Mark Pincus, lifelong Democrat and billionaire founder of web game developer Zynga, announced he’s voting for Trump in a Sunday night tweet.
“I am voting for Trump,” Pincus wrote Sunday, noting that he previously donated over $1 million to each of the last four Democratic presidential tickets, “including Biden/Harris.”
Pincus, who is Jewish, cited Trump’s stronger support for Israel, saying he believes “America and Israel will be stronger under Trump.”
He also insinuated that Harris and the Democrats are anti-First Amendment.
“There seems to be a war against freedom of speech,” Pincus wrote. “Happily MSM is no longer trusted but if our sources of free speech like X are censored we move a step closer to Russia and China where the state is the only voice allowed.”
Pincus joins a growing list of Silicon Valley billionaires and investors who have defected from the Democratic Party to outright support Trump.
Chamath Palihapitiya, another Bay Area billionaire who has donated over $1 million to Democrats, has come out strongly in favor of Trump in recent months.
Shaun Maguire, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital who donated to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016, announced a $300,000 donation to Trump in May. Maguire also cited Israel, writing, “somehow the Biden administration has chosen to cuddle up to Iran while driving Saudi Arabia and Israel away.”
Elon Musk, perhaps the most glaring example of a billionaire who is backing Trump, spent his money somewhat equally on campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans in the past.
His largest contribution before 2023 was a $50,000 donation to Democrat Rahm Emanuel in 2015, according to Bloomberg.
I am voting for Trump.
I have been a lifelong Dem, supporting the past 4 presidential campaigns at $1m each (including Biden/Harris).
This past year i have seen too much.
Israel is America’s most loyal ally and the only Democracy in the Middle East. It is fighting Iran on 7… https://t.co/dhjqLn4oFK
— mark pincus – e/acc (@markpinc) November 4, 2024
Musk has stepped up his Republican support. The multi-industry mogul reportedly donated $289,100 to a Super PAC meant to boost House Republicans.
In addition to making multiple campaign appearances with Trump, Musk also offered to award $1 million to a different voter every day if they sign a petition pledging their support for the First and Second Amendments.
Musk, who purchased Twitter in 2022, is not the only social media mogul seemingly cozying up to Trump.
Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire owner and founder of Facebook, has made efforts to clamp down on left-wing activism within his company, according to The New York Times. The move follows his admission that the Biden-Harris administration pressured his company to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.
Trump touted a phone call he says he got from Google CEO Sundar Picahi during his appearance on the Joe Rogan experience.
“I actually got a call from your friends at Google, from Sundar, that’s pretty good right?” Trump asked Rogan. “He said this is the biggest thing we’ve had in years, the McDonald’s.”
Trump also claimed in October that Apple CEO Tim Cook called him to discuss the European Union’s punishments against the American tech company.
The tech space’s growing comfort signals a sea change for an industry that was once staunchly blue.
“In 2016, the number of people from Silicon Valley I knew who supported Trump was a sample of one, which was Peter [Thiel],” Jacob Helberg, an adviser to Silicon Valley giant Palantir, told Reuters.
The social cost of supporting Trump in Silicon Valley, Helberg told The Washington Post, is no longer as great as it once was.
“Trump was right on a lot of make-or-break issues for America,” Helberg concluded.
