Silicon Valley's Shift: Tech Elites Embrace Trump for 2024

Silicon Valley's loudest investors are suddenly All-In on Donald Trump. Is tech going red?

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Andreessen and Horowitz are the latest and most prominent members of the startup investing community to publicly support Trump. Up until now, there have been pockets of vocal Trump support within Silicon Valley, including conservative provocateur Peter Thiel, the pugnacious hosts of the All-In podcast, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. And, of course, there is Elon Musk, who's made no secret of his disdain for President Joe Biden and who has pledged $45 million a month to a new Trump-aligned super PAC, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some VCs interpreted the choice of Vance as a running mate as indicating a more tech-friendly stance from a second Trump administration, according to interviews with more than a dozen Bay Area and New York-based startup investors. Delian Asparouhov, a partner at VC firm Founder's Fund, hailed the choice by posting on X: '"IT'S JD VANCE. WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY." "I think more and more people are comfortable in the valley coming out now for Trump," said a startup investor, "and as the big-known names do it, more will follow. The MAGA VCs have a lot of AUM and therefore power in our ecosystem." The entry of Andreessen Horowitz, which controls more than $56 billion and whose name is practically synonymous with startup culture, could ignite a race amongst VCs to support the once-and-future president. "It does all create permission if somebody was gonna be a Trump supporter anyway and was worried about being ostracized," said the leader of a San Francisco-based venture firm with more than $300 million under management, who wished to remain anonymous. Even so, he doesn't believe this represents a sea change for the industry but rather "just a handful of firms." Others in Silicon Valley are not so sure. "A lot of VCs right now harbor really conservative views," another venture investor told Business Insider. "There's more or less distaste for Trump the human, but he's simultaneously better for business," they said. Bradley Tusk, a political strategist turned VC who's worked for high-profile democrats, including Senator Chuck Schumer, says he's noticed a shift in recent months with more and more investors expressing support for Trump. "If they believe the probability is high that he'll win, they're looking at their portfolio companies and saying to themselves, well it'll be better for me to at least have some influence with the winner. Or they're just hoping Trump will come on their podcast," he said. Tusk has made no secret of his support for progressive causes, and in the past, he has served as a sort of unofficial ambassador between the Democratic establishment and the tech community, arranging talks and events where VCs can get facetime with high-profile policymakers. But when it comes to the current presidential race, he says he's not trying to change anyone's mind in Silicon Valley, mostly because he doesn't think it matters much. "You have two well-funded candidates with basically 100% name ID, so unless you're willing to give high eight or nine figures, it doesn't really matter. Even a VC writing a $2 million check doesn't really move the needle." Tusk points out that many VCs see more economic benefits under a Trump/Vance administration. "VCs are like every voter, you look at your life under one president and then compare it to another. From a pure venture liquidity standpoint, life was better under Trump. That's not necessarily Biden's fault, but it is the reality," he said. Many VCs point to the Biden administration's strict regulation of the crypto industry, the president's stance on AI, and what they see as the anti-business bent of FTC Commissioner Lina Khan, who has frequently sued to block mergers. '"After what's been a very choppy time in VC, with few IPOs and the FTC locking down major M&A transactions, investors are voting with their wallets," said a New York-based VC." VCs are thinking the M&A/IPO markets will reopen much faster with Trump at the helm. "JD Vance is more of a proponent of a regulation-light approach to tech, especially when it comes to crypto," said one Bay Area VC. "People have avoided building in the space given the personal risk of trying to innovate against [SEC commissioner] Gensler and the SEC's current stance, but JD Vance opens up an opportunity. The same will probably be said of anti-trust and FTC rulings moving toward a capitalist-friendly stance." Most of the VCs Business Insider spoke to were unanimously against Kahn. "We need deregulation of the FTC; it's terrible. We can't sell our companies because Lina Khan is blocking every merger," said one NY-based VC who also expressed concerns about Trump's anti-democratic leanings. "Does deregulation override social good? For many, it does," they said. "Lina Kahn is so out of control at justice," complained another Bay Area VC. "It's really, really bad for innovation." However, Vance has also expressed support for the antitrust policies of Khan, saying in February that she's "one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job." VCs, for now, don't seem to be too worried about Vance's potential anti-deregulation stance. "Picking Vance as a running mate -- makes Trump ticket more pro-Silicon Valley," said a Bay Area VC. "The shifting tide from Democrat to Republican will make your dollars go further. [VCs] are here to make money, and if they don't make money, then they're not going to have a job." Not everyone sees Vance's inclusion on the ticket as material. "Vance doesn't change my view," said one investor at Sequoia Capital, a longtime pillar of the startup ecosystem. He says he has noticed a tilt towards Trump in the industry, but it has less to do with Vance and more to do with the widespread belief that a Trump administration would be more tech-friendly. Other VCs seem to be holding out hope that Biden will drop out of the race amid concerns over his fitness for the job. "If it is Biden vs. Trump officially, I think many '"never Trumpers" will go with Trump," said a Bay Area VC. "If Biden gets swapped out for someone halfway decent, I think many will vote Democrat. There's a lot of noise in my VC chats about hope for a swap so that they don't have to vote for Trump." "I personally care dramatically more about a robust democracy that values the rights of all people than I care about my bank account (not that I think an administration that has no regard for the rule of law will, in fact, be good for anyone's bank account)," said investor David Hornik, founding partner of Lobby Capital. "JD Vance is not a friend of business. Or democracy. Or a well-functioning economy. I think the VC community is smart enough to recognize that."

