I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong

Summary

Wired examines a startling political realignment in Silicon Valley during 2024–2025: a once countercultural, left-leaning tech ecosystem has largely acquiesced to — or actively courted — the Trump administration to protect business interests. The piece follows Mark Lemley’s decision to fire Meta as a client and uses interviews with VCs, CEOs and policy figures to map how fear of reprisals, regulatory battles, and the lure of AI and crypto gains pushed many leaders toward transactional relationships with power.

The article traces causes (antitrust and regulatory pressure under Biden; crypto scandals; AI’s capital demands), examples (Zuckerberg’s rapprochement, Musk’s MAGA turn, Andreessen’s donations, Jensen Huang’s lobbying), and consequences: diminished internal activism, weakened diversity efforts, more military contracts, and threats to immigration, research funding and the long-term health of US innovation.

Key Points

High-profile tech figures have shifted from public progressive stances to quiet appeasement or active courting of the Trump administration to protect business interests.
Regulatory pressure under Biden (antitrust, crypto, AI scrutiny) helped radicalise some founders and VCs, pushing them toward Trump’s pro‑industry promises.
Examples include Zuckerberg’s political pivot, Elon Musk’s tilt to MAGA after Twitter changes, and Andreessen Horowitz donors switching support to Trump.
Internal employee activism has been weakened by mass layoffs and policies discouraging workplace political organising; free-expression norms inside firms are shifting.
Commercial priorities — AI investment, crypto legalisation, favourable merger outcomes — are being prioritised over long-term civic commitments like immigration, research funding and competition policy.
The Valley’s wealth concentration and culture change have eroded its earlier civic-minded idealism and increased the risk of short-term deals that may harm the broader innovation ecosystem.

Context and relevance

This piece connects big-picture politics and corporate strategy: it’s not just Silicon Valley culture changing, it’s a reconfiguration of how US tech power is exercised. The article is salient for anyone tracking AI policy, antitrust, immigration of talent, and the political economy of tech — because those shifts affect regulation, hiring, investment flows and the global competitive landscape.

Why should I read this?

Because it explains, plainly and sharply, why the tech world you used to think you understood now feels weirdly transactional and anxious. If you care about where AI, immigration and innovation policy are heading — or whether big tech will stand by democratic norms — this is the tidy, no-nonsense read that saves you time and gives you the key players and stakes in one go.