The heads of Big Tech, the big technology companies turned into the gurus of the new capitalism, attended Donald Trump’s inauguration this Monday and had a great role, which allows us to guess the role they aspire to in this second Trump term.
Above all, Elon Musk stood out, the richest man in the world (his fortune is estimated at $434 billion), owner of X, Tesla and Starship, turned advisor and member of Trump’s inner circle, and also called to responsibilities in his new government as director of an administrative efficiency department.
With a more discreet role, but also in the front row among the guests, the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, could be seen; Apple CEOs Tim Cook; from Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, and from Google, Sundar Pichai. Also seen, in a ‘less VIP’ area, was the founder of OpenAI and creator of the popular ChatGPT, Sam Altman.
All of them – with individual fortunes that exceed those of many UN member states – were seen in the morning, during Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol; at noon, during lunch; and during this weekend, in various inaugural events prior to the investiture.
Winning those privileged seats had not exactly come for free: all of them had donated amounts of at least one million dollars to finance the investiture ceremonies, and thus guarantee themselves a place next to the hottest sun.
In the two long months that have intervened between the November 5 elections and today’s inauguration, almost all of them have paraded through Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida), thus joining the procession of politicians, businessmen and other celebrities that was seen as an obligatory step to gain the favor or at least the understanding of the president.
A renowned Washington Post cartoonist named Ann Telnaes even had the audacity to introduce several of these magnates, including Jeff Bezos, who in addition to Amazon is the owner of that same newspaper. They all appeared with bags of money in an attitude of reverence, prostrate before a gigantic statue where one could guess – from the blue suit and red tie – the silhouette of Trump.
The Post’s editorial board did not see fit to publish such a direct satire against its owner and rejected it; Angry, Telnaes submitted her resignation. It was the significant end of a struggle where it was clear who were the winners and the losers.
Some of the technology moguls have gone further: Mark Zuckerberg, aware of which way the winds are blowing at the moment in Washington, has announced that he is eliminating the ‘fact checking’ that stopped the barrage of misinformation on Facebook and Instagram, and subsequently has put an end to minority inclusion policies among its employees.
Zuckerberg, who like Tim Cook or Jeff Bezos is attributed with a rather “progressive” past (in American terms), has evolved over time and adapted his behavior with others to that of a typical businessman: they seek to get closer to Trump at a time when some shadows in the form of regulations appear before them that can curb their appetite for profit.
Both Google, Meta, not implementing policies that protect children and adolescents from the dependency generated by social networks.
A Trump whose motto is ‘America First’ and who advocates tax cuts on principle, could, if he is convinced, take his side, both in tax policies and in stopping any attempt at regulation that limits in any way his insatiable power.
With information from EFE.
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