Why Silicon Valley Elites Are Turning MAGA

On Monday, Donald Trump revealed that his 2024 running mate will be 39-year-old J.D. Vance, the junior senator from Ohio. Most will remember Vance, whose government career began just 18 months ago, as the writer of Hillbilly Elegy, the memoir (and, eventually, movie) that in 2016 earned him the role of elite-friendly interpreter of the white underclass. After a few years straddling the discourse as a moderate conservative pundit -- during which he publicly compared Trump to a deadly drug and privately likened him to Hitler -- Vance expediently declared his support for the former president, begged for forgiveness, ran for office as a MAGA hardliner and 2020-election denier, and won. Vance presents as an outsider-insider, a Trump-style elite class traitor, and a convert, all of which are useful identities in the Republican Party of 2024. But he's also something else: a former venture capitalist with extremely close ties to some of the most powerful people in tech. His nomination is, among other things, an invitation from the Republican party to America's tech elite -- one that an increasing number are eager to accept. Before starting a VC fund of his own, Vance worked for billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who in 2016 broke with his peers to publicly support Trump. Thiel eventually became Vance's patron, donating record-setting amounts to his Senate campaign, and his arrival on the ticket represents an enormous payoff for Thiel, whose esoteric right-wing politics have been echoed by the nominee. It also comes as Thiel finds himself with quite a bit more company: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who run one of the most influential venture firms in the world, have been telling their employees they plan to make large donations to Trump's campaign, according to The Information. Elon Musk announced his formal endorsement of Trump within an hour of Saturday's assassination attempt; meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk plans to donate up to $45 million a month to a new super-PAC led in part by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale (other major donors include billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss). Influential investor and podcaster David Sacks spoke on the first night of the RNC, while some prominent pro-Trump VCs now see things turning their way: There are two very different ways to process this change, which presages greater alignment between big tech and the Republican Party, especially, but not only, if Trump wins the election. Those in and around Silicon Valley voicing their support for Trump tend to sound a lot like Vance, describing disillusionment with the Democratic Party and progressivism. Their narratives have similar shapes -- the crazy left made me do it; I underestimated Trump; the media lied, and I believed them -- but on closer inspection, they tend to get more specific. Musk is genuinely obsessed with the threat of the "woke mind virus" but also now identifies with Trump in the incredibly narrow and personal sense that he lives in constant fear of assassination. In his speech at the RNC, Sacks vented to the Milwaukee crowd about how Democrats ruined San Francisco. There are policy objections regarding the Biden administration's regulatory approach to AI, its antitrust and tax policies, and the SEC's aggressive treatment of cryptocurrency. There's ample space to claim that this is a matter of being simply "pro-tech," whatever that may mean. In response, Trump has signaled flexibility on subjects he previously didn't care much about, flipping his positions on crypto and the TikTok ban. Whatever their stated reasons for supporting Trump, tech's new MAGA cohort tends to emphasize conversion: I was a Democrat, or at least not a Trump supporter, until I had no choice. Like Vance's conversion narrative, theirs are convenient and likely overstated. Big tech's ties to the Democratic Party are well documented but indicative above all of an industry that multiplied in size during the Obama administration, when it all but openly sought and achieved some level of regulatory lenience. California is a blue state, San Francisco is an even bluer city, and big-tech employees across the industry tend to support Democrats, but the firms they work for are large corporations whose leaders believe they could make more money with less regulation and lower taxes. While some tech leaders in charge of or affiliated with large public companies had previously been critical of Trump -- Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, for example -- they have since been cowed by a hyperpoliticized tech backlash and official threats during and after Trump's presidency. Some have retreated into political illegibility and studiously apolitical image-making. After the assassination attempt, more restrained tech leaders offered condolences and condemnations, reasonable responses to a broadly significant event but also a valuable chance to soften their tone about a movement that has been and can once again be turned against them. This brings us to the other way to process the growing MAGA-tech alliance: Of course! What took them so long? This has always been a natural fit in the ways that matter most, and now a lot of people think Trump is going to win. Silicon Valley, despite its popular reputation as a hub for consumer products, was built on defense contracting; in 2024, defense tech is once again booming. Crypto is fundamentally a libertarian technology. Tech leaders and investors are spooked by a nascent labor movement against which they have fought aggressively. They're annoyed by meddling regulators and contemptuous of the critical press. They're fed up with activist employees. That the tech industry as a whole could in any material way be considered a genuinely progressive force was at best a misunderstanding and at worst a successful political campaign to pull them further in the other direction. The tech elite's current MAGA turn is led by particular sorts of players, many of whom are already major government contractors or, as investors, see the government as both a potential funder and the largest possible client. They're people who feel relatively immune among their peers to the influences that might have been holding them back from speaking more like powerful people in other industries, in which support for Trump by the extremely wealthy is regarded not so much as a mystery as an obvious product of aligned interests and favor-seeking with a dash of more personal intra-elite solidarity. The fact that all of them except Thiel but including Vance are terminally online X posters is no small thing (their diversely aggrieved posts are worth keeping in mind when they suggest, for example, that it's really all about taxes). Some of them are VCs who don't need to worry about resistance from employees or shareholders in the ways executives at major public companies do and who don't mind the falling social cost of publicly embracing Trump -- a significant but ultimately flimsy factor in how they talked in public until now. One owns the social platform they all use to talk to one another and has made it abundantly clear that, from his rare position of extreme power, he doesn't have to care what his employees or investors think. Vance's presence on the ticket gives permission to industry figures who might have been reluctant to voice support or donate. He's one of them! He even posts like them! But it's also an implied threat to the sorts of cautious tech executives who, burned by their every encounter with partisan politics over the past decade, may otherwise want to keep quiet. Vance has staked out a position on AI that is both anti-regulatory and highly skeptical of major AI firms on specific ideological terms, praised FTC commissioner Lina Khan for some of the agency's aggressive antitrust actions, and been critical of Section 230 protections but specifically for large tech companies (he is an investor in Rumble, a YouTube alternative). It sketches out the sort of conditional promise with which Vance is personally familiar: You can have what you want in exchange for your loyalty.

Andreessen Horowitz founders explain why they are endorsing Trump, claiming the future of technology is on the ballot in November

