What Donald Trump's Victory Means for Elon Musk and Big Tech | Pivot

Big tech leaders are taking to social media, of course, to congratulate Donald Trump. This is- this is typical. Let's just start off with that. Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, and Sam Altman wished Trump well. I thought they were pretty anodyne. So did, um, Mark Cuban. He was like, "Godspeed." You know what I mean? He was like, "You won fair and square," which I thought was fair. I thought that was classy of him to do so. He didn't, like, slavishly say something. The person who did, Jeff Bezos, was, uh, quite different from the others. Um, he was one of the first to kiss the ring, calling Trump's win an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory. It- it had, uh, uh, i- i- it did not have a tone of someone who owns The Washington Post. He's the only one who actually has another thing he's gotta think about, which he didn't at all, in any way, so I thought that was problematic. And it was much more effusive than the others. Um, you know, they all wanna work with this administration. They've done it before. Um, they don't wanna be in his crosshairs and they'd like to get rid of, uh, all the different investigations and- and things like that. Although, a lot of Republicans like these investigations very much. And so that's a really interesting, uh, pushback. Um, talk a little bit about these, uh, CEOs, obviously. You s- more than- more than anyone, tech CEOs weighed in.

They're smart to do it, Kara. He responds to this type of obsequious flattery. And if they're- they're- they're focused on their shareholders, they're smart to do it. And it's- it- you kinda have to- you throw up a little bit in your mouth when- when it's more than anything just- than just a polite congratulations. But if you reverse engineer it to shareholder value, they're smart to do it, just like a lot of foreign leaders pretend that he's really interesting and are- and that they're fascinated with him. And he's gonna get more- he's gonna get more... Uh, you know, when- when you're courting someone and they tell you that they're really into jewelry or baseball trading cards and that they will like you if you buy them these things, you buy them these things. And he's made it clear that if you say nice things about him, it works. Uh, I don't... So I think they're smart to do it.

Yeah, I agree, but I thought Bezos' was a little bit abusive. Compare... If you could put them next to each other, it's really quite a different tone. And he does also own The Washington Post. He might've been a little less-

It's around-

... ass as yet.

Yeah, it's all about money. It- it- The Washington Post is nothing but-

I understand that, but he, he-

... nothing but a nuisance for him right now.