Silicon Valley isn't joining Musk's Trump-bashing — yet

Politico

6 days ago

SAN FRANCISCO — The roiling spat between Elon Musk and Donald Trump that erupted Thursday hasn't opened the floodgates for other tech world elites to start bashing the president — yet.
Thousands of miles away from Washington, Silicon Valley leaders gathered for a tech conference in San Francisco instead tiptoed around direct questions about White House policies and hurried to offer praise where they could.
That was clear Thursday when Bloomberg's Emily Chang asked RJ Scaringe — CEO of Tesla rival Rivian — if the beef could cause Musk's company to fall out of favor, and create an opening for his own electric carmaker to capture more market share.
'Ah geez. It's a good one,' Scaringe said at the conference, hosted by Bloomberg Tech, with a smile. 'It's dynamic. It's interesting.'
The cautious rhetoric from Scaringe and others underscores the delicate balance still in play between the tech world and President Donald Trump. Luminaries like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have cheered the administration's America First approach, and Trump has welcomed leading members of the industry into his inner circle, even as his policies like sweeping tariffs threaten their bottom lines.
Whether that dynamic starts to change now that Musk has opened the door for criticism, as someone once close to the president, remains an open question, though there were signs of tech skepticism of the White House narrative at the event on Thursday.
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology and a veteran of billionaire Peter Thiel's tech investment firm, sent a conference room into a fit of laughter by deflecting on the Trump-Musk fallout.
'I can't speak to that particular instance,' he said of the split, instead launching into a defense of what he described as the president's ability to turn tech bros into 'generally' amicable teammates in his quest for a 'golden age of American innovation.'
'What's so unique about this particular election versus ones many years ago is that folks who may not necessarily have been considered to be on the same team a few years ago are all now united behind the president to drive this innovation for the country,' Kratsios continued. As he spoke, he drew a few scoffs from around the room.
Scaringe also declined to criticize the possibility of tax credits for electric vehicles going away under Trump's megabill — the issue that the president argues set Musk off.
'I think it's easy to get caught into the day-to-day of which tariffs are moving which way, and some of the language that's used around electric vehicles,' Scaringe said. 'But really, the administration wants to see investment in U.S. technology, investment in U.S. jobs … So in all of our discussions with administrations, we try to focus on that part of it.'
He did admit that with tariffs swirling, Rivian now has a daily meeting on what has changed in the last 24 hours on the international trade front.
Tech leaders were also hesitant to make entirely negative comments regarding various visa restrictions from the administration, which pose a threat to an industry of largely foreign-born employees.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, after declaring himself 'absolutely pro-immigration generally for the U.S.,' tempered his stance and that of his workers.
'There's no question that we should secure our borders, and so I think from that standpoint, we're very supportive. Our drivers and couriers have been quite supportive of President Trump as well, for similar reasons,' Khosrowshahi said. 'There is a dialogue for us to be had, which is what is the right level of immigration in this country?'
He admitted that Trump's constant ridiculing of Canada as the 51st state had an 'initial significant effect' on reducing travel into the U.S. from its northern neighbor, some of which has continued. But he also stretched to find a silver lining, arguing Canadians are just boycotting the U.S. and Uber is a global business.
Rich Wong, a venture capitalist at San Francisco firm Accel, praised the Federal Trade Commission's new direction under the Trump administration as breathing life back into business mergers and acquisitions.
'The change of the administration … as it relates to the FTC, I think it's perceived as having a little more openness to large-scale M&A among certain players,' Wong said. 'That's opened up the appetite for a number of acquirers to engage, whereas before they were pretty stalled.'
Another person who declined to criticize the president was Daniel Lurie, the Democratic mayor of San Francisco, whose city is facing a budget shortfall and potential loss of billions of federal funding.
Asked about those financial headaches during the event, Lurie said: 'I can only control what I can control.'
'If I worried about what was coming from Washington or Sacramento, I wouldn't be able to do my job because it changes every hour,' he added. 'So I'm staying focused on San Francisco.'
A version of this story first appeared in California Decoded, POLITICO's morning newsletter for Pros about how the Golden State is shaping tech policy within its borders and beyond. Like this content? POLITICO Pro subscribers receive it daily. Learn more at www.politicopro.com.