(KRON) — The largest tech leaders of Silicon Valley obtained a front-row seat at President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. There was a sudden assist this administration has gained from the tech trade.
The rising relationship between tech leaders and President Trump was on full show on the inauguration. These Bay Space CEOs obtained to take a seat proper behind Trump’s household — in entrance of Trump’s cupboard nominees.
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From left, Priscilla Chan, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk attend the sixtieth Presidential Inauguration within the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photograph through AP)
Company together with Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, arrive earlier than the sixtieth Presidential Inauguration within the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photograph/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Tech and political consultants inform me this will likely foreshadow their potential hand in his administration.
“If you like Game of Thrones, what you saw was the bending of the knee to Donald Trump,” stated political analyst Michael Yaki.
Entrance and heart on the inauguration of President Trump had been tech moguls from Silicon Valley.
“You have the 10 richest people on the planet sitting in one place,” San Jose State engineering professor Ahmed Banafa stated.
Within the second row subsequent to SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk had been Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Every of those tech billionaires donated $1 million to the Trump inaugural fund as they intention to win favor over Trump.
Political analyst Michael Yaki says that is unprecedented. Yaki has attended a number of inaugurations and says he was stunned.
“Seeing the tech execs up there with the cabinet and ex-presidents,” Yaki stated. “That’s never been done before, never been seen before, and I’m sure it was not unnoticed by everyone in the room.”
Banafa says this group of huge tech billionaires would have been unlikely in Trump’s earlier time period.
“The relationship was actually not good,” Banafa stated. “There was a lot of back and forth, Silicon Valley stayed away from politics. Now it’s really in the middle. They understand that regulations are very important to keep technology rolling, especially for AI.”
Banafa says lots of this has to do with the affect of Musk — who has grow to be an in depth ally of Trump and the brand new chair of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
“Elon Musk spoke the tech language to the CEOs and they understood it,” Banafa stated. “That’s why there’s a famous picture of all of them sitting in the same row.”
“This is all about people like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg saying don’t regulate us. Just let us do our thing. Don’t make us fact-check or determine if someone is a real person or not just let us make money,” Yaki stated.
Additionally in attendance was the CEO of TikTok. The app got here again on-line over the weekend after Trump prolonged a federal ban. He has proposed the U.S. have a 50 % stake within the firm.
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“TikTok is worthless if I don’t approve it,” Trump stated. “If I do approve the deal its worth maybe a trillion dollars. A trillion! If I do a deal for the United States I think we should get half.”
Banafa says American customers generate a majority of the app’s earnings, but it surely all comes all the way down to TikTok’s Chinese language father or mother firm ByteDance and the Chinese language authorities.
“Because the Chinese government has rules that you cannot sell algorithms like TikTok without their permission. ByteDance did the same thing: they don’t want to sell it. I’ll give you some numbers here,” Banafa stated. “In 2024, TikTok made a total of $18 billion and 11 from the U.S. alone.”
The CEO of Open A.I. Sam Altman was additionally noticed on the inauguration. Banafa tells KRON4 corporations like that will probably be working to make sure Trump does not push any harsh laws on them.
