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The tech industry will come to regret its embrace of Trump
For now, Silicon Valley is getting everything it wants. But a backlash is on its way.
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Over the course of Joe Biden’s presidency, a great awakening took place among the nation’s tech industry leaders.
Their wealth expanded dramatically, they grew disgusted with their own employees, and their brains got cooked by the covid pandemic and all its effects. The mildest skepticism from the Biden administration about social media and AI sent them into paroxysms of rage, as the world’s most privileged people decided they were being oppressed by a cruel federal government out to destroy them. So they ran into Donald Trump’s arms, realizing that it was where they should have been all along.
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So far, the merger of Silicon Valley and MAGA has worked out great for the industry; they’ve showered Trump with contributions, made him feel important and special, and in return have gotten almost everything they want from Washington and more.
But this is an alliance they will come to regret.
So much winning
When all the tech barons took their place of honor at Trump’s inauguration in January, it was a striking visual display of the new alliance between America’s wealthiest industry and the most corrupt president the country has ever known. In the 11 months since, the relationship has borne fruit for both sides: The industry continues to shower Trump with contributions and tacky gifts, and Trump has worked to satisfy all the tech leaders’ desires.
And what do they want? First, they want what every rich person wants: to pay as little as possible in taxes, which is also what the Republican Party wants for people like them.
Many of the key figures within the tech industry are also heavily invested in cryptocurrencies, so they were extremely pleased when the Trump administration all but shut down regulatory enforcement of misdeeds in the crypto sector. Under Trump, the last remaining Democrat on the Securities and Exchange Commission told the New York Times that the crypto industry “can effectively get away with anything.”
On antitrust enforcement, it’s important to note that the complete policy reversal the companies were hoping for hasn’t materialized; the Trump administration has continued some of the cases that had been brought against tech companies in the past. On the other hand, none of the antitrust cases have seriously hurt the companies. It looks like they’ll emerge from this wave of antitrust enforcement largely unscathed.
But that’s almost a footnote at this point, paling in comparison to the most important priority for the industry: making sure that regulation of artificial intelligence is either non-existent or so minimal as to be meaningless.