The cowards of Silicon Valley have spoken. After former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to clinch a second stint in the White House, he was greeted with a chorus of overzealous congratulations from the richest people in the United States.
Obviously, Elon Musk, who has been campaigning for Trump and celebrated with him, was ecstatic and boastful. GameStop chief and meme-stock lord Ryan Cohen wrote, “God bless America!” and followed it up crudely with, “It’s cool to be a white guy again.” (Let’s not all vomit at once.)
But the normie tech titans—even the liberal ones—were quick to bow before the new king.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who reportedly donated $50 million to Harris’ campaign, tweeted his best to Trump and running mate J.D. Vance. “America is at its strongest when we use ingenuity and innovation to improve lives here in the U.S. and around the world,” he wrote. “I hope we can work together now to build a brighter future for everyone.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has consistently donated to Democrats, tweeted his own congratulations to Trump: “i wish for his huge success in the job,” he said; “it is critically important that the US maintains its lead in developing AI with democratic values.”
“Congratulations President Trump on your victory!” wrote Tim Cook, who Trump once called “Tim Apple.” “We look forward to engaging with you and your administration to help make sure the United States continues to lead with and be fueled by ingenuity, innovation, and creativity.” Mark Cuban, who campaigned for Harris, congratulated both Trump and Musk—who, of course, was not on the ballot.
Gates, Altman, and Cook effectively said, “Congrats! Good game! Please don’t regulate us.”
And what can we say about Jeff Bezos, who intervened to pull the Washington Post’s Harris endorsement. The Amazon founder greeted Trump with a nauseating message on Wednesday. “Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory. No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.” (OK, back to vomiting.)
Of the Silicon Valley crew of white-guy executives, seemingly only LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman—who donated $7 million to a Democratic-aligned super PAC this cycle—issued a thoughtful statement rebuking Trump:
“I—and many others—raised alarms about the anti-democratic actions Donald Trump took during his first Presidency, and has promised to take this next time. Some of his supporters assured me that this would not be the case: Trump wouldn’t seek to punish political opponents, wouldn’t corruptly play favorites in business or foreign policy, wouldn’t actually enact a crippling, 19th-century tariff regime. On this day, and for Trump’s term, I very much hope they are right. I love America, and hope that the next four years will be our strongest yet.”
Despite their ostensibly liberal political beliefs, Silicon Valley’s leaders know intimately that Donald Trump is a vindictive leader who can ruin their lives and businesses at a moment’s notice. Amazon previously sued the Trump administration after it canceled a government contract, claiming that Trump sought to punish Bezos as his “political enemy.”
Perhaps it’s smart politics to play within the system, to give the policies you care about a fighting chance, to not alienate the guy in charge before he’s even taken office. Perhaps it’s beneficial for thousands of employees who count on you to maintain positive relations with the emerging regulatory regime. Perhaps it’ll only be four years more of Trump, only two years of unified or near-unified Republican control of government. Perhaps biting one’s tongue is a savvy move.
But what the American public is witnessing is a falling in line of America’s private sector with a vitriolic and potentially autocratic new rule, one where compliance is rewarded and dissent is punished. All too often, smart business tactics produce cowardly leaders who take liberal democracy and common decency for granted.
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