effort to avoid scrutiny, limit regulation, and buy favor," they wrote. "These donations raise questions about corruption and the influence of corporate money on the Trump administration, and Congress and the public demand answers."
In response, Altman noted that the donation was actually a personal contribution, not one made by his company. He also could not resist pointing out the hypocrisy.
"Funny, they never sent me one of these [letters] for contributing to democrats…" he wrote.
Altman may very well be correct about that, although supporting the Democratic Party—financially, rhetorically, or otherwise—has given tech leaders very little actual protection from Democratic lawmakers. Just ask Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who were repeatedly dragged before Congress and accused of conspiring to overturn democracy, abuse children, and commit other sins. By criticizing Trump's views on immigration and otherwise touting liberal causes, Zuckerberg may have thought he had successfully ingratiated himself with the Biden administration; yet in July 2021, President Joe Biden accused Facebook of "killing people" because Zuckerberg had not unilaterally put the government in charge of content moderation.
And that, in a nutshell, is why so many of the wealthiest and most influential innovators in the tech sector are abandoning the Democratic Party en masse.
Some, such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, have been full MAGA for a while; others, such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, are now officially seeking political neutrality while dipping their toes in rightist waters. But there's one thing they all have in common: a dawning realization that the political project of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is to bring technological innovation to a grinding halt.
Yes, many Republicans—too many—have also railed against tech in recent years, betraying their previous support for free market principles in order to exact revenge on social media platforms that limited conservative speech. But the plain truth is that the GOP's desire to break up large, profitable, and successful tech companies is largely about score-settling: Political figures such as Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Tex.) were against Big Tech because Big Tech was against them.
This does not make the Republican attacks on tech defensible. Indeed, they directed their fire in the wrong direction, as the main reason that social media deplatformed conservative speech was federal pressure. But the progressive war on Big Tech is very different.
Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), and their allies are not narrowly anti-tech because tech is mean to them. Their ideologies are opposed to the kind of economic power that accrues to successful technological ventures. Moreover, social media companies have learned that no amount of capitulation to government dictates will ever be enough for the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention. There will always be another hit piece in a mainstream media outlet about the failures of Facebook, X, Snapchat, Google, TikTok, or someone else to counter foreign disinformation, right-wing propaganda, hate speech, etc. There will always be another congressional inquiry and a proposal to remove Section 230, the liability shield for internet companies. There will always be the threat of antitrust legislation aimed at the sheer bigness of these companies, even though polls consistently show the American public broadly like and appreciate the services the tech companies render.
For the past several years, Democrats have attracted some conservative support for their anti-tech agenda; the populist faction of Trump's Republican Party has noisily embraced antitrust and the elimination of Section 230. But Trump no longer seems particularly committed to their agenda: He has empowered Musk, is working with TikTok to thwart Biden's bipartisan ban on the platform, and has even made peace with Zuckerberg. Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and TikTok CEO Show Zi Chew are all attending Trump's inauguration.
The end result may well be a GOP that is more comfortable with tech markets. That would be good for economic growth and unfettered innovation. Perhaps libertarians should send a cheeky thank-you letter to Elizabeth Warren.
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Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), and their allies are not narrowly anti-tech because tech is mean to them. Their ideologies are opposed to the kind of economic power that accrues to successful technological ventures.
C'mon Robby, say the quiet part out loud. "Because this is what Marxists do."
big surprise.. Miley, Fauci pardoned... as well as J6 Kangaroos
The Left will certainly decry this flagrant abuse of power, right? Right?!
Oh, it's (D)ifferent?
Jeff is already defending it in the free Ross thread.
Where is Sarc? Still blackout drunk? I imagine he really hit the rotgut especially hard last night.
"We had to abuse our powers because we're convinced Trump will do it in the future!"
And that's OK with some people that post here.
"Trump might abuse his power so we did it first and that's OK."
- Democrats
What about brother Jim? Signed at 11:59 last night?
