In View
How Silicon Valley Swung From Obama to Trump
Democratic techno-optimism soured after 2016, and the schism grew from there.
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From a distance, there’s plenty that’s familiar about Donald Trump’s second presidency. The chaos and tumult, the bullying pronouncements, the neck-snapping policy reversals, the dizzying sensation of the treadmill suddenly cranking up to full speed—all vintage Trump.
What’s different this time is the force driving much of the early action. In policy and style, Trump’s first presidency was dominated by a noisy crowd of MAGA populists. But Trump 2.0 features a rival power center led by Elon Musk and composed of Silicon Valley tech and crypto folks, many of them new to Washington and eager to move fast and break things.