The man hasn’t given up on Biden just yet
Why Silicon Valley is Shifting its Support since the 2016 Presidential Revolt? David Sacks’s All In podcast tells the story of a tech investor and friend of Elon Musk
There’s been a lot of reporting recently that the longtime liberal stronghold of Silicon Valley is shifting its support to former president Donald Trump. David Sacks, a venture capitalist and friend to Elon Musk, has said as much on his All In podcast. He raised $12 million for the Trump campaign in the month of June, prompting a groundswell of donations from investors like the Winklevoss twins.
The investor and top donor to the Republican Party wrote an email to WIRED saying David Sacks has been a Republican for a long time. Chamath is a recent convert, but not sure how many of the new Republicans there are. According to his recollection, less than 2 tech leaders were present at the Trump event, which his wife attended, and that the donors were mostly old-money San Francisco Republicans.
The leader of the movement is Sacks, who has led it through the megaphone of his popular All In podcast with friends like Palihapitiya and Friedberg. There is no real reason to think, though, that Sacks and his group represents a broader constituency.
This morning, I’m publishing a new story looking at how true this narrative of shifting Silicon Valley support really is—and how this could change since Biden’s disastrous presidential debate.
The voters have been through four years of Trump and four years of Biden. In tech, we call this an A/B test, wrote David Sacks, a tech investor and close associate of Musk in a post on his website. “With respect to economic policy, foreign policy, border policy, and legal fairness, Trump performed better. The president should get a second term.
The presidential debate occurred even before the supposed Silicon Valley revolt. “The Blue Wall of tech is crumbling before our very eyes,” Ryan Selkis, the founder and CEO of Messari crypto, wrote on X last month. He was referring to a San Francisco reception for the former president that sold out just days after he was convicted on 34 criminal counts in a hush money case.
There is some of it. Every person who has been a lifelong Democrat in Silicon Valley is still a massive supporter of Biden and all the rest. Many Republicans still don’t like Donald Trump because he is anti-science. and he’s an insurrectionist.
Some people have gotten louder about supporting Trump because he is a contrarian horse they can ride in and become a truth-teller. So there’s louder voices among the lifelong Republicans for Trump than there were before, but they were there. They definitely voted for Trump last time. They voted for Trump last time.
It appears that not much has changed with respect to the investors. Honestly, it sounds like some of the most prominent conservative venture capitalists have just gotten louder about their support for Trump.
Hey, everyone! It is Makena. I returned from the Adirondacks after a nice trip. Since I have been gone, a lot has happened. I want to know what’s going on with Joe Biden and the Democrats.