Fauci pardoned
I'm not gonna say that it would be nice if this were effectively signing his death warrant, but would entertain discussions about his assassination of vs. with a pre-emptive pardon.
Also, Congress and/or SCOTUS is going to have to fix this no standing/moot point, tried out of office for actions in office/pre-emptive pardon B.S. I don't necessarily like the idea of reining in The Presidential Pardon, but the ability of the establishment to whimsically try its enemies at virtually any point while effectively immunizing itself pre-emptively and in perpetuity is far more dangerous than "Nationalizing" TikTok.
"the ability of the establishment to whimsically try its enemies at virtually any point while effectively immunizing itself pre-emptively and in perpetuity is far more dangerous than "Nationalizing" TikTok."
Abso-fucking-lutely!!
And this DOES need to be fixed, top priority.
big surprise.. Miley, Fauci pardoned... as well as J6 Kangaroos
Good. Fatass Donnie has steadfastly said he wanted retribution/payback for his political enemies.
So you disagree with Bob Woodward that Milley promised to warn China about any imminent attack by the United States?
Woodward is credible.
If he was telling the truth, and had the evidence to back it up, then General Milley should have been court-martialed for treason.
I consider it an act of patriotism - much like the US military refusing to shoot US citizens like Donnie requested.
turd, the TDS-addled ass-wipe of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
Hey, over in the other thread someone was asking how to delete all their reason comments. I know you have experience with this, can you weigh in please?
turd, the TDS-addled ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
Haha. Fauci. Yeah, he should skate cuz Donnie doesn’t like him.
You’re a fucking idiot.
Nobody is above the law! Well, almost nobody.
I love watching the stupid Leftists turn on each other. Now Zuck is a Nazi for going back to more speech friendly policies, any company that doesn't treat it's employees like royalty has "Luigi" invoked, and TikTok is back "thanks to Trump" which means that TikTok is in for a roller coaster of Trump conspiracy theories. Let's hope the Left consumes itself completely and utterly.
Did anyone tell that Zuck is Jewish?
What?
Dems did it first... or something?
This article doesn't exist... or something? Fuck it, y'all are muted.
sarc
Air Force One will no longer be carrying a steaming #2.
These donations raise questions about corruption and the influence of corporate money on the Trump administration, and Congress and the public demand answers.
Hahaha. Fuck off, you corrupt parasites. The tide has turned.
"And that, in a nutshell, is why so many of the wealthiest and most influential innovators in the tech sector are abandoning the Democratic Party en masse."
No, it really isn't. The "Tech Bros" aren't some monolithic hivemind operating in lock-step.
Zuck the Lizard most closely fits the caricature that Mr Soave paints- an opportunist who thinks he was playing the game, only to realize the game was playing him. But Soave tries too hard to make this all transactional- as if these Silicon Valley leaders are only rolling over because the Democrats are no longer scratching their back enough. Instead, like many Americans, many "Tech Bros" have re-ordered their list of priorities, and resisting the fascist nationalization of our economy has sorted to the top of their list.
Thiel was famously apolitical- ideologically committed to leaving the government alone if they would leave him alone. He changed during the war on terror, believing that there was a place for tech to make government more efficient so that it COULD sift through information and surgically remove foreign threats, without giving the government the power to oppress its citizens. It was only under the waning years of the Obama administration that he realized that the government was too strong. Not because they targeted HIM, but because they were using powers he gave them in ways that shocked and dismayed him. It wasn't how the Government treated him- it was how they were using the tools he made. This was cemented during the Trump administration when he saw his greatest fears revealed- that the Government had turned its vast powers on its own populace, dead-set creating a political mono-culture.
Elon Musk's transition into the right didn't start with folks like Warren, but with his experiences with the "Woke Mind Virus" that corrupted his oldest son. But he remained apolitical until 2020 when he saw the way California was shutting down all business, compared to Texas. This is a key understanding: it wasn't how the left was treating HIM, it was how the Left was treating EVERYONE. Those concerns were cemented when the Twitter Files confirmed just how totalitarian the federal government had become.
