Donald Trump Was Once a Pariah in Silicon Valley—Now He’s the Ultimate Disruptor

‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ & ‘Barbie’ DoP Rodrigo Prieto To Receive Distinguished Filmmaker Award From International Cinematographers Guild

Indian Muslims Are Trying to Get Their Papers in Order

Truck passenger shoots fireworks at car in alleged road rage incident caught on video

The Silicon Valley response to Donald Trump is a tale best told in two numbers: 45 and 47.

During Trump’s first term as the 45th president of the United States, the tech elite of Silicon Valley viewed him as a pariah—a chaotic force who, at best, could be ignored and, at worst, would wield power to crush innovation under the weight of unpredictability or personal grievances. But as the 47th president of the United States, and with Elon Musk at the reins of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump appears to be the best thing to happen to tech since sliced silicon.

People I’ve spoken with in Silicon Valley, from CEOs of start-ups to venture capitalists—and even lowly engineers—have fallen in love with 47, marveling at his ability to inspire once-ostracized billionaires to believe in the American dream all over again. They admire his policy decisions that ostensibly allow the tech industry to move as quickly as possible, even if that means breaking lots of things, and his commitment to ensuring the internet remains a safe space for free speech—at least for those who agree with him.

“The White Houses of the past have always been so anti-tech—and I want to remind you this includes the last Trump administration—trying to slow down innovation or stifle it for fear it would do some harm that never materialized,” a venture capitalist told me when I asked how he feels about Trump 2.0 thus far. “This administration is doing the complete opposite, tearing down all the things that stopped us from creating great new products. It’s going to be the best four years for Silicon Valley in our history.”

When I asked if Musk’s DOGE had gone too far by dismantling so much of the government that is not just necessary for regulating the tech industry, but also for helping people, the VC replied by listing off ways money has been “wasted” by Washington for decades on “ridiculous” things. He cited the millions of dollars spent on digital news subscriptions across federal agencies (which Trump and Musk have repeatedly cited as part of a misleading anti-media campaign) or the $20 million allocated to develop a Sesame Street–like kids show in Iraq. (Many Silicon Valley insiders I’ve spoken with cited the purported $50 million spent on condoms for Gaza, a claim made by press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Trump that Musk was forced to walk back.) “Yes, some of the programs that are needed will be caught up in Elon’s wrath,” the venture capitalist said. “But you have to break things before you can fix them, which is just the Silicon Valley way.”

Take, for instance, the administration’s recent deregulatory push, slashing restrictions on AI development and, in the minds of Silicon Valley insiders, opening the floodgates for unfettered innovation. And, of course, Musk’s DOGE—essentially a tech CEO’s fever dream of rapidly eliminating bureaucracy—has already axed thousands of alleged inefficiencies that many in the tech industry believe hamstrung government contracts with the private sector. The result? A level of influence and momentum that has many in Silicon Valley giddy about the possibilities ahead. As one prominent investor told me, “This isn’t just a business-friendly administration—it’s exactly what we’ve been waiting for, and this is why you had everyone in tech backing Trump so aggressively: They were fed up with being told no, no, no all the time.”

Indeed, Musk has seemingly hunted down anything that represents a no to the tech industry. DOGE has gone from agency to agency, trying to cut, fire, or dismantle anything that seems frivolous, anti-tech, or a remnant of the regulatory state. In remarks last week to the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Musk sounded like a demolition worker with one job on his mind: destroy everything in his path. “I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave a lot of them behind,” he said. “If we don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back.”

One longtime Silicon Valley insider who’s worked in the tech industry for three decades expressed cautious optimism that Musk’s chaotic action will eventually yield a plan for boosting the tech sector. “The only growth industry we have in this country outside of Hollywood is technology. It is the vector of all future competitiveness and edge for this country. It’s also what we need for everything from our military to our health and food,” they said. “To have an antagonistic approach to technology is not conducive to the long-term health of this country. And sadly that was the approach the previous administration was using, instead of having a longer-term, pragmatic view. I want to know what the plan is. What’s the long-term plan? The left didn’t have it, the right doesn’t have it. Chaos is not the answer.”

In typical Silicon Valley fashion, the plan will be figured out later. But for now, it seems, it’s just a cheerleading rally as the tech elite watches Musk and Trump remove every obstacle in their way. The emphasis appears to be on speed and disruption rather than careful consideration of consequences, mirroring the industry’s notorious “move fast and break things” philosophy. This approach to governance is similar to how many tech companies operate: Act first, solve problems later, and worry about the fallout only when it becomes unavoidable.

But as the longtime Silicon Valley insider noted, while the American tech industry celebrates its newfound freedom from regulation, we may be missing the bigger picture. Instead of arguing about tech, they said, we should be focused on China, our biggest competitor. “The Chinese have a singular AI policy, which is to make AI great, and what’s our policy? It’s ‘How big is my valuation?’” the insider said.

A myopic focus on short-term gains and internal power struggles might distract from the real challenges ahead, the insider added, as China executes a coordinated national strategy on artificial intelligence. All the while American tech leaders revel in their deregulatory victories. The contrast between China’s focused approach and Silicon Valley’s celebration of chaos could have long-term implications for America’s technological competitiveness. Such concerns are particularly acute in the space and defense sectors, where the intersection of national security and innovation has become increasingly critical.

Ashlee Vance—editor in chief of Core Memory, a popular tech site and newsletter—who has long written about Silicon Valley and has authored two best-selling books, one on Musk and the other on the new space race, told me he’s been surprised by how industry insiders have reacted to Trump 2.0. He told me a lot of people in Silicon Valley view the government as having long overstepped, and the recent cuts by the Trump administration are a necessary correction to what they view as years of grift and misallocated spending.

People in the defense and space industries have a prevailing sentiment that the government has mishandled those sectors for years, and the Trump-Musk bulldozing alliance presents an opportunity for a reset. But not everyone is elated, Vance said: “One guy I spoke to told me, ‘I’m not a resistance guy at all, and I like some of the stuff Trump is trying to do, but this also scares the hell out of me.’”

After all, while 45 and 47 may act differently when it comes to tech, he’s still the same person, and we all know how quickly that can spin out of control.