Trump: The technology billionaires of Silicon Valley, the great progressive bastion, who now prefer the former Republican president

Public support for Donald Trump used to be thin in Silicon Valley, the land of the tech billionaires, but is now seeing something that could be seen as a realignment of the system.

“No one is excited about Biden right now,” said influential investor David Sacks on his popular podcast All In. “I think there are a lot of people who support Trump.”

The financier held a fundraising event for Trump on Thursday at his mansion in the heart of San Francisco’s so-called “billionaire street.”

Tickets reportedly sold for up to $300,000.

It was the first fundraising event for the former president since he was found guilty on May 30 by a New York jury of 34 criminal charges related to illegal payments that occurred during the 2016 campaign that brought him to the presidency..

The event generated controversy in San Francisco, a city famous for its progressive culture.

A 10-meter inflatable chicken – with a slight resemblance to the former president and a striped prisoner’s uniform – was waiting for him mockingly. upon his arrival to raise funds for his current presidential bid.

Tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, co-host of All In He says he doesn’t support Trump, but says his friends are “crucifying” him, asking him why he associates with Sacks.

Home to Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, California was once a Republican state. But a presidential candidate from that party hasn’t won there since the 1980s.

Loyalty to the Democratic Party remains the most common currency among tech titans.

However, It is possible that a red tide (the color with which the Republican Party is identified) is coming, or at least a shock wave, fueled by local frustrations and emboldened by pro-Trump billionaires like Elon Musk.

The technology entrepreneur and the richest man in the world, according to Forbeshelped Trump return to X after purchasing the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Musk also harshly criticized President Biden, Trump’s opponent, calling him a “sock puppet.”.

“I know there will be a lot of people [en tecnología] who will support Trump, but they don’t want to admit it,” Sacks said. “And I think this event is going to break the ice on that.”

The reason for Trump’s support is varied: Some see him as the ultimate “disruptor,” a term often used in Silicon Valley to describe innovative leaders.

Others fear President Biden’s proposal to raise taxes on the super-rich.

There is also the issue of regulations.. Although Big Tech has enemies in both parties, the clamor for stricter rules on competition and privacy has been louder in recent years among Democrats.

Chamath Palihapitiya is another Silicon Valley investor who has donated to Democratic candidates in the past. Now, he shows Trump’s approval of him.

He says he’s attracted to “both sides” for different reasons and would also love to host a fundraiser for Biden.

“I’ve donated to Bobby Kennedy. I’ve donated massively to Democrats. And I’ll donate to Donald Trump,” he said during the podcast’s May 31 episode, which aired shortly after Trump’s criminal conviction.

“And if there’s an opportunity to donate to President Biden and really understand where he’s at, I would donate to him, too.”

It’s not as if Biden’s campaign has lacked the support that tech and Hollywood billionaires traditionally give Democrats during a presidential election cycle.

In May, during a West Coast fundraising tour, President Biden attended separate events hosted by venture capital billionaire Vinod Khosla and former Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman donated $6 million to a political action committee (PAC) backing Biden earlier this year, just one of several multimillion-dollar donations from tech or media titans to the current president.

But Trump has received the backing of several big donors following his conviction in New York, and will expect more on his West Coast tour..

Moments after the May 30 verdict, another mega-rich Silicon Valley investor, Shaun Maguire of the venture capital firm Sequoia, wrote on X: “I just donated $300,000 to Trump.”

Like Palihapitiya, he too had previously made large donations to Democrats.

While Trump hopes to cultivate relationships with wealthy Silicon Valley tech players, at the grassroots level there are also signs of growing conservative support.

Jennifer Yan, a tech industry consultant in San Francisco who did not attend Thursday’s fundraiser, is a former Democrat who switched her support. She has now been elected to the local Republican committee.

Their concerns have less to do with big tech and more to do with the problems in their area.

“We are a rich city with a budget of $14 billion, but the public service is terrible,” he told the BBC.

Ms. Yan has not decided who she will vote for in November, but she is part of a new grassroots group known as the Briones Society, focused on local, not national, issues.

Your organization recruits centrist candidates who want to make San Francisco a better place to live.

When they organize happy hoursco-founder Jay Donde says he also urges people to put aside the former president’s more extreme rhetoric and consider voting for Trump.

“We believe there is a large, unheard and underserved constituency of voters in San Francisco who are tired of the virtue signaling of the left and the conspiracy theories of the right,” reads the mission statement of the society.

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