💻💰🤝👹🇺🇸 Tech moguls Altman, Bezos and Zuckerberg donate to Trump’s inauguration fund
🤖 AI Summary
🚀 Tech industry leaders have made significant contributions to President Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, signaling a notable shift in their relationship with the new administration. 🤝
Specific issues covered include:
- 💰 Donations to Inauguration Fund: 🧑💻 Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO), 📦 Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder), and 📱 Mark Zuckerberg (Meta CEO) each pledged 1 million each from their companies.
- 🏛️ Attendance at Inauguration: 🧑💼 Top technology company CEOs, including 📦 Jeff Bezos, 🔎 Sundar Pichai (Google), 📱 Mark Zuckerberg, 🎵 Shou Chew (TikTok), 🚗 Elon Musk (Tesla), 🍎 Tim Cook (Apple), 🧑💻 Sam Altman (OpenAI), and 🚕 Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber), were scheduled to attend or have attended Trump’s second inauguration.
- 🤔 Reasons for Donations/Support:
- 🤝 The donations are seen as an “effort to patch up previously contentious relationships” between some Silicon Valley executives and Trump.
- 💡 Many in Silicon Valley hope that Trump will “loosen regulations, particularly in sectors like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.”
- ⚙️ Elon Musk’s role as an adviser in the Trump administration is viewed as a “possible avenue for tech executives to gain influence.”
- 🤖 Sam Altman expressed enthusiasm for Trump’s leadership, stating, “President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead.” 🇺🇸
- 🗣️ Margaret O’Mara, a tech industry historian, noted that the donations reflect a “recognition that there’s not much to be gained in outspoken opposition, but perhaps there is something to be gained by being very clear about your support.” 💯
- 🔄 Past Tensions and Shifts:
- 🍽️ Mark Zuckerberg, who previously banned Trump from Facebook, dined with the former president at Mar-a-Lago.
- 📦 Amazon previously donated 58,000 to Trump’s 2017 fund, and will now stream Trump’s inauguration on Prime Video. 🎬
- 📢 Trump had publicly criticized Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post, which Bezos owns, and the 🏢 Pentagon awarded a contract to Microsoft over Amazon in 2019. ⚖️
📚 Book Recommendations
- 🧠 For a deeper understanding of the intersection of technology, power, and politics:
- 👁️🗨️💰⛓️👤 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff
- System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot by Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami, and Jeremy M. Weinstein
- The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu
- 📜 For insights into the history and influence of Silicon Valley:
- The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson
- Lords of Strategy: The Great Founders of Management Thought by Walter Kiechel III
- 🤖 For books on AI and its societal impact:
- 🧬👥💾 Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
- AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee
🐦 Tweet
💻💰🤝👹🇺🇸 Tech moguls Altman, Bezos and Zuckerberg donate to Trump's inauguration fund
— Bryan Grounds (@bagrounds) July 6, 2025
🏚️➡️💸➡️🏰 Billionaires paid for their tax cuts. How do they feel about the money coming from Medicaid, SNAP, and the national debt?@sama @JeffBezos @finkdhttps://t.co/fKHguxMuV5