Tech Bros Supporting Trump
In the traditionally liberal and democratic Silicon Valley, they really stand out: the tech entrepreneurs and investors who are now loudly supporting Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. While the usual suspect Peter Thiel is not donating to any party in this US election campaign, a number of well-known names and faces from his entrepreneurial environment have formed a campaign to mobilise support for Trump and raise money.
First and foremost Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who worked with Peter Thiel on PayPal many years ago. His postings on X speak a clear language: Trump is praised above all else, anyone who criticises Trump is targeted by Musk (e.g. the New York Times). The X postings also clearly show who belongs to the circle of tech bros who also support Trump in Musk’s slipstream: for example, investor David Sacks and his podcast colleague Chamath Palihapitiya („All In“), but also crypto entrepreneurs such as the Winklevoss twins (Gemini; formerly also arch-enemies of Mark Zuckerberg) or Messari founder Ryan Selkis, who rails against Biden and his supporters (including Linkedin founder Reid Hoffman) on X. Well-known investor Bill Ackman and Marc Andreessen from Andreessen Horowitz have also more or less shown their support for Trump.
According to the website Open Secrets, which tracks US election campaign donations, there are a number of other wealthy people who officially support Trump (mainly with donations) in addition to investors and entrepreneurs from the tech world:
| Investor/Timothy Mellon | $75,000,000 |
| Uline Inc | $10,009,176 |
| Bigelow Aerospace | $9,182,000 |
| America First | $6,007,770 |
| McMahon Ventures | $5,250,000 |
| Hendricks Holding Co | $5,013,650 |
| Energy Transfer LP | $5,007,719 |
| Crownquest Operating | $5,000,936 |
| Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation | $5,000,000 |
| RAI Services Co | $3,500,000 |
| Republican Jewish Coalition | $2,737,000 |
| Dan Newlin Injury Attorneys | $2,342,390 |
| GH Palmer Assoc | $2,006,600 |
| Southern Waste Systems | $1,303,300 |
| Continental Resources | $1,199,906 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | $1,066,380 |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | $1,013,200 |
| Geosouthern Energy | $1,013,200 |
| Key Square Group | $1,006,600 |
| Alden Torch Financial | $1,003,300 |
