we know about Musk, and Zuckerberg donating $1M to trumps inaugural committee. now Bezos ponies up. and Sam Altman bends the knee... Spoiler I think this is a healthy development, for Tech, but for the new administration generally. Love him or Loath him, and I'm in the latter camp, I'm excited for Trump 2.0
Wow tech billionaires want deregulation and tax cuts after being regulated by Biden. What a shocking turn of events
Might as well be a in kind contribution to the Democrats and a pretty easy to write economic populist message about Trump betraying his voters in service of the billionaire class. Trump is making Bernie Sanders REAL popular lately that’s for sure.
Also aren’t even Trump supporters tired of people like Musk treating them as if they are the most gullible idiots in the universe?? I saw something yesterday about how Musk is pitching at an investor meeting to get subsidies… yes more subsidies… to develop… wait for it… a TUNNEL from US to London under water with a high speed train that can make the trip in less than an hour. Aren’t you guys sick and tired of being treated like you all are idiots and tired of constantly being grifted??
WSJ got the memo. The Week CEOs Bent the Knee to Trump Companies abandoned him after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Now, they are rushing to curry favor with the president-elect as he prepares to return to the White House. When Donald Trump arrived at the New York Stock Exchange this week for a postelection victory lap, dozens of influential executives lined up to catch a glimpse of the man who holds the future of their businesses in his hands. “The economy, I believe, is going to be very strong,” said Trump, standing in front of a portrait of himself on the cover of Time magazine, which this week named him its person of the year. Corporate America is hoping Trump is right—but it isn’t leaving anything to chance. Titans of the business world are rushing to make inroads with the president-elect, gambling that personal relationships with the next occupant of the Oval Office will help their bottom lines and spare them from Trump’s wrath. In the weeks since the election, Trump and his advisers have been flooded with calls from c-suite executives who are eager to get face time with the president-elect and his team at Mar-a-Lago, the private Florida club where the transition team conducts much of its planning for the second term. A business consultant close to Trump is advising corporate clients to engage with Trump in any way they can and emphasize common goals, such as tax and regulatory changes. Clients are already angling for spots on whatever business advisory panels the new president may form. The day before Thanksgiving, Zuckerberg, the billionaire CEO, dined with the president-elect on a patio at Mar-a-Lago. At one point, Zuckerberg and other attendees stood, hand over heart, as the club played a rendition of the national anthem sung by imprisoned defendants who are accused of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, according to people familiar with the matter. There was no announcement that the recording was by the Jan. 6th choir, one of the people said. Zuckerberg’s Facebook had suspended Trump’s account following the riot. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook parent is among companies that have donated to the Trump inaugural fund. Photo: Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters Bezos is planning to meet with Trump next week. Bezos will travel to Trump’s club with his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, and have dinner with Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. The outreach is a remarkable change of fortunes for Trump, who became persona non grata to companies after the Jan. 6 attack. In response, Amazon, Comcast and General Electric pledged to stop donations to the Republican lawmakers who objected to President Biden’s victory. Some corporations such as AT&T, ConocoPhillips, Dow Inc., Facebook and United Parcel Service said they would pause campaign donations from their political-action committees to lawmakers and political candidates. While Trump won the support of some Wall Street investors during his campaign, many chief executives stayed on the sidelines. Now, Trump and the small group of financiers who backed him during the campaign are riding high. The president-elect rewarded his most loyal supporters with cabinet posts, selecting investor Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary and longtime Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary. Some in Trump’s inner circle have marveled at their sudden influence. Lutnick was overheard by an attendee at Thursday’s New York Stock Exchange event privately telling those at the gathering that he sat next to Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a recent meeting at Mar-a-Lago. “Given the election results, there is going to be an immense amount of policymaking in Washington next year and smart CEOs realize it’s better to shape an agenda than fight an agenda,” said Alex Conant, a partner at Firehouse Strategies, a Republican public affairs firm.
