National political correspondent Maggie Haberman said that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent visit to President-elect Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort was a sign that the industry was taking office. He said this may be a sign that he was trying to build bridges with President Trump ahead of the ceremony, rather than the other way around.
“It's not clear whether Mr. Zuckerberg asked for this meeting or Mr. Trump asked for this meeting, but some believe it was Mr. Trump essentially saying, 'Hey…'Come to Mar-a-Lago. What do you think?'” she said Wednesday night. on CNN's “AC360.”
“As you said, Mr. Zuckerberg praised Mr. Trump's defiant stance earlier this year after he was shot by a would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania,” she told host John. “Obviously Mr. Zuckerberg wants that,” he told Mr. Berman, later adding, to build a better relationship with Mr. Trump. ”
“I think we're going to learn more, but similar things are happening in many industries,” continued Haberman, a senior reporter at The New York Times. “But certainly, a lot of people in the tech industry are leaning toward Trump, not the other way around.”
The meeting was first reported on Wednesday by Stephen Miller, Trump's adviser and incoming chief of staff. Miller said in an interview on Fox News that Zuckerberg and other industry leaders want to be “advocates” for “making our economy thrive.”
“They are the elements, supporters, and boosters who make America's economy thrive, serve America's workers, and ensure that America is the most powerful, wealthiest, and freest nation on earth.” I want to be,” Miller said.
Zuckerberg is the latest tech CEO to try to mend relations with the former president after past tensions. President Trump appears to have changed his attitude towards the Facebook founder after choosing to withhold his support during the 2024 presidential election.
Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, are also increasingly moving away from political content. Instagram updated its standards earlier this year to no longer recommend political content unless users manually request it.
The president-elect has also become close with SpaceX and Telsa CEO Elon Musk. President Trump nominated Musk, who he endorsed as a presidential candidate along with biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, to head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) upon his return to the White House.
In the same interview, Haberman suggested that Trump and Musk's partnership could last “quite a long time” despite the criticism.
“If President Trump is bored, he doesn’t really say it publicly,” she said.
“Mr. Musk is also the richest person in the world, or one of the wealthiest people, depending on the day, and Mr. Trump has a great interest in wealth,” the veteran journalist later added. “I actually think this relationship could last quite a while because, as you pointed out, Mr. Trump equates wealth with intelligence.”
