CEOs of Americas biggest companies are making the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to “bend the knee” and “pay tribute” to President-elect Donald Trump, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.
The meetings underscore the business community’s attempt to make good with an incoming president who vowed on the campaign trail to implement economic and regulatory changes that will impact business.
Top executives who met or who are reportedly scheduled to meet with Trump include:
- Ted Sarandos, Netflix
- Jeff Bezos, Amazon
- Shou Zi Chew, TikTok
- Masayoshi Son, SoftBank
- Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
Some of the CEOs were at odds with Trump during his first term and backed President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
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“It takes a lot for an uber-wealthy, creative-type CEO, many of whom lean left, to suck it up and deal with Trump,” a Washington lobbyist told the Times. “But what choice do they have?”
The Times reported on the dynamics surrounding the meetings:
Inside Trump’s orbit, the meetings are cast as a vote of confidence in the president-elect and his economic policies. Many in the business world had stopped engaging with Trump after his tumultuous first term and the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Some had backed Trump’s opponents in this year’s White House race.
…
The executives’ motivations vary: TikTok’s Shou is looking to save the popular app from a US ban due to take effect next year and hoping to find some sympathy from Trump. Big Tech executives, including Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, are seeking a more benign regulatory environment.
…
Corporate America does have some serious concerns about Trump, especially his plans for sweeping tariffs, mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and the rollback of some manufacturing subsidies. But executives also see Trump as a dealmaker and learned that it is better to engage with him with exuberance and flattery than to criticise him and risk his public rebukes or retaliation.
“Some of these CEOs are showing that they will be willing partners in the upcoming administration, and saying that they want to focus on where they can work together, even if they have not been politically supportive in the past,” Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser, told the Times. “There will be a whole bunch more coming, domestic CEOs and international CEOs.”
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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