Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, had one of the most interesting responses to the first attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump.
He said things that were clearly outside the liberal camp, such as saying that Trump standing up with his fists in the air and getting shot in the head was “badass.”
Mark Zuckerberg said that Donald Trump’s immediate reaction after being shot was “badass” and inspiring — without endorsing the former president.
The Meta CEO spoke exclusively to @emilychangtv on The Circuit https://t.co/Y1s1HmhotX pic.twitter.com/DQI10NHzhq
— Bloomberg (@business) July 19, 2024
I thought it was an interesting change, but I wondered if maybe he just wanted to be on Trump’s good side, since he may well become president. He said that he wouldn’t be as involved in politics in the future.
There’s now more information about internal issues at Meta which indicates that evolution could be real. If true, it would be pretty amazing.
Zuckerberg complained in June of the “blowback,” resulting from “politically sensitive aspects of his charitable efforts.” This is one way of putting it.
He regretted the hiring of employees in his philanthropy, who pushed him to the left with some causes.
He was done with it.
According to the report, his philanthropy has stopped supporting anything that could be considered partisan and he “has tamped down employee activists at Meta.”
These people claim that he has spoken with President Trump twice in one-on-one telephone conversations over the summer. This move is characterized by some as an effort to repair the long-strained relationship the two men have had.
In a recent podcast interview in San Francisco, Mr. Zuckerberg stated that he had not been able to fully understand the political climate.
In his testimony to Congress, he also said that the Biden administration “pressed” him to censor COVID. He stated that he wouldn’t repeat the political contributions in 2020 which caused such concern, because they made him appear not “neutral.” He said that he regrets his contributions.
The New York Times describes the move of Elon Musk, and Zuckerberg in Silicon Valley as part of an overall shift. I’ve personally seen it on X with other tech entrepreneurs in the past few months, waking up when they see videos of what Trump said, which blows the “fine people hoax”. They see things like radical leftism in Gaza. They’re also watching Biden’s cognitive problems and what the Democrats have done in response. You can watch the evolution of events in real time.
This is an interesting paragraph. If this is true then he has abandoned the Democrats, just like Musk, because they are too left.
According to recent conversations with Mr. Zuckerberg, he now views his politics as more libertarian. This includes opposition to regulations that limit business, an acceptance of globalism and free markets, and an openness towards social justice reforms – but only as long as it does not go too far left. Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chen have privately expressed their concern about the rise in antisemitism among college students, including those at Harvard, where they both attended.
There’s still some confusion since he calls it “globalism”, but he rejects far-left progressive politics. He might not yet realize that one is a part of the next and needs more evolution. If the rest of the statement is true, then he already has a different thought than the Democrats.
Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan were caught off guard by activism at their philanthropy, according to people close to them. After the protests over the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, a C.Z.I. employee asked Mr. Zuckerberg during a staff meeting to resign from Facebook or the initiative because of his unwillingness at the time to moderate comments from Mr. Trump.
People said that the incident and others like them upset Mr. Zuckerberg. He was then pushed away from the progressive political work of the foundation. The people claimed that he began to see the Justice and Opportunity Team, one of three central divisions of the initiative, as a distraction and an insufficient reflection of his bipartisan viewpoint.
Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Chan have decided that in 2021 they will stop funding the group’s political internal work and fund instead two bipartisan groups who are working on these issues. Some of the 30 employees or so who were focused on politics left, were reassigned, or were sent to these two groups.
He smashed all the social justice sections that were getting in his face and making him political.
Zuckerberg also purportedly reduces politics in Meta by implementing a new policy.
The policy prohibited employees from discussing issues like abortion, racial injustice movements, and wars in the workplace. Andrew Bosworth was Meta’s chief technologist and he championed this policy, according to two sources familiar with the issue. Mr. Zuckerberg also supported it.
He says he won’t get involved in politics but what is interesting is that he is reaching to Trump and Republicans to repair relations. He told Trump that he “has no plans to make similar contributions” to what he did in 2020. He called Trump at the RNC and said he “prayed” for him following the first assassination. He apologized to Trump after Meta removed images that circulated of the first assassination. People were worried about censorship.
If this is true, then it seems that the radical left has brought him to the reality he needs. It’s not uncommon to think one thing and then face reality. He’s now seeing the problems with the progressive left because they’ve affected him personally.
He will have to do a lot to convince people that a real conversion is taking place. One would think it’s bad for the Democrats if he takes his marbles and millions and doesn’t play the game anymore.
