Elon Musk, the world's richest man who is now firmly in the Trump camp, publicly criticized tech investor and Democrat Vinod Khoslam on his X platform last week for being "mentally deranged" because he deeply abhors former President Trump.
At the same time, those green technology investors who once admired and admired Musk now see him as a traitor because Musk is on Trump's side.
Not only is there mutual blame between Musk and investors, but there have also been more accusations between Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs recently.
Aaron Levie, a supporter of Harris and CEO of cloud computing company Box, believes that David Sacks, a well-known angel investor in Silicon Valley, must have taken drugs to choose to support Trump.
Obviously, Silicon Valley is currently brewing an extraordinary public war of words, with some tech industry leaders launching unprecedented attacks on former friends and colleagues on the eve of the presidential election.
This kind of infighting scene is not common in previous US presidential elections, as the technology industry has always been left leaning (supporting the Democratic Party). But in this election, a small group of influential tech industry executives, including Musk, are opening their wallets to support Trump and increasingly expressing their desire to change their partisan stance, triggering a fierce reaction from other groups who have traditionally remained silent about their political stance.
Political differences are even causing business relationships to 'deteriorate' and testing the relationships between former 'old friends'.
Extremely unusual
Sam Singer, a public relations expert who has assisted Democratic politicians in their campaign, said, "Silicon Valley is very tense now because two opposing camps are doing business together. This is an unusual situation
With Kamala Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate this summer, some Democratic supporters have been encouraged. Just a few weeks ago, the vice president attended a fundraising event co hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman in San Francisco, which raised over $13 million. Harris' tech industry supporters say her speech at the Democratic National Convention brought them unexpected gains.
Harris talked about providing opportunities and funding not only for small business owners, but also for founders and entrepreneurs. She also talked about the importance of innovation and the necessity of leading in fields such as artificial intelligence. Her supporters believe that this means she will support policies that are friendly to the technology industry.
However, industry executives who support Trump are skeptical about this on social media. Some people are trying to promote the support of independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy for Trump now.
When Sax posted a photo of Robert Kennedy Jr. shaking hands with Trump on Twitter, he wrote, "The Dream Team
Trump's tech supporters are concerned that Harris will raise taxes on the wealthy and businesses, and impose regulatory bottlenecks on emerging industries such as cryptocurrency. They also stated that Trump will end the intensified scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions during the Biden presidency.
Harmeet Dhillon, a former lawyer representing Trump and a female member of the Republican California National Committee, said that we have seen tensions among Silicon Valley billionaires, and in my memory, this is the first time such a situation has occurred during an election cycle.
Close friends turn against each other
This political divide has even affected the friendship between some Silicon Valley executives and investors.
Climate technology investor Josh Felser wrote in an August LinkedIn article, "I am curious about how I will feel when I discover more friends or colleagues joining the Trump camp. Our relationship may change forever, and I suspect history will not treat them well
Some female tech workers have formed organizations such as Tech4Kamala, VCs for Kamala, and Founders for Kamala to mobilize support for Harris. We are witnessing unprecedented polarization, "said Edda Collins Coleman, co-founder of Tech4Kamala
Similar tense relationships have actually been ongoing for a long time. In mid August, Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, fiercely criticized former Sequoia Capital Chairman Michael Moritz.
Horowitz was once a Democratic donor and has now become a supporter of Trump. He accused Moritz of instructing someone to write an article, questioning why he and his wife changed their stance. Moritz has always stood in the Democratic camp.
Moritz is now letting his rumors' newspapers' fabricate attacks on his business rival - my article, "Horowitz wrote on X," and he also attacked my wife
It is reported that an article written by Moritz detailing the Horowitz couple's political donations and stating that their transition from Democrats to Republicans is a mystery.
LinkedIn co-founder Hoffman and "Silicon Valley Godfather" Peter Thiel, who used to work together at PayPal, are now strangers. Hoffman stated at a meeting last week that due to Thiel's political views, the two of them are no longer talking.
Obviously, as the atmosphere within Silicon Valley circles becomes increasingly tense due to political stances, some tech executives are now hoping to end all public disputes. Mark Pincus, co-founder of video game company Zynga, stated that he will not support any candidate in this election.
He wrote on LinkedIn, "People firmly believe that their side is just, so they conduct moral judgments on the other side. But in fact, they are all lost and deeply trapped