In a ceremony held yesterday in the Capitol Rotunda, Washington D.C., as Donald Trump swore back into office, the power dynamics of the new regime were crystal clear. Seated before the incoming Cabinet were some of the most influential figures in modern industry—the tech moguls—along with their wives and partners, granted a courtesy extended to few others. Among them were Mark Zuckerberg, chairman of Meta; Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google; and Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.
In an unmistakable snub, senior Republican governors such as Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas were relegated to an overflow room, a visual display of where the real power now resides. Last Wednesday, President Joe Biden, in his farewell address, warned of the emergence of a new “tech-industrial complex.” In reality, it is already a tangible force.
Since Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris, the MAGA court at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida has become a hub of sycophantic adulation, with the tech titans among the most enthusiastic and deferential of Trump’s supporters. The newly re-elected president has evidently worn his ring thin from the constant kisses of these moguls, who are eager to please.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, has been particularly active in the Mar-a-Lago retreat, having donated a staggering $277 million to the Republican Party in the elections. Musk has been a key figure in Trump’s inner circle, advising on appointments, liaising with foreign heads of state, and even helping to streamline the newly established Department of Government Efficiency. Alongside Musk, venture capital mogul Marc Andreesen, a long-time Musk associate, has been a frequent visitor to what some have begun calling “Dark Camelot,” helping guide the transition team and promoting the notion of a new political era through podcast interviews. The inauguration itself was largely funded by these tech titans, with Zuckerberg, Bezos, Altman, and Cook each contributing $1 million.
The contrast with Trump’s first term could not be more striking. In 2017, Zuckerberg was forced to defend Facebook against accusations of Russian interference in the election, a scandal that tarnished the tech industry’s relationship with Trump. Musk, in a rare moment of criticism, even resigned from presidential advisory councils after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.
Yet, in the years since, the tech sector has shifted dramatically. Zuckerberg, in particular, has shed any pretence of neutrality, now aligning himself unapologetically with Trump’s political agenda. Gone are the days of fact-checking and combating “fake news”; now, Zuckerberg champions free speech, even at the expense of allowing “bad stuff” on his platform. His strategy is clear: he seeks Trump’s backing to combat global efforts to censor American tech giants.
Trump, while far from being a tech-savvy president, has embraced the language of Silicon Valley. He has been encouraged by his tech allies to see artificial intelligence as the next frontier of American innovation, and deregulated crypto as the new gold rush. Trump’s latest venture, $Trump—a meme cryptocurrency of dubious value—now accounts for nearly 90% of his net worth on paper alone. His embrace of tech, which stands in stark contrast to his MAGA base’s economic nationalism, reflects a delicate balance between a right-wing populist agenda and Silicon Valley’s libertarian ethos.
His political narrative is carefully crafted, often blending the futurism of Big Tech with the nostalgia of MAGA’s conservative values. His post-inauguration rally, which featured Musk, had a moment that seemed almost designed to be controversial, with Musk making what appeared to be a fascist salute.
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Despite the fusion of tech and Trump, this alliance is unlikely to last forever. The egos involved—Trump’s and the tech moguls’—are too large, and the ideological differences too stark. Already, tensions have surfaced, notably over the H1B visa programme, with Musk clashing with Trump’s old allies, like Steve Bannon. The economic nationalism espoused by MAGA and the Silicon Valley libertarian mindset are often incompatible, and these fissures may soon lead to a rupture.
For now, however, Trump is surrounded by a crew of tech moguls who hold immense power, a power that will only grow in the coming years. They view Trump as a politician who is indifferent to history, morality, and accountability—making him the ideal figurehead for their next phase of global domination.
Yesterday marked the most dramatic political comeback in modern history. But, more significantly, it marked the dawn of a new era—an era dominated by a powerful tech oligarchy, ruthlessly planning a new gilded age for the digital elite. This era, free from restraint, will likely do exactly as it pleases.
