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Elon Musk and Tech Billionaires: Pro-Trump? A Compilation of Their Tweets

Silicon Valley

KEYTAKEAWAYS

  • Major tech figures like Musk, Altman, and Bezos express support for Trump following the assassination attempt.
  • Economic policies and tax reforms under Trump are seen as more favorable to Silicon Valley interests than Biden's proposals.
  • The shift in support is driven by dissatisfaction with current regulations and concerns about innovation constraints under the Biden administration.

CONTENT

Silicon Valley tech leaders shift support to Trump after assassination attempt. Explore tweets, economic motivations, and the changing political landscape in the tech industry.

 

This past weekend, almost all social media headlines and comment sections in the United States were dominated by news of Trump’s assassination attempt.

 

>>> Read more: Bitcoin Surpasses $60K Following Trump Assassination Attempt

 

On July 13, former U.S. President Donald Trump was shot at by a gunman when attending a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. His right ear was hit by a bullet, after which he left the scene under the protection of Secret Service agents.

 

Trump later issued a statement describing his injuries, saying, “I felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place.” He thanked law enforcement for their quick response, expressed condolences to the families of the victims and injured spectators, and stated that he would proceed with his planned schedule.

 

Silicon Valley

(source: NBC News)

 

MUSK, ALTMAN, NADELLA TWEETS

 

X became the main platform for discussion. Many Silicon Valley founders, investors, and CEOs also expressed their views.

 

Elon Musk immediately made clear his support for Trump. He stated that he would fully endorse “President Trump” and wished him a speedy recovery.

 

 

Musk even compared Trump’s resilience to that of Roosevelt, one of the greatest former presidents known as the “The Shaper of Modern America.”

 

 

He also empathized, saying:

 

 

Within less than a day, Musk had posted and reposted up to 15 tweets on his X account, openly campaigning for Trump.

 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who rarely posts content unrelated to the industry and had unusually not posted anything on X for over a month, immediately posted twice after Trump was shot. He first expressed:

 

 

Later, as more Trump supporters appeared in his comments, he added:

 

 

OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, followed up:

 

 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tweeted:

 

 

Apple CEO Tim Cook said:

 

 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who previously had tense relations with Trump, broke his 9-month social media silence to praise:

 

 

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z and a former public critic of Trump who once said Trump’s immigration restriction proposals made him “sick to his stomach,” has been criticizing the Biden administration recently. Although he hasn’t explicitly said he supports Trump, he also posted a picture of the American flag.

 

 

>>> Read more: Should Politics and Tech Go Hand in Hand? The Answer is…

 

SILICON VALLEY’S ENDORSEMENT

 

Silicon Valley’s Political Stance

 

A popular comment under Altman’s tweet pointedly remarked:

 

 

Some have described it:

 

 

Not long ago, Silicon Valley, a “liberal stronghold,” was firmly in the first echelon of opposition to Trump. As a representative of innovation, openness, and globalization, Silicon Valley strongly relied on international talent and a free business environment, advocating for environmental protection and social progress.

 

Trump, on the other hand, was synonymous with conservatism and protectionism.

 

He implemented strict immigration policies, tightened H-1B visa restrictions, which many company leaders criticized for hindering innovation and talent recruitment; launched antitrust investigations against tech giants, strengthened regulation of social media platforms, which was seen as excessive interference with free expression, contradicting Silicon Valley’s advocated open and free internet spirit; the trade war he initiated against countries like China posed challenges to tech companies relying on global supply chains and markets, raising widespread concerns; while Silicon Valley companies generally valued sustainable development, pledging to reduce carbon emissions and invest in clean energy projects, the Trump administration implemented an “anti-environment” policy, which aroused strong dissatisfaction in the tech community.

 

It can be said that the differences and disagreements between the two sides in values and policies have been long-standing, even reaching a point of sharp confrontation at one time.

 

Platforms like X and Facebook had banned Trump’s social media accounts, directly silencing him. Even Musk resigned from three presidential advisory committees in 2017 when Trump announced the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and in 2020 he voted for Biden.

 

Trump, in turn, called Musk “a bullshit artist.” During the last election campaign, Trump frequently attacked Bezos, accusing him of using The Washington Post to avoid taxes, and having “huge antitrust problems.” Bezos hit back, saying he “will still reserve him a seat on the Blue Origin rocket.”

 

 

There’s also Bill Ackman, American hedge fund tycoon and founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management. After the Capitol Hill incident on January 6, 2021, Bill Ackman publicly criticized Trump, believing he should “resign and apologize to all Americans,” seriously questioning his leadership abilities.

 

Now Bill Ackman’s stance has completely changed. Yesterday, he wrote a long post openly defecting, announcing that he “will formally endorse Trump’s presidential campaign.” He stated that he recently had the opportunity to spend several hours with Trump, which gave him a deeper understanding of Trump. This decision was “made carefully, rationally, and by relying on as much empirical data as possible.”

 

 

>>> Read more: Trump Trade 2.0: How the 2024 US Election Could Shake Up Global Markets

 

What Changed?

 

Someone commented on X that Silicon Valley’s stance had already changed, and this shooting incident presented the most reasonable opportunity to speak out.

