A small but growing segment of Silicon Valley has gone all-in on Donald Trump, sources told The Washington Post, saying any stigma that previously came with supporting him has largely disappeared.
“This is nothing like when I was kicked out in 2016… In 2016, there would have been backlash from portfolio companies and founders. [if you endorsed Trump]”He’s now told friends and colleagues he supports Trump,” said one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “The stigma is fading.”
This is a dramatic shift from 2016 and 2020, when many stayed quiet for fear of backlash from employees, colleagues and investors, as well as being blacklisted from the tech community, the sources added.
Earlier this month, prominent tech venture capitalists David Sachs and Chamath Palihapitiya hosted a $12 million fundraiser for the former president in the traditionally ultra-progressive neighborhood of Pacific Heights. Last week, Trump appeared with the pair on the podcast “All In,” co-hosted by David Friedberg and Jason Calacanis.
In the speech, Trump highlighted how his policies would benefit Silicon Valley, including expanding visas to high-skilled workers, deregulating cryptocurrency, and promoting energy independence, which he said would generate the power needed to power artificial intelligence innovations.
Sources told The Post that Trump could solidify much of that support by naming a running mate.
J.D. Vance, an Ohio senator and former Bay Area venture capitalist who has been instrumental in brokering introductions between Trump and tech investors, reportedly encouraged Sachs and Palihapitiya to host a fundraiser earlier this month, where he introduced Trump to the president.
A pro-Trump tech source also told The Washington Post that the campaign had told him that if Trump were elected, Vance, 39, could galvanize a young tech demographic and serve as a direct conduit from Silicon Valley to the White House.
“Vance comes from the tech industry, so he has a lot of credibility,” a Republican fundraiser for Vance’s VP bid told The Washington Post. “He’s focused on policies that stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship that are relevant to the tech investor community. And he’s from a younger generation.”
Trump said over the weekend that he has chosen, but has not yet announced, who his running mate will be. The front-runners said to be Vance, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are
Vance, whose 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” famously described his experiences growing up in a working-class family in Ohio, worked at PayPal founder and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel’s firm Mithril Capital before being elected to the Senate in 2022. Thiel also donated $10 million to Vance to help secure victory in the tight race.
“The tech industry sees Vance as one of their own,” a source close to conservative tech investors told The Washington Post. “He’s one of those people who’s in the senate because he’s so familiar with venture capital and tech.”
Technology sources told The Post that the endorsement of Vance is just the latest example of growing dialogue between President Trump and Silicon Valley’s biggest companies.
Trump has received support from several venture capitalists who have not previously been involved in the political fray, including Sequoia Capital partner Sean Maguire, who accompanied Elon Musk to Israel, and colleague Doug Leone. Ryan Selkis, founder of crypto data firm Messari, also posted urging founders to support Trump before the “flood” hits X.
Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss also announced they would donate millions of dollars in Bitcoin to Trump, a move some sources say symbolizes a rightward shift for cryptocurrencies as Biden cracks down on digital currencies.
But after four years of Biden, “a lot of people are incredibly disillusioned” and want change, said Jacob Helberg, an adviser to the software company Palantir. “Nobody knew how aggressive Biden was going to be.”
These include the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, set to expire in 2025 if not renewed, a sluggish IPO market, and an aggressive Securities and Exchange Commission going after cryptocurrencies — all of which have caused some technologists who call themselves pure “economic animals” to look outside the Democratic Party.
“[People in tech] “They always wanted tax cuts, and now it’s all piled on,” a former Democratic fundraiser who now supports Trump told The Post. “Before there was only one thing I didn’t like about Biden, and now there’s three or four.”
While one former Democrat described the decision to support Trump as “purely a business issue,” others in Silicon Valley noted that several social issues, including support for Israel, Biden’s lax immigration policy, and Elon Musk’s criticism of the Democratic Party’s focus on DEI, had changed people’s minds.
“It helps that the richest man in the world is voicing his displeasure with Joe Biden,” one Trump fundraiser told The Washington Post.
“Everyone is watching to see if Musk will endorse him,” a Democratic donor told The Post. “Trump made a smart move by giving him a role in his administration.”
Musk has said he won’t donate to either candidate and has not yet endorsed anyone, but he has met with Trump and plans to host a town hall meeting with him about X. He also said he will “refrain” from voting for Biden.
“The more unfair the attacks on Trump seem to the American people, the higher he will rank in the polls,” Musk tweeted last month.
The Biden administration has at times ignored Musk, not including him in hosting an event celebrating American electric vehicle production, but the tech industry is aware of the fact.
“Elon has done more for electric cars than anyone else, but Biden won’t invite him to White House events… that’s boring and political,” said one venture capitalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “And SpaceX is revitalizing the space economy, [Musk] Not to be trusted.”
The venture capitalist added that Biden’s executive order on AI, which would require companies to share trade secrets with the government, had made him and some of his Silicon Valley colleagues reconsider their support for Biden.
“A lot of people look at Trump and see him as more supportive of things that affect them,” he said.
Biden is still projected to win California by a landslide, but his approval rating has fallen 20 points, from 62% when he first took office to 42%, a sign people are opening up to an alternative, aides said.
“Trump’s style is something you grow to like, but it’s a growing group in Silicon Valley that has adopted his tastes,” Helberg said.
