Last week, U.S. President-elect Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago: "In my first term, everyone was fighting me, and this time, everyone wants to be my friend. ”
What struck Trump was the U.S. technology elite and Wall Street bosses’ attitude toward Trump that had undergone a 180-degree turn. Although it was still nearly a month before Trump officially took office, The elites of Silicon Valley and Wall Street have not only donated money, but have even come to Mar-a-Lago to meet the future president in person.
The account of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee is currently making money every day. As a non-profit entity established by Trump for the inauguration, this group can accept "unlimited donations".
Trump's inauguration sets record fundraising
The Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee has set an inauguration fundraising record, with pledges exceeding its $150 million fundraising goal as of Monday (November 23), ABC reported.
Sources say the inaugural committee already has about $70 million in the bank, with remaining pledges expected to arrive in the coming weeks as the committee prepares for President-elect Trump's second inauguration.
Trump’s estimated fundraising amount this time will be three times the $62 million raised by Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Committee four years ago in 2021. In 2021, Biden’s Inaugural Committee raised funds from AT&T, Comcast, and Boeing , FedEx and many other corporate giants have raised tens of millions of dollars. At the time, Biden capped donations at $1 million and refused to accept donations from fossil fuel companies, raising a total of about $62 million.
But with $150 million, Trump plans to turn his second inauguration into an unprecedented spending spree, a once-in-a-lifetime event attended by the rich and elite. Three days of black-tie balls, candlelight dinners, brunches and back-room lounge meetings will focus on Trump and America's super-rich and powerful.
"This is money being thrown at the president's feet in exchange for favors," Craig Holman of Citizens for the Public Interest told The Daily Beast. "Presidential inaugurations have long attracted corporations and special interests who spend their money." Engage with the new government’s power brokers.”
The more money you donate, the closer you are to Trump
A Republican lobbyist who has raised funds for the inauguration told ABC News that the "MAGA Rally" that will kick off the inauguration celebrations on January 18 will be a signature Trump-style event that will bring together large numbers of people. crowd, "keeping him connected to his supporters".
The lobbyist said that in addition to the victory rally, plans for a traditional inauguration ceremony in the nation's capital "have been extremely popular both at the individual donor and corporate levels".
Other planned inauguration events include a "Cabinet Reception," which fundraising materials say will "honor our most generous inauguration supporters," and a "Vice President's Dinner," which will be "a special event with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and his wife Usha Vance's intimate dinner."
As with Trump's 2017 inauguration, donors receive varying levels of access based on their donation tiers, with the highest tier of supporters donating $1 million or raising $2 million. But the lowest level became $50,000, double the lowest level during Trump's first inauguration.
The Vice President's Dinner on January 18th is only open to the highest level donors, while the admission ticket for "One America, One Light" on Sunday is open to donors who donate at least $100,000 or raise at least $200,000, and the Trumps will attend.
That night's "candlelight dinner" will be attended by Trump and Melania, and only those who have donated at least $250,000 or raised at least $500,000 are allowed to enter.
Tech giants are paying homage to the chief
Tech giants are making huge donations to Trump's inaugural fund, a sign that Silicon Valley's relationship with the new leader is changing after past tensions.
Trump repeatedly attacked Bezos' Amazon and The Washington Post during his first term. In 2019, Bezos took the Trump administration to court. The e-commerce giant claimed in court that the company was not selected to receive Pentagon contracts due to Bezos' past criticism of Trump.
While Amazon has contributed to the past two administrations' inaugural funds, Bezos's $1 million splash this year far exceeds the $276,000 he provided to Biden's 2021 inaugural committee. According to campaign finance records, Bezos also contributed a meager $57,000 to Trump's inaugural fund in 2017.
Now the tide has completely changed: last Wednesday, Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez went to Mar-a-Lago to have dinner with Trump and Melania. Others were surprised that Musk, who had an awkward relationship with Bezos, also appeared at the dinner that night. Musk's SpaceX is the biggest competitor of Bezos's space exploration company Blue Origin, but there was no incident between the two that night. friction.
A landmark incident in Bezos's change of attitude towards Trump was his ban in October from the editorial board of his own "Washington Post" from publishing support for Harris, a move that triggered the anger of some subscribers. Critics believe the decision stemmed from Bezos' fear of possible retaliation if Trump were elected.
Subsequently, after Trump won the election, Bezos immediately sent a message to congratulate Trump, praising Trump for "achieving an extraordinary and decisive political victory". It's the latest sign that Bezos is burying the hatchet with incoming President Trump.
Zuckerberg also donated millions of dollars
Trump’s other “mortal enemy” in Silicon Valley is now Meta (former Facebook) CEO Zuckerberg. The two have been feuding for a long time. As early as June 2020, when Trump was still President of the United States, Zuckerberg said that "We are deeply shocked and disgusted by President Trump's divisive and inflammatory remarks." However, At that time, no action had been taken against the content Trump posted.
After the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, Zuckerberg immediately banned Trump’s FB and Instagram accounts and issued a statement: “The company believes it is appropriate to allow the president to continue to use our services during this period. The risk is simply too great.” It was not until February 2023 that Trump's two accounts were unbanned.
