Billionaire Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and megadonor to the Democratic Party, was reportedly so distraught over President-elect Donald Trump's victory that he considered leaving the country.
Mr. Hoffman, who had been vocal in his support for Vice President Kamala Harris' failed campaign, was forced to leave his country abroad amid concerns that President Trump would use his power in the White House to seek retaliation against political opponents. I told a friend that I was thinking of moving. According to the New York Times.
After the first failed assassination attempt against Trump in July, Hoffman found himself in trouble after comments surfaced that he wanted the next president to be a “true martyr.”
In April of last year, The Times reported that Hoffman said:He donated $10 million to a super PAC supporting Ms. Harris, and also helped finance a defamation lawsuit brought against Mr. Trump by former New York Magazine reporter E. Jean Carroll.
Trump's lawyers argued in court at the time that Hoffman's role in funding the lawsuit raised “serious questions” about Carroll's credibility.
A jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll in 1996. She was ordered to pay $5 million in damages. Earlier this year, another jury awarded Carroll an additional $83.3 million in defamation damages after President Trump said she was lying about the rape allegation.
The newspaper has reached out to Hoffman and the Trump transition team for comment.
Mr. Hoffman is not the only deep-pocketed Democratic donor who has been willing to embrace the idea of moving overseas.
The Times said several major funders and their advisers brought up the prospect of leaving the country in private conversations.
A nervous Democratic donor base is rallying after Trump's Nov. 5 victory over Harris.
Two participants who spoke to the Times described the four-day gathering in Washington, D.C., of the Democracy Alliance, a left-wing donor network, as having a “funeral” feel.
“People are kind of in shock and trying to figure out what happened,” tech mogul Steve Silverstein told the magazine.
“People are adapting to reality and trying to plan their way forward.”
Another Democratic tech tycoon said to be concerned about the incoming Trump administration is OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has the ear of the president-elect and Tesla president Elon. He is considered an enemy by Mr. Musk.
Mr. Altman, reportedly despised by Mr. Musk after Mr. Musk won a power struggle at OpenAI, is trying to work his way into Mr. Trump's inner circle through intermediaries. It has so far been unsuccessful because of the widely shared feeling that it would be opposed. According to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper reported that Altman had contacted Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and his brother, venture capital tycoon Josh Kushner, in hopes of getting into President-elect Trump's orbit. So far there hasn't been much success.
Altman recently had a successful meeting with Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, co-chairman of President Trump's transition, and candidate to become the next Secretary of Commerce.
The paper said Altman told Lutnick, an ally of Musk, about OpenAI's plans to increase investment in the United States by building large data centers and hiring workers.
Musk's lawyers filed an injunction against OpenAI and Microsoft on Friday to prevent the ChatGPT maker from becoming a commercial enterprise. Microsoft is a major supporter of OpenAI.
The Post has reached out to Josh Kushner, Jared Kushner and Lutnick for comment.
