Trump recently organized a big dinner with the most important minds from the tech world, which caused quite a stir worldwide. It was particularly striking that all the guests gave a kind of acceptance speech to Trump, which was a bit reminiscent of the GDR and the like.
Although I'm actually still quite sympathetic to Trump (he's at least not half as embarrassing as most European heads of government), I still find it a bit strange. It does seem a bit like a staged soap opera.
I mean, it's clear that as a serious businessman you exchange formal courtesies on such an occasion and don't go completely crazy and start insulting the president or something. So it's not entirely funny. But I also kind of wonder who came up with the idea that everyone should say a few words in turn? I mean, they can't help but say something nice. Still, it's kind of a funny picture howt Bill Gates has to attest to Trump's "great leadership".
Among others also present were Sam Altman ($AMD (-7.23%) ) Lisa Su ($AAPL (-0.66%) ) Tim Cook ($ORCL (+3.74%) ) Safra Catz and ( $MU (+4.95%) ) Sanjay Mehrotra
But more important than who was there is actually who was missing. The press noted with great satisfaction that ($TSLA (+2.79%) ) Elon Musk was not there and speculated that he had not even been invited - which Musk has already denied. ($NVDA (-3.33%) ) Jensen Huang and ($AMZN (-1.95%) ) Andy Jassy were also not on site.
Trump is definitely seeking proximity to the tech industry. The behavior of ($META (-0.3%) ) Mark Zuckerbergwho took the place of honor to Trump's right, but actually seemed frightened rather than confident. Another important moment was a brief conversation between Trump and ($GOOG (+0.47%)
$GOOGL (+0.59%) ) Sundar Pichai regarding a federal judge's ruling this week in an antitrust case involving Google's monopoly on search. The judge handed down a lenient sentence and rejected the demands for harsh penalties. The company thus escaped being broken up.
"You had a very good day yesterday," said Trump. "Do you want to talk about that great day you had yesterday?" He was glad it was over, Pichai replied. "Biden was the one who pushed this lawsuit,"Trump said. "You know that, right?"
So Trump is pursuing a Bismarckian carrot and stick policy with the tech CEOs. Those who get in line get help from the state, those who step out of line are reprimanded.