 

As a result, the few who are still “holding the line” now find themselves in a difficult situation.

 

As a long-time public opponent of Trump, LinkedIn co-founder and Silicon Valley “King of Connections” Reid Hoffman has condemned his leadership style as harmful to America’s rule of law and business environment on multiple occasions, finding his incitement to violence unacceptable.

 

As a result, a recent public debate between him and Stanford alumnus, PayPal founder, and well-known investor Peter Thiel was posted by Musk. In the verbal exchange, Thiel sarcastically thanked Hoffman for funding lawsuits against Trump, believing these lawsuits turned Trump into a “martyr,” thereby increasing his chances of re-election. Hoffman responded sarcastically: “Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr.”

 

 

This led Hoffman to personally post a response. He reiterated his firm opposition to violence, and by the same token, Trump should not have encouraged violence during the Capitol riot. Moreover, in the debate with Thiel, the so-called “hope for Trump to become a martyr” referred to being held accountable for his lies and actions, not physical harm.

 

 

As a result… he was criticized again. In the comments section, some called him Reid “woke” Hoffman, some demanded he apologize, and others told him to delete his account directly. Legendary Silicon Valley investor Naval Ravikant criticized:

 

 

>>> Read more: AI Boom Drives Surge in Emissions for Tech Giants Google and Microsoft

 

THE TURNAROUND OF TRUMP SUPPORT

 

It Isn’t About Any Single Person

 

Over a month ago, Trump held a fundraising event, hosted by investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, at Sacks’ mansion in San Francisco.

 

Ticket prices ranged from $50,000 to $500,000, with priority dinner seats and photo opportunities with Trump VIP treatment requiring a donation of $300,000. The tickets sold out early, attracting many Silicon Valley tech leaders and investors, including Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, the Winklevoss twins from the cryptocurrency field, Jacob Helberg, senior advisor to the CEO at Palantir Technologies, and the aforementioned billionaire Bill Ackman, raising a total of $12 million in campaign funds.

 

Helberg had previously donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Biden administration, but this time he publicly donated $1 million to Trump.

 

This shift is not because Trump himself is so excellent; to be precise, “it isn’t about any single person – it’s about substance and issues.” Some comments suggest that Silicon Valley may not be so supportive of Trump, but they have indeed become very opposed to Biden.

 

 

Economic Policies and Tax Reforms

 

From initial strong opposition to recent gradual support, the balance tilting towards Trump is actually driven by dissatisfaction with current U.S. economic policies, regulatory environment, and the Biden administration.

 

Biden administration: For example, in terms of industry regulation, the Biden administration’s antitrust investigations into tech giants like Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI, and high-pressure regulation in emerging technology fields like cryptocurrencies and AI, have made many Silicon Valley figures worry that it will seriously limit technological innovation and industry development.

 

Trump administration: On the other hand, had pushed for deregulation measures in multiple industries to reduce corporate compliance burdens and operating costs. For instance, in 2018, it proposed reducing federal government regulation and legal barriers to self-driving cars, encouraging state governments and private enterprises to provide greater flexibility for technology research and development and testing, since then Waymo and Tesla’s businesses have developed significantly; it directed the FAA to simplify commercial licensing procedures for drones, promoting the expansion of Amazon and UPS’s drone delivery services.

 

In terms of economic policies and tax reforms, in 2017, Trump passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, slashing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. He also lowered personal income tax rates for high-income groups while increasing the standard deduction. He also introduced a minimum tax rate on foreign income, aimed at encouraging U.S. companies to repatriate overseas profits. This was particularly beneficial to Silicon Valley tech companies and the group of “rich people” behind them. In fact, Trump has also hinted that as long as he’s in power, he would serve the immediate economic interests of the top 1%, or even 0.001% of the wealthy, which is exactly the group that Silicon Valley tycoons and financial backers belong to.

 

In comparison: Biden proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to increase federal revenue. He increased taxes on individuals with annual incomes over $400,000, eliminating some tax reduction benefits for high-income earners. For those with annual incomes over $1 million, the tax rate could reach as high as 39.6%. The money was to be used for large-scale infrastructure construction and social welfare security, but it resulted in no achievements and even led to “zero-dollar purchases.” This caused Silicon Valley’s middle class and wealthy to become precise targets of criticism, with complaints and unbearable suffering.

 

>>> Read more:

 

 

IS IT ALL AN ACT? OR NOT?

 

Shaun Maguire, a Sequoia partner who was once also an opponent of Trump but has now transformed into an active supporter, wrote:

 

 

The change in stance of people around him made AngelList founder Babak Nivi sigh:

 

 

Of course, many people still believe that all of this is just a performance. A netizen ruthlessly exposed Maguire:

 

 

Although Silicon Valley tends to lean towards the Democratic Party on social and cultural issues, supporting liberal diversity and social progress, when it comes to immediate economic interests, they still show a conservative and practical side to protect their own growth and competitiveness.

 

Original Source: Jessica 硅星人Pro

 

>>> Read more:

 

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# 2024 Presidential Election # Biden # Elon Musk # Silicon Valley # Tech Industry # Trump # US Economy
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