Trump honored in San Francisco on post-conviction fund-raising tour
(Bloomberg) — Wealthy donors are gathering at the palatial home of technology investor David Sacks on Thursday to raise money for former President Donald Trump.
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Sachs is hosting the event with investor Chamath Palihapitiya at his Broadcliffe home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. With tickets starting at $50,000 for the reception and photos and $300,000 for dinner, the event has generated intense interest in Silicon Valley, especially because it comes so soon after Trump was convicted on 34 counts of manslaughter.
The decision has sparked an outpouring of support for Trump in some corners of the tech world, including from Doug Leone, the former leader of prestigious venture firm Sequoia Capital, and Sequoia partner Sean Maguire, who said last week they were committing $300,000 to Trump’s re-election. Other donors include Jacob Helberg, a senior adviser to the chief executive of Palantir Technologies Inc., who will attend the fundraiser, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
Trump has received unusually vocal support from the tech industry this election cycle — a contrast to 2016, when billionaire Peter Thiel was one of his only visible supporters. (Thiel has said he plans to sit out this cycle.) In addition to dining with Sachs and Palihapitiya this week, Trump will travel to Southern California, where he is scheduled to attend another fundraising event on Saturday hosted by Palmer Lucci, the co-founder of Anduril Industries Inc., a tech company that makes defense and weapons technology and does business with the U.S. government.
David Friedberg, an investor who co-hosts the popular All-In podcast with Sachs and Palihapitiya, said in an email that tech’s interest in politics isn’t new. “I think Silicon Valley has always had political involvement; even 20+ years ago many of the senior leaders and investors I know in Silicon Valley were politically active in some way,” he wrote. “Perhaps political activism gets more attention nowadays, as Silicon Valley’s influence around the world is growing and the media landscape is changing.”
While the industry leans Democratic and San Francisco is a heavily blue city, tech leaders often have different political priorities. Top issues include taxes, tech antitrust and crypto regulation — as well as foreign policy and immigration rules. Many tech players have donated to both parties. For example, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of prominent firm Andreessen Horowitz have donated to a variety of causes, and have disclaimed political affiliation. They have instead taken an anti-regulation stance. The firm has said it will support candidates who favor tech regardless of other issues — supporting the “techno-optimist” philosophy laid out by Andreessen in a manifesto last year.
More: Crypto titans threaten to unleash war funds on hostile lawmakers
Sachs, who is an investor and friend of Elon Musk, had backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis before throwing his support to Trump. He says he wants to end Biden administration policies such as supporting the war in Ukraine. “The world is on fire,” he said in a recent interview, adding that when Trump was previously in power, “the world was relatively peaceful for four years.” Palihapitiya has backed Democratic candidates in previous races.
It is widely expected that Trump will also appear with them on the All-In podcast, though the exact date of the taping has not yet been set.
For most of this cycle, President Joe Biden has been ahead in fundraising, including from donors in technology-related industries. According to campaign finance data compiled by OpenSecrets, the president and affiliated political action committees raised $18.1 million from donors tied to the electronics and communications industries through May 21. Trump and his allies have received just $1.4 million from that sector during that time period.
While Trump’s event has drawn more attention this week, Biden has also been to Silicon Valley for fundraising, including events hosted by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures and former Yahoo executive Marissa Mayer. This week, Vice President Kamala Harris is also in the Bay Area, attending fundraising events.
–With assistance from Lizette Chapman and Laura Davidson.
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