Tech CEO Amjad Masad revealed to Tucker Carlson on Thursday why he believes Silicon Valley is now turning to support former President Donald Trump for the 2024 election.
Masad, who heads the AI coding start-up Replit, appeared on “The Tucker Carlson Show” to discuss his experience within the tech industry and the changes he’s seen over the last few years. During the interview Masad called out the Democrats’ strong push to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), which appears to be the leading factor as to why more of Silicon Valley is deciding to support Republicans and Trump heading into November.
“So, to the question of whether there’s going to be a regulatory capture, I think that the — I mean, that’s why you see Silicon Valley getting into politics. You know, Silicon Valley was always sort of into politics. I remember, I came in 2012. It was early on in my time, it was the Romney/Obama debate,” Masad said.
“Can I just pause here? Imagine a debate between Romney and Obama who agree on everything,” Carlson, a co-founder of the Daily News Caller Foundation, jumped in.
Masad stated how “everyone around him” in the industry had been aligned with the Democratic Party, labeling Republicans as “dumb.”
“I didn’t see a lot of daylight and people were … making fun of Romney. It’s like there was — like he said something like binders full of women and kind of stuck with that or whatever. And I remember asking everyone around me, ‘Who are you with?’ [they were] like, ‘Of course, Democrats, of course,’” Masad said.
“I was like, ‘Why isn’t anyone here for Republicans?’ And they’re like, ‘because they’re dumb, and only dumb people [go for] Republicans. Silicon Valley was this one state town in a way,” Masad continued. “Actually [if you] look, there’s data on donations by company for say — like Netflix is 99% to Democrats and like 1% to Republicans.”
The tech CEO continued to call out the sudden political shift to the right in the industry, highlighting Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz as those who are contributing to the movement.
WATCH:
“I mean, you see, now a lot of people are surprised that a lot of people in tech are going for Republicans, are going for Trump. Particularly Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz put out a two hour podcast talking,” Masad said. “They’re reasoning for why they would vote for Trump — by the way, they would have never done that and like 2018, or 19 whatever. So [there’s] this vibe shift that’s happening and —”
Carlson quickly jumped in to ask Masad how the support for Trump has been “received.”
“It’s still mixed, but I think way better than what would have happened 10 years ago. They would’ve been canceled and they would have — no one would ever like, no founder would take their money,” Masad continued.
“But it’s like, and I mean, again, I’m an outsider just watching. But Andreessen Horowitz is so big and so influential, and they’re considered smart and not at all crazy. That’s got to change minds if Andreessen, Horowitz is doing it,” Carlson responded.
Masad agreed with Carlson on both Andreessen and Horowitz “certainly” changing minds politically and noted how it is giving others the “courage” to also come forward and support the former president.
“Yeah. It would have certainly changed minds. I think, you know, give people some courage to say I’m for Trump as well, at minimum. But I think it does change m[inds],” Masad said. “Part of their argument for Trump is that … the Democrats are really excited about regulating it.”
Masad went on to eventually call out Vice President Kamala Harris’ attendance at an AI safety conference in November 2023, where she announced additional measures to prevent future AI risks, according to The New York Times. However, Masad stated the vice president appeared to not be well versed in the tech industry.
In early June, Venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya hosted a fundraiser in San Francisco for the former president raising $12 million, as Sacks stated in an interview with Fox News about his surprise from the growing support.