With the future of disruptive innovation -- and therefore of America writ large -- on the ballot come November, many of Silicon Valley's leading tech figures are declaring their intention to vote for Donald Trump. The founders of venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz warned that the arbitrary hammer of what they called Biden's administrative state threatens to crush startups or "Little Tech" and reduce the United States to the status of a rapidly declining power like Germany -- or worse, a has-been like Argentina. "The future of our business, the future of new technology and the future of America is literally at stake," said Ben Horowitz during a 90 minute-podcast made specifically to articulate their reasons for endorsing the twice-impeached former president to partners, friends and even their family. "For Little Tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice -- sorry Mom, I know you're going to be mad at me for this, but we had to do it." Partner Marc Andreessen, whose Netscape Navigator internet browser helped launch the dotcom boom decades ago, argues a rising anti-capitalist wing in the Democratic Party threatens to tax into oblivion the startup and venture capital ecosystem that guarantees American dominance. The duo joined a growing list of wealthy tech entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel, David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya willing to look past Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 vote in order to support his renewed bid for the White House. (The podcast, posted Tuesday, did not address Trump's running mate, tech-investor-turned-senator JD Vance, whose anti-big-tech credentials have cheered some in the startup community). Andreessen and Horowitz provided three main examples to claim that the Biden administration would completely stifle innovation, choking off the economic growth needed to finance U.S. military might: taxes, AI and the blockchain. Chief among them is a proposal from Biden's Treasury Department to begin taxing unrealized capital gains at 25% annually from next year. "This is sort of the final straw for me, this is the thing that tipped me hard on top of everything else," said Andreessen. While the policy is billed as a tax on billionaires, Andreessen warned the $100 million threshold would affect startup founders as well, via rising valuations during funding rounds. Since founders' asset, their company, is by nature illiquid but the tax must be paid in cash, entrepreneurs would be forced to repeatedly sell off slices of equity just to meet IRS demands. "This makes startups completely implausible, because why on earth is anyone going to do this instead of going to work for Google and getting paid a lot of money in cash," he said. Moreover history suggests the $100 million threshold will gradually decline while the 25% percent cut will creep higher over time. "Number two, venture capital just ends -- it's just over. Firms like ours just don't exist," Andreessen added. This in turn would decimate Silicon Valley, creating a devil's circle which erodes a large chunk of the tax base needed to fund social services for lower income households, the argument goes. "They're going to enshrine basically an OPEC of AI straight out of the gate," Andreessen warned. "Is this ignorance or is this malevolence? Do they not understand what they're doing or are they doing this deliberately to put a cartel in place." It gets worse. They told the Biden administration regulating AI by technology rather than application ultimately means they might need to ban certain types of higher math itself. The response from the White House was equal parts bizarre and chilling, they said. "This was verbatim: 'we classified whole entire areas of physics in the nuclear era and made them state secrets and that research vanished. And we're absolutely capable of doing that again for AI -- we will classify any area of math that we think is leading in a bad direction, and it will end," Andreessen said. "I just personally can't tolerate the idea hanging out there that literally we could have linear algebra being declared a state secret." Trump's legislative agenda has promised to repeal this executive order, since in the words of Andreessen, the former president realizes the country must win the AI race with China and cannot deliberately hamstring its tech sector through such onerous regulations. Anything else and they risk ending up falling behind. "We've seen that in Europe, where they basically eliminated almost all innovation through this idea of the precautionary principle, trying to stop the future before it happens. That's probably the most concerning thing for me," Horowitz said. Finally, they praised Trump for taking a diametrically opposite view on the crypto industry. The duo, who have been massive investors in blockchain technology, argued Biden's SEC is "going outside the law using the administrative state to basically try to crush an industry" through the use of ad hoc enforcement on a case-by-case basis. For example, Biden vetoed legislation that would facilitate the custody of client crypto holdings by banks even after Senate Democrats like majority leader Chuck Schumer approved it. Then Silicon Valley Bank, the house bank of VC firms and their startups, imploded in a matter of hours following the biggest run on deposits in history, briefly destabilizing the entire global financial sector and helping topple banks as far away as Credit Suisse in Zürich. "This has a brutal assault on a nascent industry that I've just never experienced before, I'm in total shock that it's happened," Andreessen said. "It's been impossible to make progress in this with the White House. It's a totally intolerable situation." Neither mentioned, however, that Silicon Valley and crypto-backing VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz contributed to the greater scrutiny in late 2022 and early 2023 by failing. First came the bursting of the alt-coin bubble, peaking with Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal fraud that came to light after the collapse of his FTX exchange. While Andreessen and Horowitz pined over the Democratic Party's departure from the pro-business era under Clinton and Obama, they did not address problems these administrations either created or failed to fix, such as the excessive financialization of the economy and offshoring of middle-class jobs. Trump recognized the widening income gap that resulted from the decimation of America's blue-collar manufacturing industry and won in 2016 by flipping blue states red in the country's industrial heartlands, primarily through the promise of punitive tariffs. Bidenomics was an attempt to win them back by emphasizing Main Street over Wall Street, delivering real higher wages with the help of reinvigorated unions. Nevertheless, they argued without a thriving venture capital scene that forces Big Tech to compete and innovate, productivity growth would drop, undermining the country's ability to maintain the very defense spending needed to protect it from foreign enemies. "American technological pre-eminence lives or dies on the fate of whether startups can succeed or not and whether there's fertile ground for it," Andreessen said.

Silicon Valley cheers JD Vance VP pick as more tech billionaires back...

Donald Trump's selection of Sen. JD Vance as his 2024 running mate is seen as a potential windfall for Silicon Valley -- and major tech VCs are going public with their support. While best known as author of the hit memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which detailed the plights and concerns of Rust Belt voters, the Ohio Republican also has close ties to the tech industry. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a venture capitalist alongside the likes of billionaire Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund. His nomination for vice president was a bullish sign for Silicon Valley donors who are betting a second Trump presidency would adopt tech-friendly policies such as a softer touch on AI and cryptocurrency regulations. Vance also supports an antitrust crackdown on dominant Big Tech giants like Google who are accused of stifling smaller rivals -- a popular position with so-called "little tech" startups backed by tech VCs. He has also been critical of Section 230, a statute that shields tech platforms from liability for third-party content posted on their sites. "[Vance] might be the embodiment of defending little tech," one tech policy source who requested anonymity told The Post. "He is a big champion of AI and enabling tech innovation and he's tough on China." The conservative has publicly called for a breakup of Google and is one of dozens of lawmakers who supports the Kids Online Safety Act, which would establish a legal duty of care for platforms such as Meta and TikTok to protect kids online. He is one of a handful of so-called "Khanservatives," or Republican lawmakers who have expressed support for Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Lina Khan -- a Democrat who has rankled some establishment Republicans with a series of aggressive antitrust actions. "I guess I look at Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration who I think is doing a pretty good job," Vance said at an antitrust conference sponsored by Y Combinator in February. Vance's stance aligns with that of Trump, whose FTC and Justice Department launched antitrust probes into Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple during his first term in office. "President Trump and Vice President Vance will be the first crypto administration and will assemble the brightest minds in tech, AI, quantum computing, crypto, defense, transportation and biotech to create a renaissance in American dynamism and innovation," Shervin Pishevar, a tech investor and managing director of Sharpa Capital, told The Post. One notable supporter is Elon Musk, who lauded Vance as a "great choice" and said the ticket "resounds with victory." Musk formally endorsed Trump after the Republican nominee narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. The billionaire Tesla CEO has also said he is committing about $45 million toward a new Trump political action committee called America PAC, which also has backing from the Winklevoss twins and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, the Wall Street Journal reported. Elsewhere, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who co-founded the tech-focused VC fund that bears their name, have told employees that they are planning to donate large sums to unspecified PACs in support of Trump's presidential bid, The Information reported. Founders Fund partner Delian Asparouhov also celebrated the choice, writing emphatically on X: "WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY." Omeed Malik, president of 1789 Capital, added: "He has authenticity in the MAGA ecosystem based on his lived experiences and can be the demographic bridge our country needs." Other notable tech VCs to back the Trump ticket include "All In" podcast hosts David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya -- who recently hosted a $12 million fundraiser with Vance's encouragement. Sacks has described Vance as an "American patriot." A veteran of the US Marine Corps, Vance graduated from Yale Law School in 2013 and eventually went to work as a principal from 2016 to 2017 at Thiel's investment firm Mithril Capital. By 2020, Vance had started his own Ohio-based fund called Narya Capital, which drew major backing from Thiel and Andreessen as well as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and other Silicon Valley notables. "He's Thiel's guy," one VC source said. "He gave him a business, job, fund. The benefit is Trump picked someone very smart. I think it's hard to be pro-tech and pro-Rust Belt. I don't know if there is a way to thread the needle... I guess we will see." A Thiel spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. In 2021, Vance-led Narya reportedly made a "significant" investment in Rumble, an online video platform and YouTube competitor favored by conservatives. Thiel also invested in a personal capacity. Narya's portfolio also includes a stake in Strive Asset Management, the fund started by former GOP presidential candidate and fellow Trump backer Vivek Ramaswamy that pressures corporate giants like Apple and Disney to keep politics out of business. In 2022, Vance disclosed that he owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in bitcoin. Meanwhile, President Biden has received fresh infusions from George Soros, who donated $5 million to the Biden-friendly Future Forward PAC, and Schmidt, who recently made six-figure donations to Biden's campaign and the Democratic party, Bloomberg reported.