Thiel still believes in restrained government, and liberal social values. Musk is still a left-winger at heart. But they went to places like the EU and realized that mono-government was not going to deliver those promises. They weren't thrilled with Trump, but they realized that the velvet-gloved totalitarians on the Left were a far greater threat to freedom.
I'll grant that it is difficult to understand the real motives of all these people, because their conversion to Trumpian ring-kissers is so awkward. Their about-faces surely seem shallow and cynical, which makes it easy to see their motivations as cynical and shallow. But with folks like Musk and Thiel, they see Trump as a 4 year problem. Thiel basically MADE JD Vance, a guy who was libertarian-adjacent before becoming a Trumpian fire-brand. He is being positioned as the next Trump, at which point the "Tech Bros" will largely be in the oval office as Trump's impulsive and quixotic personality fades into the sunset.
If it were truly Zuck the Lizard running the show, you could easily assume that the government they bring is a protectionist racket, enshrining Meta's place in history and pulling the ladder up behind. But Musk and Thiel are harder to read. For right or wrong, these largely apolitical people have formed an alliance that is hell bent on capturing one of the political parties. They are bent not on securing their corporate success as Zuck is. They are focused on instituting an ideology- and it remains to be seen whether that ideology is more liberty focused or not.
"...focused on instituting an ideology..."
Google, anyone? (remembering all their visits to the Obama White House)
Are there contradictions between being a Trumpian fire-brand and libertarian-adjacent? I see differences in emphasis, but not opposition. Maybe you can point some out.
I look at it like they want to be the next generation Buffet who became the first big money power broker for the democrat party. His public excuse was the republican party was too racist or didn’t like the working man but in reality he realized all the active rich and powerful as apposed to the trust fund babies where on the republican side at the time so he moved to the democratic party. As the first he set the agenda. I love how everybody believes he is this nice old man but if you realize he engineered the Salomon Brothers collapse so he could swoop in at taxpayers expense to take over the market. But I digress…Bezos and Zuck ( and to a lesser extend Musk and Thiel) are positioning themselves to be the power brokers in the Republican party as all the older big money republicans die off.
I date Elon Musk's transition to the Right with Biden excluding him from the "Electric vehicle summit" , at a time when his company produced almost all of the world's EVs [certainly essentially all of the US's], probably because Tesla is not a union shop.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/business/tesla-snub-white-house-event/index.html
-dk
"These donations raise questions about corruption and the influence of corporate money on the Trump administration, and Congress and the public demand answers."
Fauci killed millions through incompetence and imprudence while simultaneously enriching himself and advancing bogus and even dangerous research through *two* pandemics, all while invoking "I am The Science."
But tech bros. sending hostage/ransom letters to Donald *Freakin'* Trump is the real concern.
Again, if The Left weren't The Left; Elon Musk would be just a CEO car salesman, Jordan Peterson would be a just psych professor, Joe Rogan would be just a sportscaster, and Donald Trump would be just a reality TV personality.
"...if The Left weren't The Left; Elon Musk would be just a CEO car salesman, Jordan Peterson would be a just psych professor, Joe Rogan would be just a sportscaster, and Donald Trump would be just a reality TV personality."
Stunning observation! Bravo!
Are you mixing up Joe Rogan with Fred Roggin? I did at first.
I was thinking more about the Dan Patrick Show or Kenny Florian hosting Battlebots.
Tech bros found themselves in the situation of the goose that laid the golden eggs, and decided to bail before they were killed by the Dems so as to try to get all the eggs at once. The Democrats basically bit the hand that fed them, or at least one of the major hands; they can still probably count on Hollywood.
Ahh, so the cycle begins again.
Just like in 2004 and 2016 Republicans believe they have accomplished a "permanent Republican majority".
This one will end badly too.
Then Democrats will shit up their chance.
Both parties suck (I know I am the only one here who says it).
