Who’s who in Trump’s tech bro club

What was he doing there? Making Trump’s big day all about him, from gurning at the cameras as the president announced plans to put people on Mars (which seemed to bring a wave of ennui over Trump’s youngest son, Barron) to his controversial gestures on the plinth at a rally afterwards, which the media have variously called “Nazi-like” and “fascist”.

What does he want? More power. Musk already has the ear of the president as the head of the department of government efficiency (Doge), a newly created quango designed to cut down to size what Trump sees as a bloated administration. (Just minutes after Trump took office Doge was served with at least three lawsuits that seek to shut it down.) The two men also share a fixation with space exploration. A new space race would benefit Musk: SpaceX is the de facto outsourced rocket provider for Nasa space missions. However, some of Trump’s early executive orders seem to run counter to Musk’s goals. Weakening rules around AI contradict Musk’s fears that untrammelled development is a risk, while Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency and pledge to “drill, baby, drill” for more oil and gas, as well as his reversal of Biden’s electric vehicle mandate, don’t exactly benefit Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle company.

What are his views? Probably best not to ask (see the “gestures” above).

What has he said in the past? “I don’t hate the man,” Musk tweeted in July 2022, “but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”

What does he say now? Primal screaming from the presidential podium.

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Jeff Bezos

Who is he? The billionaire founder of Amazon looks as if he has had something of a midlife crisis, getting hench and dressing far too young for his age (61).

What was he doing there? Giving off divorced dad energy, as he has since his first marriage ended in 2019. Also, Bezos’s Blue Origin, the human spaceflight company, wants to join SpaceX on the Nasa contracts list. And he was likely to be making representations on behalf of The Washington Post, the newspaper he bought in 2013, and which changed its motto last week from the first-term Trump “Democracy dies in darkness” to second-term Trump “Riveting storytelling for all of America”.

What does he want? For Trump to leave him in peace with his fiancée.

What has he said in the past? In 2016 Bezos said a Trump presidency would “erode” democracy.

What does he say now? In December Bezos said he was “very optimistic” about a Trump presidency.

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Mark Zuckerberg

Who is he? The CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and pretty much every other app under the sun. Zuck enjoyed a halcyon few years when people thought he was cool — he wore street clothes, grew out his hair and recorded a weird cover of Lil’ Jon’s Get Low with the rapper T-Pain as a tribute to his wife — before making a handbrake turn into politically expedient decision-making.

What was he doing there? Staring at the chest of Lauren Sánchez, Bezos’s fiancée — or so claimed many internet commenters. Also ensuring Trump knew he was Maga-curious, after his announcement of the removal of fact-checking on his platforms in the US, alongside relaxing rules on things like saying LGBTQ+ people are mentally ill, or women are property.

What does he want? Trump not to throw him in prison, something the incoming president threatened to do last year. Trump had taken against Zuckerberg for banning him from Facebook and Instagram in the wake of the 2021 Capitol riot, and Zuckerberg had the temerity to give to a charity supporting local election officials in 2020 depleted by the impact of Covid. In a pre-inauguration press conference, Trump said Meta’s policy change was “probably” in response to the prison threat. Yes, the next four years will be weird.

• The (re)education of Mark Zuckerberg: ‘he doesn’t care anymore’

Tim Cook

Who is he? The Apple CEO once called “Tim Apple” by Trump during the president’s first term.

What was he doing there? Probably trying to figure out whether he can restore access to TikTok through the App Store. After a Supreme Court decision last Friday, it became technically illegal to offer access to TikTok, seen by the Biden administration as a national security threat, with punishment set at a daily $5,000 fine. Trump has issued an executive order giving TikTok a 75-day stay of execution, but so far Apple hasn’t restored access — in part because it’s not clear whether Trump can overrule the Supreme Court.

• What executive orders has Trump signed? A full list

Sundar Pichai

Who is he? The CEO of Alphabet and its subsidiary Google for almost a decade, Pichai is keen to ensure that he stays competitive in the AI landscape.

What was he doing there? Staring at his phone, seemingly. Perhaps he was checking Google Analytics for interest in the inauguration. Pichai reportedly called Trump after he appeared at a McDonald’s on the campaign trail to say it was “one of the single biggest events we’ve ever had at Google”. The source of the report was Donald Trump, so take it with a very generous shake of salt.

What has he said in the past? Pichai has historically kept any negative comments about Trump to himself, but his colleagues have not been as canny. The Google co-founder Sergey Brin said in a company meeting shortly after the 2016 election that Trump’s victory was “deeply offensive”, according to a leaked recording.

What does he say now? Pichai was quick off the mark when Trump won in November, tweeting: “Congratulations to President @realDonaldTrump on his decisive victory. We are in a golden age of American innovation and are committed to working with his administration to help bring the benefits to everyone.”

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Sam Altman

Who is he? OpenAI’s CEO is perhaps the tech bro most important to the future of the United States, Elon Musk excepted. He is overseeing the development of the AI models behind ChatGPT that are driving the generative AI revolution.

What was he doing there? Probably making the case for Trump to continue America’s all-in support of AI to maintain supremacy over China, which is competing strongly. As the tech bros gathered in Washington, China’s DeepSeek released its latest models that rival OpenAI’s in performance.

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Shou Zi Chew

Who is he? TikTok’s embattled CEO was putting a brave face on it after Trump promised a reprieve from the US federal ban in the hours before the inauguration, and his smile must have become more easy when the president followed up by signing an executive order in the hours after.

What was he doing there? Making friends and influencing people — or trying to. The executive order isn’t as watertight as TikTok might hope, and has a 75-day limit. Trump has also hinted he’s angling for a US joint venture. The man is the author of The Art of the Deal, after all.

What does he want? Probably to go back in time and not be CEO of TikTok. But needs must.

What did he say then? “I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” Chew said in a TikTok video posted before the ban came into force. “We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform.” It’s a sentiment he’s likely to echo now that Trump holds the fate of his app, and its 170 million American users, in his hands.