Trump once called Facebook "the enemy of the people". He also posted on his social platform Truth Social: If he is re-elected as President of the United States, he will send "election fraudsters" to prison. He specifically named the name of Facebook founder Zuckerberg.
In his new book "Save America" released in September this year, Trump accused Zuckerberg of conspiring against him during the 2020 U.S. presidential election and warned that if Zuckerberg once again By doing so, "he will spend the rest of his life in prison".
However, Zuckerberg's speed of turning the ship around was equally astonishing. He tried to ease the tense relationship with Trump and showed his tendency to be "more willing to criticize the Democratic Party and praise the Republican Party." This also made Trump soften his attitude towards him. After Trump was assassinated for the first time in July, Zuckerberg publicly stated that the image of Trump shouting FIGHT while his face was covered in blood was the coolest thing he had ever seen! In October, Trump also began to express his goodwill, saying that he "prefers the current Zuckerberg."
As Trump won the election, Zuckerberg and Meta executives stayed at Mar-a-Lago for two days at the end of November, meeting with a number of Trump 2.0 cabinet nominees, including Secretary of State nominee Rubio. People familiar with the matter said that before dinner, Zuckerberg privately gave Trump a pair of new Meta smart glasses.
At the same time, Zuckerberg's team told the Trump Inaugural Foundation that they planned to donate $1 million. This will be Zuckerberg's first donation to the president-elect's inaugural fund. Federal campaign finance records show that Zuckerberg has donated to congressional candidates of both parties over the years but has largely avoided a presidential campaign. But Zuckerberg did not donate to Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund, nor to the 2021 Biden fund.
According to public information, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee.
Big boss in AI circle are following suit
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also followed suit and said he would donate 1 million from his personal wealth. It also marks a U-turn in politics for Altman, who has donated to Democratic candidates several times since 2013.
The OpenAI leader said Trump will "lead our country into the era of artificial intelligence, and I'm eager to support his efforts to maintain America's advantage over foreign competitors in the field." In an interview with "Fox News Sunday" During the interview, Altman said he believed Trump was “very good” at helping the United States build the infrastructure needed for the development of artificial intelligence (AI).
Perplexity, an AI company that has gained momentum recently, also donated $1 million to the Trump Inaugural Fund. The company's CFO Dmitry Shevelenko said in a statement that the company looks forward to building a relationship with the incoming administration and is committed to creating a level playing field. “We appreciate President Trump’s commitment to DOGE to improve efficiency and his openness to using AI technology to help achieve these goals.”
Shevlenko has not forgotten to step on his old rival Open AI: "Unlike other technology companies that recently donated money to President Trump's inauguration fund, we did not exist during Trump's last term, so unlike their efforts to repair the damaged relationship with Trump, we can better cooperate with the new government on common goals".
What are the demands of executives?
Although the details of the dinner conversation between Trump and Silicon Valley executives are currently unclear, it is not difficult to infer that although these CEOs have different demands, they have a highly consistent goal: hoping to build a better relationship with Trump, solve the current problems faced by the company, and allow the company to profit from it.
Trump's taking office has brought a slight turn of events for technology giants that have been embroiled in antitrust lawsuits. Currently, Amazon and Meta are facing antitrust lawsuits from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). At the end of last month, the U.S. Department of Justice formally proposed that a federal judge order the breakup of Google's business, requiring Google to force the sale of its Chrome browser and prohibit it from re-entering the browser market within five years.
For TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, the top priority is to find a solution before the "sell or ban" deadline on January 19 next year. While Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term, his attitude changed during this year's campaign.
For Apple CEO Cook, the top priority is to get Trump to put pressure on the EU: On September 10 this year, the European Court of Justice ruled that American Apple Inc must pay 13 billion euros in taxes to Ireland. In addition, Cook also hopes to get Trump's support on issues such as tariffs and the impact of Apple's product supply chain.
In addition, what excites American AI companies is that Trump intends to vigorously promote the United States' leading position in the field of artificial intelligence during his term, and has promised to increase investment in the field of artificial intelligence to cope with competition from overseas.
Even Masayoshi Son saw an opportunity. He flew thousands of miles to Mar-a-Lago and promised Trump that he would invest $100 billion in artificial intelligence and technology in the United States in the next four years and create 100,000 jobs.
Will Trump become Silicon Valley’s “Santa Claus”?
Faced with the situation where tech giants are making pilgrimages, Todd Belt, director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, said this: "Trump likes favors and flattery, which can indeed win his support. These companies have already Realize that it’s not enough to remain silent and stand by.”
Trump is a man who prefers a simple and direct approach: "Business leaders can talk more openly about what they want to do and what they want this administration to do, and the quid pro quo seems to be more above board than usual,"
The corporate donations and the promotional nature of the conference also differed from previous administrations: 'A lot of people are clearly aware that, wow! We can't be seen as an enemy by this new president.'"
Trump’s favorite storyline is this: a person who once opposed him, then saw the light, and finally surrendered and chose to stand by his side!