Andreessen Horowitz founders explain in video why they chose Trump over Biden

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Andreessen recounted his decades of support for Democratic presidential candidates, including an endorsement of Barack Obama in 2008 and his support for Hillary Clinton in 2016. But in the early 2010s, he said, he started noticing criticism of tech billionaires who were donating their wealth through philanthropy instead of paying more in taxes. Andreessen said that the "final straw" for switching his support to Trump was Biden's plan for taxing unrealized capital gains. The plan would mean that venture capitalists' equity stakes get "whittled down to nothing," he said. "This makes startups completely implausible, because why on Earth is anybody going to go do this instead of going to work for Google and getting paid a lot of money every year in cash?" Andreessen said. Trump isn't the first GOP presidential candidate that Andreessen has supported. He donated money to a political action committee, or PAC, to back Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign. Andreessen also said he isn't happy with the proposals in Washington, largely from Democrats, to regulate cryptocurrencies. By contrast, he said, he and Horowitz were impressed by the Republican stance on crypto in the party's latest platform. Under the heading "Champion Innovation," the document says that the GOP "will end Democrats' unlawful and unAmerican crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency." "We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control," it continues. "It's just like a flat-out blanket endorsement of the entire space, like a complete across-the-board uniform embrace of the entire thing," Andreessen said. "It's an absolute 180 from what we've been experiencing." The pair said that they haven't been able to meet with President Biden, but they have had dinner with Trump and discussed a variety of topics, from AI to crypto, Horowitz said. Andreessen and Horowitz are the latest wealthy figures in Silicon Valley to throw their support behind Donald Trump. Elon Musk formally endorsed Trump following the assassination attempt on the former president and has reportedly said he'll give $45 million each month to a pro-Trump PAC. Silicon Valley executives, venture capitalists, and others have often lent their support to Democratic candidates in the past. But the recent move toward Trump's GOP marks a shift -- and a friction point -- for the industry. Horowitz acknowledged that friction in the episode. "For Little Tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice," he said. "And sorry, Mom, I know you're going to be mad at me for this, but we had to do it," he added, looking into the camera.

With Trump VP pick J.D. Vance, Silicon Valley conservatives land a 'tech bro' on the ticket

The Trump-Vance ticket, supported by Silicon Valley conservatives and nominated by the Republican National Convention, is poised to influence tech policy. Vance, who contributed to a $12M Trump fundraiser and has Bitcoin holdings, supports easing progressive constraints and a potential Google breakup. He has strong ties to Peter Thiel and Menlo Ventures.Donald Trump's choice of J.D. Vance for a running mate raised the hopes of Silicon Valley conservatives on Tuesday that they stand to gain having a fellow "tech bro" within reach of the White House for the first time. "WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY," Delian Asparouhov, a partner at billionaire investor Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund, wrote on social media site X. Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," a graduate of Yale Law School and later a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance has had a rapid ascent for American politics. At 39, he has served but two years in the U.S. Senate representing the state of Ohio. The Republican National Convention on Monday formally nominated Trump and Vance as their ticket in the Nov. 5 election to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Some right-leaning investors began re-circulating old tweets of Vance's and set their sights on friendlier regulations ranging from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency. "He has a direct line to some important influencers as he's evaluating or thinking through some of the policy around tech," said Matt Murphy, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, noting the traditional gap between Washington and Silicon Valley. On the campaign trail, Vance has used his background to serve as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election. Republicans comprise a minority in the overwhelmingly left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area, although conservatives in the tech industry, including Thiel, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have begun to raise their voices more. Buoyed by the promise of technology, they complain about what they view as unnecessary constraints placed on their businesses by progressive politicians and employees. Vance has ridden that wave, aided by Thiel, who poured some $15 million into Vance's successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2022 and invested in the VC firm Narya that he founded in 2019. Silicon Valley conservatives say they see Vance as one of their own even when they differ on some policies. Despite his background, Vance has said that large tech companies have too much influence and called for Google to be broken up, positions at odds with conservatives who chafe at government regulation. Venture capitalist and crypto investor Tim Draper, who backed former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said he was hopeful Vance "is more VC than lawyer." "A good understanding of the way freedom and startups drive growth in our economy is critical for the continued success of the Silicon Valley, our nation's 'golden goose,'" Draper said. Draper saw Vance's crypto investments as a sign that he "probably groks (intuitively understands) the economy of the future to some degree," he said, using a term popular in tech circles. Grok is also the name of the ChatGPT challenger from Musk's startup xAI. Vance held more than $100,000 in Bitcoin as of 2022, according to his federal disclosure from October 2023. The Trump-Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance's ties to Silicon Valley, his proposed tech policies and whether he still holds cryptocurrency. When asked whether the Trump-Vance ticket would seek to break up Google, Trump's son and adviser Donald Jr., who favored Vance for the No. 2 job, told Reuters at the convention in Milwaukee: "I'll let them discuss some of the intricacies of the platform ... but I like his (Vance's) understanding of tech." Vance introduced Donald Trump Jr. to entrepreneur and investor David Sacks and helped to organize a June fundraiser at Sacks' San Francisco mansion that raised $12 million for the former president. Sacks thanked Vance in his speech at the event, according to a source familiar with it, saying "this all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump." The former president used the June event to pitch himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats' attempts to regulate the sector, Reuters reported at the time.

