Big Tech is trying to make nice with President-elect Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean they’ve changed their minds about him.
National Public Radio reported Friday that several executives have made or plan to make donations to Trump’s inauguration fund.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he will make a $1 million donation after Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Jeff’s Bezos’ Amazon promised the same amount to Trump.
Additionally, Google CEO Sundar Pichai plans to meet with the president-elect in the near future.
NPR spoke to Margaret O’Mara, a Silicon Valley historian at the University of Washington, about these developments.
O’Mara indicated the motivation for these companies by telling NPR, “It’s just a recognition that there’s not much to be gained in outspoken opposition, but perhaps there is something to be gained by being very clear about your support and hope that Trump does well.”
Zuckerberg and Bezos have had a turbulent relationship with Trump.
NPR previously noted that Trump was banned from Facebook for two years after the events of January 6, 2021.
Looking further back, the House Judiciary Committee revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation colluded with Facebook to suppress news surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 election.
Do you believe Bezos and Zuckerberg truly support Trump?
Yes: 3% (1 Votes)
No: 97% (28 Votes)
In addition to Amazon, Bezos is also the owner of the Washington Post, which has a well-documented record of blasting the former and future president.
Election day was not the turning point as both men sensed a Trump victory well beforehand and behaved accordingly.
In July, Zuckerberg told Bloomberg Television that Trump’s reaction after being shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, was “one of the most bada** things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
In those critical days before the election, the Washington Post did not officially endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
O’Mara put the change of heart plainly. “The tech industry wants to get the regulatory threat off their backs and go back to self-regulating. … [I]t’s how these companies got so big.”
We should remain cynical when judging Bezos and Zuckerberg. Neither had a sudden and genuine shift in their attitude toward Trump. They are businessmen keeping their companies in mind.
While X owner Elon Musk could be seen as arguably doing the same thing, there’s much more context in that relationship with Trump.
Musk’s politics saw a gradual maturation after 2020 in moving away from consistently voting Democrat to a resounding endorsement for Trump, donating to his campaign, and now advising the incoming administration.
With a net worth of over $400 billion, it would be foolish to say he isn’t monetarily driven, but a lack of spontaneity in his political journey indicates his authenticity.
One gets the sense that Musk would still be partial to Trump, all other things equal, even if Trump fell out of favor on the national scene.
In contrast, Bezos and Zuckerberg seem to just notice which way the wind is blowing.
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