American University alumna and journalist Tara Palmeri spoke about how tech billionaires in Silicon Valley are shifting towards the Republican Party at the third event of her four-part seminar series as a Sine Institute fellow on March 25.
Teddy Schleifer, a New York Times reporter who traced the rise of conservatism in the tech industry from its lowly origins in the late 2010s to the influence of figures like Elon Musk in today’s Trump administration, joined her.
Palmeri introduced Schleifer as being a former colleague from her time at the start-up news outlet Puck and as “one of the most knowledgeable reporters covering the Trump administration.” The tech industry, she noted, accounts for an important concentration of power that was historically left-leaning and has only recently become tolerant of conservatism.
“Silicon Valley is such a power center, politically,” Palmeri said, referring to the tech industry there. “It has favored Democrats up until this moment — and they have unlimited wealth.”
Schleifer said Silicon Valley’s atmosphere was openly hostile toward conservatives in the tech industry during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, when his campaign held a Bay Area fundraiser in secret out of fear of the guests being outed and ostracized. He said it began to lighten up until the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a growing sense of distrust toward the media and other institutions.
“Lots of tech people were feeding off of that anti-media kind of sentiment — that’s where it starts,” Schleifer said.
Dissatisfaction with Joe Biden’s presidency was a strong catalyst for tech leaders to stop feeling intimidated over being conservative, Schleifer added. Despite this, endorsing Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries remained unthinkable due to the lingering stigma of his actions in office. Palmeri pointed out that it was much safer for them to endorse other Republican candidates, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“The entire establishment thought Ron DeSantis could be the white knight,” Palmeri said. “They really didn’t want to go back to the chaos of Trump.”
Schleifer said he noticed a change in the spring before the 2024 election when Trump became the presumptive nominee. Even then, when Musk began to financially support Trump — creating several political action committees and eventually offering the campaign up to $250 million — he did so alongside former DeSantis staffers and without disclosing any ties to Trump.
“He really wanted to make sure that no one knew he was funding this group for as long as possible, so he got a lot of his friends to donate money before the group officially disclosed Musk checks,” Schleifer said.
Palmeri said that Musk is setting an example for other tech leaders.
“We’re seeing, obviously, the other tech scions and tycoons following Musk,” Palmeri said. “Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, everybody seems to be following Musk’s lead — but they’re not getting as close to the administration as he is.”
Schleifer said he believes it was originally the assassination attempt against Trump that led to this change in sentiment.
When Trump eventually won the election, Schleifer notes that there was for many in the tech industry, in addition to a personal shift to the right, a strong desire to be close to the president for personal gain in areas such as artificial intelligence that were not attainable during the Biden administration. At the same time, some individuals grew more conservative over time.
“[Zuckerberg] is genuinely more conservative than he was five years ago — things like a lot of the stuff he funded about [diversity, equity and inclusion] through his philanthropy were mistakes,” Schleifer said. “He feels like the left that he grew up with under the Obama era was wrong – and these are genuine beliefs that he has that are also politically convenient because now Trump is the president.”
Palmeri observes that Musk has ingrained himself deeply into the Trump administration. She points to the fact that he stops at nothing to promote his DOGE initiative, to the extent of upsetting other staffers in the administration.
“To be there as the president’s right-hand man, above the chief of staff, you could say,” Palmeri said. “I don’t think most people on the campaign expected this.”
She also notes that Elon is very clingy towards Trump – something the president dislikes.
“He is sitting next to Trump,” Palmeri said. He walks into the room with Trump, he gets applause with Trump – he’s there.
Palmeri believes that Musk will ultimately continue to have a place in the Trump administration until at least the 2026 midterm elections.
“In this period of time, until they pass tax reforms and they get through the midterms, I think Musk is going to be around,” Palmeri said.
Sine Institute staffers believe Palmeri’s ability to interact with her guests was a large part of its success.
“I think getting the opportunity to hear her do what she does best in interviewing her guests – not only do we get to have an extremely esteemed political reporter at the school, but her guests,” said Sara Carney, a lead associate for Palmeri.
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Hannah Langenfeld, Ariana Kavoossi and Ella Rousseau.