With Trump VP pick JD Vance, Silicon Valley conservatives land a 'tech bro' on the ticket

Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," a graduate of Yale Law School and later a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance has had a rapid ascent for American politics. At 39, he has served but two years in the U.S. Senate representing the state of Ohio.Donald Trump's choice of J.D. Vance for a running mate raised the hopes of Silicon Valley conservatives on Tuesday that they stand to gain having a fellow "tech bro" within reach of the White House for the first time. "WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY," Delian Asparouhov, a partner at billionaire investor Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund, wrote on social media site X. Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," a graduate of Yale Law School and later a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance has had a rapid ascent for American politics. At 39, he has served but two years in the U.S. Senate representing the state of Ohio. The Republican National Convention on Monday formally nominated Trump and Vance as their ticket in the Nov. 5 election to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Some right-leaning investors began re-circulating old tweets of Vance's and set their sights on friendlier regulations ranging from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency. "He has a direct line to some important influencers as he's evaluating or thinking through some of the policy around tech," said Matt Murphy, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, noting the traditional gap between Washington and Silicon Valley. On the campaign trail, Vance has used his background to serve as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election. Republicans comprise a minority in the overwhelmingly left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area, although conservatives in the tech industry, including Thiel, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have begun to raise their voices more. Buoyed by the promise of technology, they complain about what they view as unnecessary constraints placed on their businesses by progressive politicians and employees. Vance has ridden that wave, aided by Thiel, who poured some $15 million into Vance's successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2022 and invested in the VC firm Narya that he founded in 2019. Silicon Valley conservatives say they see Vance as one of their own even when they differ on some policies. Despite his background, Vance has said that large tech companies have too much influence and called for Google to be broken up, positions at odds with conservatives who chafe at government regulation. Venture capitalist and crypto investor Tim Draper, who backed former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said he was hopeful Vance "is more VC than lawyer." "A good understanding of the way freedom and startups drive growth in our economy is critical for the continued success of the Silicon Valley, our nation's 'golden goose,'" Draper said. Draper saw Vance's crypto investments as a sign that he "probably groks (intuitively understands) the economy of the future to some degree," he said, using a term popular in tech circles. Grok is also the name of the ChatGPT challenger from Musk's startup xAI. Vance held more than $100,000 in Bitcoin as of 2022, according to his federal disclosure from October 2023. The Trump-Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance's ties to Silicon Valley, his proposed tech policies and whether he still holds cryptocurrency. When asked whether the Trump-Vance ticket would seek to break up Google, Trump's son and adviser Donald Jr., who favored Vance for the No. 2 job, told Reuters at the convention in Milwaukee: "I'll let them discuss some of the intricacies of the platform ... but I like his (Vance's) understanding of tech." Vance introduced Donald Trump Jr. to entrepreneur and investor David Sacks and helped to organize a June fundraiser at Sacks' San Francisco mansion that raised $12 million for the former president. Sacks thanked Vance in his speech at the event, according to a source familiar with it, saying "this all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump." The former president used the June event to pitch himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats' attempts to regulate the sector, Reuters reported at the time.

With Trump VP pick J.D. Vance, Silicon Valley conservatives land a 'tech bro' on the ticket

Donald Trump's choice of J.D. Vance for a running mate raised the hopes of Silicon Valley conservatives on Tuesday that they stand to gain having a fellow "tech bro" within reach of the White House for the first time. "WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY," Delian Asparouhov, a partner at billionaire investor Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund, wrote on social media site X. Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," a graduate of Yale Law School and later a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance has had a rapid ascent for American politics. At 39, he has served but two years in the U.S. Senate representing the state of Ohio. The Republican National Convention on Monday formally nominated Trump and Vance as their ticket in the Nov. 5 election to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Some right-leaning investors began re-circulating old tweets of Vance's and set their sights on friendlier regulations ranging from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency. "He has a direct line to some important influencers as he's evaluating or thinking through some of the policy around tech," said Matt Murphy, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, noting the traditional gap between Washington and Silicon Valley. On the campaign trail, Vance has used his background to serve as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election. Republicans comprise a minority in the overwhelmingly left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area, although conservatives in the tech industry, including Thiel, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have begun to raise their voices more. Buoyed by the promise of technology, they complain about what they view as unnecessary constraints placed on their businesses by progressive politicians and employees. Vance has ridden that wave, aided by Thiel, who poured some $15 million into Vance's successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2022 and invested in the VC firm Narya that he founded in 2019. Silicon Valley conservatives say they see Vance as one of their own even when they differ on some policies. Despite his background, Vance has said that large tech companies have too much influence and called for Google to be broken up, positions at odds with conservatives who chafe at government regulation. Venture capitalist and crypto investor Tim Draper, who backed former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said he was hopeful Vance "is more VC than lawyer." "A good understanding of the way freedom and startups drive growth in our economy is critical for the continued success of the Silicon Valley, our nation's 'golden goose,'" Draper said. Draper saw Vance's crypto investments as a sign that he "probably groks (intuitively understands) the economy of the future to some degree," he said, using a term popular in tech circles. Grok is also the name of the ChatGPT challenger from Musk's startup xAI. Vance held more than $100,000 in Bitcoin as of 2022, according to his federal disclosure from October 2023. The Trump-Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance's ties to Silicon Valley, his proposed tech policies and whether he still holds cryptocurrency. When asked whether the Trump-Vance ticket would seek to break up Google, Trump's son and adviser Donald Jr., who favored Vance for the No. 2 job, told Reuters at the convention in Milwaukee: "I'll let them discuss some of the intricacies of the platform ... but I like his (Vance's) understanding of tech." Vance introduced Donald Trump Jr. to entrepreneur and investor David Sacks and helped to organize a June fundraiser at Sacks' San Francisco mansion that raised $12 million for the former president. Sacks thanked Vance in his speech at the event, according to a source familiar with it, saying "this all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump." The former president used the June event to pitch himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats' attempts to regulate the sector, Reuters reported at the time. (Additional reporting by Krystal Hu, Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Helen Coster in Milwaukee; Writing by Katie Paul in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)

Andreessen Horowitz founders explain in video why they chose Trump over Biden | Business Insider India

