Vox reports:

Former President Donald Trump used to be persona non grata in Silicon Valley.

Nearly all of the dollars spent by Silicon Valley elites in 2016 went to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In 2020, those elites spent even more to defeat Trump. The few who supported Trump that year — such as venture capitalist Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal and Palantir — did so knowing they were standing on a third rail, and many did not speak openly about it for fear of backlash that could hurt their businesses.

Something has changed since the last election cycle.

This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump Saturday after the assassination attempt against him, planned to send $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super PAC starting in July. (Musk appeared to push back on the reporting with a meme on X reading: “FAKE GNUS.”)

The prominent tech investor and entrepreneur David Sacks — who previously said that Trump should be disqualified from office for his actions surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol — has now endorsed the former president. Sacks gave a speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.

One of Silicon Valley’s largest venture capital firms, Andreessen Horowitz, has also recently indicated that it will donate large amounts to PACs supporting Trump.

“The Blue Wall of tech is crumbling before our very eyes,” Ryan Selkis, the founder and CEO of the crypto research firm Messari, wrote on X last month.

Selkis’s assessment might not be entirely true. By most indications, Silicon Valley is still overwhelmingly Democratic. But tech elites who are supporting Trump seem to be more comfortable doing so openly and without fear of being ostracized for it. [Continue reading…]