But it is true.
turd, the ass-wipe of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
Remember when you bragged about "predicting" trump would win on 11/5?
I wasn't bragging, you moron.
I was responding to long time poster Mikey M who claimed I was hiding due to Donnie's win - which obviously was false if I predicted his victory.
I was busy but not hiding at all.
Then the liar Mother Lament claimed I made no such prediction - so I linked it.
Riiiiiight. We believe you. You weren't hiding. You would never do that.
turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a TDS-addled lying pile of lefty shit.
But there's one thing they all have in common: a dawning realization that the political project of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is to bring technological innovation to a grinding halt.
Because that's what Socialism does. That's what it has to do in order to "work" (which it still won't).
Marxism, and by extension Socialism, requires industrial/technological stagnancy.
https://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/why-socialists-need-capitalism-best-explanation-so-far-t17696.html
No libertarian should be happy about Big Tech supporting MAGA.
You can stuff your TDS up your ass.
You're not a libertarian.
"in an effort to" ... "limit regulation"????
OMG! Who would ever do that? /s
Doesn't everyone want a totalitarian government? /s
Holy crap Democrats don't even try to hide where their bottom-line intentions sits.
You embarrass your 3rd rate writings skillsl by claiming to be sharper than Musk. I am not a Musk fan but you crowing and bragging of your superiority is ridiculous
Zuck is a putz but he is not out of his mind. As Mom would say : He knows who butters his bread. He didn't go to Trump just because Biden is an assshole. Give him some credit.
Who are you addressing here?
Trump Threatens Mark Zuckerberg with "life in prison"
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/31/politics/video/smr-trump-zuckerberg
#PAYYERMAFIADUESZUCK
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a TDS-addled asshole, kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
Biden preemptively pardons entire extended family at last moment - no link yet.
This is the guy you have shilled for relentlessly, shrike.
turd lies. turd lies when he knows he’s lying. turd lies when we know he’s lying. turd lies when he knows that we know he’s lying.
turd lies. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit and a pederast besides.
Archbishop Dolan and Pastor Franklin Graham?
As if a room full of scumbag polititians wasn't bad enough.
What is wrong with Franklin Graham?
Should they have used the Westboro Baptist Church instead?
“Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.”
― Denis Diderot
The asshole turd lies. turd lies when he knows he’s lying. turd lies when we know he’s lying. turd lies when he knows that we know he’s lying.
turd lies. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit and a pederast besides.
turd lies. turd lies when he knows he’s lying. turd lies when we know he’s lying. turd lies when he knows that we know he’s lying.
turd lies. turd is a TDS-addled lying pile of lefty shit and a pederast besides.
Just out of curiosity, who's the kid that's beatboxing in the lower right?
Musk's kid.
Surprise, surprise, surprise! These are the same people who invented struggle sessions and forced criticism/self-criticism. The big tech wealthy have not yet learned the art of groveling before the custodians of the proletariat to beg forgiveness for the sin of wealth and influence. Fortunately, America is not yet Communist Russia or Red China. But just wait until the precedent of world war internment camps is resurrected for purposes of "re-education!" Two minutes hate is set to make a big entrance. Then we'll see who knuckles under!
"Some, such as venture capitalist Mark Andreessen, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, have been full MAGA for a while."
In Musk's case, "a while" meaning roughly the last six to eight months or so.
Then
"Republicans bellyache about shadow banning and anti conservative bias in tech"
Now
"Republicans wrongly make victims out of Zuck and pals, who were forced to censor conservative content with trembling hands and flowing tears of regret as their hands were forced by democrats whom they funded and collaborated with for most of their careers"
Oh Reason Magazine. Never change.
Andreesen explained it differently. To him, dems didn’t push them away so much as the “broke the deal” to leave them alone. At the risk of stating the obvious, this ain’t Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party. They hate America and grudgingly tolerate those they allow to make a living to provide the rents they seek to expand their power. Remember Obama’s “you didn’t build that business, the government did”.