The founders of Andreessen Horowitz say their choice to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign came down to a few issues, including taxes and cryptocurrency regulation. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz explained their choice in an episode of "The Ben & Marc Show" released on Monday. The episode came the same day as a report that Andreessen and Horowitz are preparing to donate to PACs that are supporting Trump's presidential campaign. Andreessen recounted his decades of support for Democratic presidential candidates, including an endorsement of Barack Obama in 2008 and his support for Hillary Clinton in 2016. But in the early 2010s, he said, he started noticing criticism of tech billionaires who were donating their wealth through philanthropy instead of paying more in taxes. Andreessen said that the "final straw" for switching his support to Trump was Biden's plan for taxing unrealized capital gains. The plan would mean that venture capitalists' equity stakes get "whittled down to nothing," he said. "This makes startups completely implausible, because why on Earth is anybody going to go do this instead of going to work for Google and getting paid a lot of money every year in cash?" Andreessen said. Trump isn't the first GOP presidential candidate that Andreessen has supported. He donated money to a political action committee, or PAC, to back Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign. Andreessen also said he isn't happy with the proposals in Washington, largely from Democrats, to regulate cryptocurrencies. By contrast, he said, he and Horowitz were impressed by the Republican stance on crypto in the party's latest platform. Under the heading "Champion Innovation," the document says that the GOP "will end Democrats' unlawful and unAmerican crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency." "We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control," it continues. "It's just like a flat-out blanket endorsement of the entire space, like a complete across-the-board uniform embrace of the entire thing," Andreessen said. "It's an absolute 180 from what we've been experiencing." The pair said that they haven't been able to meet with President Biden, but they have had dinner with Trump and discussed a variety of topics, from AI to crypto, Horowitz said. Andreessen and Horowitz are the latest wealthy figures in Silicon Valley to throw their support behind Donald Trump. Elon Musk formally endorsed Trump following the assassination attempt on the former president and has reportedly said he'll give $45 million each month to a pro-Trump PAC. Silicon Valley executives, venture capitalists, and others have often lent their support to Democratic candidates in the past. But the recent move toward Trump's GOP marks a shift -- and a friction point -- for the industry. Horowitz acknowledged that friction in the episode. "For Little Tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice," he said. "And sorry, Mom, I know you're going to be mad at me for this, but we had to do it," he added, looking into the camera.

With Trump VP Pick J.D. Vance, Silicon Valley Conservatives Land a 'Tech Bro' on the Ticket

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Donald Trump's choice of J.D. Vance for a running mate raised the hopes of Silicon Valley conservatives on Tuesday that they stand to gain having a fellow "tech bro" within reach of the White House for the first time. "WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY," Delian Asparouhov, a partner at billionaire investor Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund, wrote on social media site X. Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," a graduate of Yale Law School and later a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance has had a rapid ascent for American politics. At 39, he has served but two years in the U.S. Senate representing the state of Ohio. The Republican National Convention on Monday formally nominated Trump and Vance as their ticket in the Nov. 5 election to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Some right-leaning investors began re-circulating old tweets of Vance's and set their sights on friendlier regulations ranging from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency. "He has a direct line to some important influencers as he's evaluating or thinking through some of the policy around tech," said Matt Murphy, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, noting the traditional gap between Washington and Silicon Valley. On the campaign trail, Vance has used his background to serve as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election. Republicans comprise a minority in the overwhelmingly left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area, although conservatives in the tech industry, including Thiel, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have begun to raise their voices more. Buoyed by the promise of technology, they complain about what they view as unnecessary constraints placed on their businesses by progressive politicians and employees. Vance has ridden that wave, aided by Thiel, who poured some $15 million into Vance's successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2022 and invested in the VC firm Narya that he founded in 2019. Silicon Valley conservatives say they see Vance as one of their own even when they differ on some policies. Despite his background, Vance has said that large tech companies have too much influence and called for Google to be broken up, positions at odds with conservatives who chafe at government regulation. Venture capitalist and crypto investor Tim Draper, who backed former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said he was hopeful Vance "is more VC than lawyer." "A good understanding of the way freedom and startups drive growth in our economy is critical for the continued success of the Silicon Valley, our nation's 'golden goose,'" Draper said. Draper saw Vance's crypto investments as a sign that he "probably groks (intuitively understands) the economy of the future to some degree," he said, using a term popular in tech circles. Grok is also the name of the ChatGPT challenger from Musk's startup xAI. Vance held more than $100,000 in Bitcoin as of 2022, according to his federal disclosure from October 2023. The Trump-Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance's ties to Silicon Valley, his proposed tech policies and whether he still holds cryptocurrency. When asked whether the Trump-Vance ticket would seek to break up Google, Trump's son and adviser Donald Jr., who favored Vance for the No. 2 job, told Reuters at the convention in Milwaukee: "I'll let them discuss some of the intricacies of the platform ... but I like his (Vance's) understanding of tech." Vance introduced Donald Trump Jr. to entrepreneur and investor David Sacks and helped to organize a June fundraiser at Sacks' San Francisco mansion that raised $12 million for the former president. Sacks thanked Vance in his speech at the event, according to a source familiar with it, saying "this all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump." The former president used the June event to pitch himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats' attempts to regulate the sector, Reuters reported at the time. (Additional reporting by Krystal Hu, Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Helen Coster in Milwaukee; Writing by Katie Paul in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)

Silicon Valley backs JD Vance, more tech billionaires back Trump - ExBulletin

President Donald Trump's selection of Sen. J.D. Vance as his 2024 running mate is seen as a windfall for Silicon Valley, with major tech venture capital firms voicing their support. The Ohio Republican is best known as the author of the hit memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which detailed the plight and concerns of Rust Belt voters, but he also has close ties to the tech industry. Before entering politics, he worked as a venture capitalist alongside billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund. JD Vance is a former tech venture capitalist. Reuters The vice presidential nomination was a bullish sign for Silicon Valley donors who hope that a reelection of Trump would lead to tech-friendly policies, such as loosening regulations on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies. Vance also supports antitrust crackdowns on dominant big tech companies like Google that are accused of stifling smaller rivals -- a position popular with so-called "little tech" startups backed by technology venture capital firms. He also criticized Section 230, a law that gives tech platforms immunity from liability for third-party content posted on their sites. [Vance] A technology policy source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post that Trump may embody the defense of small tech: He's a champion of AI and innovation, and has been tough on China. The conservative lawmaker has publicly called for breaking up Google and is one of dozens of lawmakers supporting the Child Online Safety Act, which would establish a legal duty of care for platforms like Meta and TikTok to protect children online. He is one of the so-called "Khanservatives," or Republican lawmakers, who have voiced support for Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, a Democrat who has infuriated mainstream Republicans with a series of aggressive antitrust actions. "I view Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration who is doing a pretty good job," Vance said at an antitrust conference hosted by Y Combinator in February. Silicon Valley investors cheered Trump's choice of J.D. Vance as his running mate. Ron Sachs - CNP for the NY Post Vance's positions are consistent with those of President Trump, whose FTC and Justice Department launched antitrust investigations into Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple during his first term in office. President Trump and Vice President Vance will be the first crypto administration and will bring together the best and brightest minds in technology, AI, quantum computing, cryptocurrency, defense, transportation and biotechnology to create a renaissance of American dynamism and innovation, tech investor and EdisonAlpha Fund managing director Shervin Pishevar told the Post. One prominent supporter was Elon Musk, who praised Vance as an excellent choice and said the nomination had the ring of victory. Musk formally endorsed Trump after the Republican candidate narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. According to The Wall Street Journal, the billionaire Tesla CEO also said he will donate about $45 million to Trump's new political action committee, called America PAC, which also has the backing of the Winklevoss twins and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. Elon Musk said the Trump-Vance pairing "sounds like a win." AP Meanwhile, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who co-founded a technology-focused venture capital fund, told employees they planned to make a large donation to an unspecified political action committee to support Trump's candidacy, The Information reported. Founders Fund partner Delian Asparoukhov also praised the choice, writing emphatically to X: "Ex-tech VC in the White House. Greatest country on earth, baby." Added Omeed Malik, president of 1789 Capital: "He has credibility in the MAGA ecosystem based on his experience and can be a bridge builder for the demographic our country needs." Other prominent tech venture capitalists backing the Trump campaign include All In podcast host David Sachs and Chamath Palihapitiya, who recently hosted a $12 million fundraiser backed by Vance. Sachs described Vance as an American patriot. Vance, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, graduated from Yale Law School in 2013 and worked as a principal at Thiels' investment firm, Mithril Capital, from 2016 to 2017. Vance has close ties to billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Getty Images By 2020, Mr. Vance had launched his own fund, Ohio-based Naria Capital, and had received significant backing from Silicon Valley luminaries including Mr. Thiel, Mr. Andreessen and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "He's a Thiels guy, one venture capital source said. They gave him the business, the job, the money. It's an advantage that Trump picked smart people. I think it's hard to be in tech and in the Rust Belt. I don't know if there's a way to do both... We'll have to wait and see." A spokesman for Thiel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In 2021, Vance's Nalia reportedly invested heavily in Rumble, an online video platform popular with conservatives and a YouTube competitor. Thiel also invested as a personal investor. Marc Andreessen reportedly told employees he supports Trump Vance. Anadolu via Getty Images Narya's portfolio also includes shares in Strive Asset Management, a fund founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate and Trump supporter, which pressures large companies like Apple and Disney to keep politics out of their business. In 2022, Vance revealed he owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Bitcoin. Meanwhile, President Biden is receiving a new cash infusion from George Soros, who has donated $5 million to the pro-Biden Future Forward PAC, and Schmidt, who recently made a six-figure donation to the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party, Bloomberg reported. What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

