Silicon Valley Royalty Put on the MAGA Hat and Open Their Wallets

Silicon Valley has officially gone MAGA. For grounds of this, you request look nary further than the information that the 2 co-founders of 1 of the tech industry’s astir influential task superior firms, Andreessen Horowitz, person softly announced that they volition statesman sending ample gobs of currency to the Trump campaign.

Marc Andreessen, and his long-time concern partner, Ben Horowitz, are some readying connected contributing an chartless magnitude of wealth to the Trump campaign, sources alert of the concern person told The Information (Axios aboriginal confirmed). It is seemingly the archetypal clip either of them volition person contributed to a statesmanlike candidate’s campaign. The duo are conscionable 2 of a increasing fig of Silicon Valley tech executives who person precocious voiced enactment for Trump, a astonishing crook of events for those who person viewed the tech manufacture arsenic a historically wide town. However, it would look that the superior motivating origin present is economics, not ideology. A root told Axios that Andreessen and Horowitz are looking for the person that they deliberation volition beryllium astir amenable to their concern interests and that the donations are frankincense “motivated by areas similar crypto and AI regulation, without respect to different issues similar termination oregon the Supreme Court.”

It whitethorn initially look hard to grasp this assessment, fixed that Trump erstwhile said helium was “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies and has, for the astir part, seemed to person small involvement successful artificial quality but to occasionally assertion that his run gaffes were the effect of it. However, successful caller months, Trump’s run seems to person shifted to tech issues, further aligning itself with Silicon Valley’s astir prized investments. Trump precocious suggested that he would propulsion out the comparatively tame and innocuous AI enforcement bid Biden issued earlier this year, and has plans to unleash the floodgates when it comes to AI development, efficaciously freeing tech bigwigs similar Andreessen to prosecute their moronic extremity of “techno-optimistic” manifestation. Trump, whose run has reaped a tiny magnitude in Dogecoin donations, has besides travel astir connected crypto and is scheduled to springiness a speech astatine a Bitcoin league successful Nashville aboriginal this month. Could the influx of currency from the tech industry’s coffers and this abrupt ideological pivot person thing to bash with 1 another? I volition permission that up to you to decide, beloved reader.

Marc Andreessen’s enactment for Trump seems beauteous straightforward. Indeed, the 2 men acceptable unneurotic rather well. In summation to the daft, greed-addled manifesto astir capitalism and exertion that helium published past year, Andreessen’s caller accent has been connected propping up nationalistic, pro-America defence startups. All of that seems rather astatine location with the MAGA worldview which, successful general, is pro-defense, pro-deregulation, and, of course, pro-rich radical (just cheque retired those Trump taxation breaks). Andreessen and his assemblage privation idiosyncratic who is going to beryllium wholly hands-off erstwhile it comes to the tech industry’s much ludicrous ambitions and, currently, Trump seems to acceptable that bill.

Even little astonishing is the information that Elon Musk, Silicon Valley’s astir salient edgelord billionaire, present appears to beryllium committing an absurd magnitude of wealth to a PAC designed to get Trump elected. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk would statesman doling retired “$45 cardinal a month” to America PAC, a governmental enactment committee that, arsenic the New York Times has reported, was founded by immoderate of Musk’s “closest friends.” The paper cited “people acquainted with the matter,” arsenic evidence.

On Tuesday, Musk seemed to disavow the report, tweeting retired a meme successful effect to the communicative that said: “FAKE GNUS.” However, erstwhile a commenter connected the station said that Musk had gone from “being an Obama elector to pledging $180 cardinal to elite DJT” Musk responded: “Yeah.” The evident red-pilling of Elon has been a long, large process, replete with many, galore reddish flags. One of the astir salient of said flags was Musk’s 2022 determination to bargain Twitter, rename it X, and efficaciously person it into a scaled mentation of 4chan. Ever since then, Musk has utilized the level to promulgate a flood of rightwing conspiracy theories, anti-woke diatribes, and dopey, pro-capitalist musings—an ideological strain that, for the astir part, is highly compatible with the Trump base. Not lone has Musk long been chummy with Trump, but helium besides clearly despises Biden and, connected Saturday, pursuing the effort connected Trump’s life, Musk formally endorsed Trump for President.

The aforesaid PAC that was founded by Musk’s friends (and which is reportedly getting backing from Musk) is besides backed by a fig of salient tech manufacture tycoons, including the co-founder of creepy defense contractor Palantir Joe Lonsdale and the 2 Facebook-wannabe dolts, the Winklevoss twins, the Journal writes. In short: salient members of Silicon Valley’s powerfulness elite person officially gone MAGA. Given the caller panics successful San Francisco implicit stateless people, “wokeness” and Biden’s “unfriendly” attack to concern interests, it wouldn’t beryllium astonishing if this is conscionable the beginning.