Trump has forged a very close relationship in recent months with Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, X and SpaceX who is considered the world’s richest man. — AFP
Super-wealthy tech titans are lining up to make outsized donations to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund.
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Sam Altman of Open AI are the latest moguls to each pony up identical US$1mil (RM4.45mil) gifts to the fund bankrolling the glitzy Jan. 20 return to power for Trump.
Amazon will also stream the event on its Prime Video platform, a freebie valued at another US$1mil.
The flood of cash comes as the billionaires hope to improve their up-and-down relationship with Trump, who makes little secret of his plan to play favourites with companies and individuals perceived as supporters of him and his MAGA agenda.
Trump has regularly trashed both Zuckerberg and Bezos in the past, but the moguls have worked hard to make peace with him.
Zuckerberg has already journeyed to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump over the Thanksgiving holiday while Bezos recently told a conference that he is “optimistic” about the new administration, especially Trump’s stated plans to slash regulations.
Altman said last Friday he is forking over his own seven-figure donation in his personal capacity, but admitted he hopes it makes Trump look favourably on requests to prioritise investments in artificial intelligence.
“Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said in a statement.
Trump has forged a very close relationship in recent months with Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, X and SpaceX who is considered the world’s richest man.
Trump has appointed Musk to a newly created post aimed at cutting government spending and brushed off concerns that Musk could exploit his power to protect his companies’ multibillion-dollar government contracts or influence policy to benefit them or hurt tech rivals.
Despite the potential for conflicts of interest, there is nothing illegal or even improper about the donations. Inaugural committees are required to disclose the source of their fundraising, but not how they spend the money.
Corporations have traditionally made up a large share of donors to presidential inaugurals, with an exception in 2009, when then-President-elect Barack Obama refused to accept corporate donations. He reversed course for his second inaugural in 2013 after he won reelection.
Facebook did not donate to either Joe Biden’s 2021 inaugural or Trump’s 2017 inaugural.
Google donated US$285,000 (RM1.27mil) each to Trump’s first inaugural and Biden’s inaugural, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Microsoft gave US$1mil to Obama’s second inaugural, but only US$500,000 (RM2.2mil) to Trump in 2017 and Biden in 2021.
Amazon had donated roughly US$58,000 (RM258,468) to Trump’s 2017 inaugural, much lower than the US$1mil it now plans to donate. The company also streamed Biden’s inauguration on Prime Video in 2021. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