Trump Running Mate J.D. Vance's Antitrust Views Divide Business Leaders

It is an election year -- and political uncertainty is top of mind for businesses. With the news Monday (July 15) that presidential candidate Donald Trump has picked Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), a former lawyer and venture capitalist, as his running mate, the potential implications of the Republican party's 2024 ticket across the business and regulatory landscape is top-of-mind for firms. That's because Sen. Vance, who has embraced positive views of both the cryptocurrency space and Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is viewed by some as a maverick who departs from traditional Republican economic views. The 39-year-old VP pick, who worked at Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital Management and also started his own $93 million venture fund, Narya Capital, with backing from Thiel and other Silicon Valley luminaries including Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen, has notably expressed concern that incumbent, large tech companies have too much influence in politics and across the operating landscape. "It's time to break Google up," Vance tweeted on X this February. He has made similar comments about Meta, implying the parent company of Facebook and other popular social platforms should be "split up." Vance's comparatively aggressive stance on antitrust enforcement puts him at odds with many in his own party, and comes as Big Tech companies are increasingly under antitrust and regulatory scrutiny around the world. He broke from more traditional Republican party ranks earlier this year when he described FTC Chair Khan as "doing a pretty good job" and the "best person" in the Biden Administration. Vance also stressed that his view of antitrust encompasses not only helping small firms compete, but also prioritizing workers and the quality of consumer goods. Representatives for the VP candidate did not immediately reply to PYMNTS' request for comment. Read more: Tech Titans in the Crosshairs: DOJ and FTC Ready to Rumble Over AI Dominance Vance, whose 2022 Senate campaign was bankrolled in part by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, has had his political rise cheered on by his former Silicon Valley colleagues. Founders Fund partner Delian Asparouhov tweeted on X in response to Vance's VP nod that, "We have a former Tech VC in the White House. Greatest country on earth." Still, Vance's unorthodox approach to antitrust -- particularly as it relates to Big Tech -- reflects a growing tension between the conservative party's impulse to mitigate the impact and power of regulatory agencies and an embrace of leveraging antitrust laws to challenge powerful, incumbent businesses. Vance currently sits on three Senate committees: the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and the Senate Special Committee on Aging. As recently as this March, the VP nominee and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse introduced the bi-partisan Stop Subsidizing Giant Mergers Act, which would end tax-free treatment for corporate mergers and acquisitions involving firms with combined average annual gross receipts exceeding $500 million during the prior three years. "This legislation is a no-brainer, as it's pretty obvious taxpayers shouldn't subsidize corporate mergers when America is in the midst of a monopoly crisis. There's really not much more to say, Congress should pass this one immediately," said Matt Stoller, Research Director of the American Economic Liberties Project, which endorses the bill. "We are very concerned about J.D. Vance playing an outsized role in a Trump administration," one big bank lobbyist told the Financial Times (FT). "Trump populism and Vance populism are not the same." Both the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under Trump's prior term as president initiated investigations into several Big Tech companies, including Amazon, Apple Meta and Google, and eventually sued them over alleged antitrust violations -- violations which the tech companies deny. See also: Middle-Market CFOs Tag Competitive Positioning Among Top Drivers of Uncertainty Notably, Vance -- whose 2022 financial disclosure revealed that he at the time held between $100,001 and $250,000 in bitcoin -- has maintained a positive view on the digital asset sector throughout his political career, and voted as a Senator accordingly. In May, Vance was among the five dozen senators who voted to overturn the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121), which guides how banks should handle customers' crypto assets, requiring them to treat these assets as liabilities. While the resolution passed, President Biden ultimately vetoed it. At the start of the year, in February, Vance spearheaded a small group of other Republican senators who penned a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, raising concerns over the failed case it brought against cryptocurrency platform Digital Licensing, also known as Debt Box, where a judge found that SEC lawyers used false statements to justify freezing assets linked to the company.

Analysis | What Trump VP pick J.D. Vance means for Silicon Valley

Former president Donald Trump's selection on Monday of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate brings one of the Republican Party's most outspoken critics of the tech giants -- and paradoxically a lawmaker tightly connected to some Silicon Valley power players -- onto the GOP ticket. Vance has deep ties to Silicon Valley, having worked at PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel's investment firm in San Francisco before entering the Senate. He has already put those connections to use this election cycle, helping the former president fundraise in the Bay Area. Thiel and Vance also both invested in video-sharing platform Rumble, a YouTube rival popular on the right. But since entering the policy fray, Vance has emerged as a champion for conservatives clamoring for tougher government oversight of the tech sector -- a stance that at times has put him at odds with the broader Republican Party. Like many Republican officials, Vance has bashed social media companies over allegations they disproportionately censor conservative viewpoints, and he has called for curtailing Section 230 -- the legal shield that protects tech companies from lawsuits over user content. Vance has taken the argument against that shield a step further, joining Democratic and Republican tech critics alike in urging federal negotiators to stop including liability protections similar to Section 230 in U.S. trade agreements with foreign governments. Vance is also one of the dozens of senators supporting a major Senate bill aimed at increasing safeguards for children on tech platforms, known as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). But his views on competition issues have made him stand out from other contenders Trump considered for the vice-presidential nod, conservative activists and former GOP officials said. As a Senate candidate, Vance backed efforts to break up the tech giants and co-authored a legal brief calling for Google to be treated as a public utility -- an aggressive approach that has gained traction in conservative legal circles. In the Senate, Vance has heaped praise on Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan, a Democrat who has dramatically dialed up the agency's enforcement against the tech giants but faced mounting opposition from some Republicans who say she has been overzealous. Speaking at an event in February, Vance called Khan the "best person" in the Biden administration and said she was "doing a pretty good job," according to Politico. His views largely align with a growing group of Republicans taking aim at major corporations and backing more aggressive federal enforcers who call themselves "Khanservatives." Evan Swarztrauber, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation nonprofit group, said Vance's tech views reflect changing attitudes on the right about threats from the private sector -- where Republicans have historically championed a hands-off approach. "J.D. Vance represents this rethinking in that he believes that of course government can be a threat to liberty, but also unchecked corporate power can be as well," said Swarztrauber, who was an adviser to former Republican Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. American Principles Project policy director Jon Schweppe, whose conservative think tank has advocated for antitrust legislation targeting the tech giants, called Trump's selection of Vance "exciting" and said he's likely to be an ally to critics of the tech giants on an array of issues. "For those of us who really care about the tech issue -- censorship, concentrated power, protecting kids online -- Vance checks the box on all of that," said Schweppe. It's unclear how much influence Vance would wield over tech policy as vice president in a potential Trump second term. But Schweppe argued that the Vance pick could shape how aggressively the party goes after industry giants for years to come, particularly if he were to emerge as a successor to Trump. "If we're ever going to get anything done on tech, it has to come from the top, it has to have a president who's willing to use political capital to get this done, and I think Vance could be somebody where that's the case down the road," he said. The FBI says it has 'gained access' to the Trump rally shooter's phone (The Verge) Rep. Wexton, confronting degenerative disease, finds her voice through AI (Gregory S. Schneider) Musk, other pro-Trump billionaires have helped shape shooting narrative (Elizabeth Dwoskin and Faiz Siddiqui) Amazon's health clinic pushed a misleading account of call center errors (Caroline O'Donovan) Trump Media shares surge on 1st day of trading after assassination attempt (AP) How Microsoft's Satya Nadella Became Tech's Steely Eyed A.I. Gambler (New York Times) Google Near $23 Billion Deal for Cybersecurity Startup Wiz (Wall Street Journal) 'BlueAnon' conspiracy theories flood social media after Trump rally shooting (Taylor Lorenz) Liars and trolls overwhelm social media after Trump rally shooting (Drew Harwell, Naomi Nix and Cat Zakrzewski)

Is J.D. Vance pro-business? Trump's VP pick is hard to pin down

Good morning. J.D. Vance is a millennial, a populist, a bestselling author, a former Marine-turned-venture capitalist, a senator and now Donald Trump's vice-presidential pick. In choosing the 39-year-old Republican from Ohio as his running mate, Trump also picked a successor who echoes his views and MAGA stance. It's a sign of Trump's growing confidence that he chose a VP who isn't from a critical swing state, instead picking a contender whose message resonates with white working-class voters. While Vance has consistently called for a "reindustrialization" of America, he can be a tough man to pin down on the how to do it. On worker pay, for example, he has called for "upward pressure on wages" and "downward pressure on services" to create efficiencies. But he opposes government intervention in making it easier to work, calling universal daycare "a class war against normal people." (He also opposes abortion and some LGBTQ+ rights.) As Service Employees International Union President April Verrett argued last night, "Vance may portray himself as a working class hero, but his record tells another story." Others might disagree. As a VC, Vance worked alongside tech billionaires like Peter Thiel and Steve Case. But he's also been a critic of Big Tech and has taken tough stances on immigration and antitrust enforcement that goes against the zeitgeist in Silicon Valley. He's called for a lower dollar, higher taxes on corporate mergers, and more tariffs. Vance's most important role right now is to support Trump. Having already said that he would have challenged the results of the 2020 election, Vance has his boss's back. With more money now pouring into Trump's coffers since Saturday's assassination attempt -- Elon Musk plans to donate $45 million monthly until the election -- attention will naturally shift to the man who's topping the GOP ticket. The pressure for business leaders will be to pay attention to the issues while staying neutral on the politics. In a new survey out this morning from the Weber Shandwick Collective, 61% of U.S. adults said they are worried that the election will get violent, and 59% fear the election will undermine American democracy and rule of law. About 69% of both consumers and employees agree that American businesses must take a stand to protect democracy -- with 80% of Democrats and those who lean Democratic and 62% Republicans and those leaning that way taking that stance. Americans want business to take a stand while remaining neutral. Maybe they know that long periods of violence are bad for the markets. Maybe they want to look at the issues and consider the candidates themselves. The cybersecurity sector is "too fragmented" and needs "consolidation," says Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference on Monday. Rappaport said customers will prefer to get all their security needs through a single platform, especially as more move their data to the cloud. The cybersecurity founder repeatedly declined to comment on Alphabet's reported interest acquiring his startup for about $23 billion. Fortune Burberry's CEO turnover Jonathan Ackroyd, CEO of British fashion brand Burberry, stepped down Monday after the company issued its third profit warning so far this year. Joshua Schulman, the former CEO of Michael Kors, will replace him. Burberry's shares have fallen 70% in the past year, as demand in China and U.S. slumped. Fortune What to say after the assassination Experts suggest that business leaders pause before commenting on the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. It may be better to not say anything: Commenting now may set a precedent for political-charged events in the future, warns Sam Schwartz-Fenwick, an employment lawyer at Seyfarth Shaw. When leaders do step in, they should consider taking the "third side," speaking for the whole community. Fortune California AI bill SB-1047 sparks fierce debate, Senator likens it to 'Jets vs. Sharks' feud by Sharon Goldman Experts worry that a U.S.-China cold war could turn hot: 'Everyone's waiting for the shoe to drop in Asia' by Lionel Lim Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev touts crypto and tokenization as the natural transition for financial services: 'An obvious technology advantage' by Leo Schwartz Elon Musk and Bill Ackman quickly endorsed Trump after his assassination attempt, but expect most CEOs to stay out of the fray by Phil Wahba The former president of Tesla talks about the importance of having 'horizontal mentors' by Emma Burleigh How the Celsius CEO turned a cult-favorite energy drink into a stock-market lightning rod with 6,000% growth by Jane Thier This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.