Pevita Pearce
In the wake of the 2024 presidential election, a quiet but frantic geopolitical realignment took place not in the halls of Congress, but in the private dining rooms and secure messaging threads of America’s most powerful tech moguls. As the dust settled on Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, the titans of Silicon Valley—a cohort that had spent years in a cold war with the populist leader—initiated a campaign of aggressive reconciliation.
According to Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, a new exposé by veteran New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the transition period was defined by a desperate, often humiliating scramble by industry giants like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to secure their standing in a new, unpredictable political reality. However, rather than finding a warm reception, these leaders found themselves the subjects of the President-elect’s ridicule, as he reportedly mocked their attempts to curry favor behind their backs.
A Chronology of Conciliation
The courtship of Donald Trump by Big Tech began almost immediately after the polls closed in November 2024. The transition period, typically a time of measured diplomacy, became a theater of transactional groveling, according to Haberman and Swan’s reporting.
The Zuckerberg Strategy: Paternal Pride
Mark Zuckerberg, who had long been a target of Trump’s ire, pursued a soft-power approach. The book details how the Meta CEO utilized deeply personal channels to signal his compliance with the incoming administration. In one instance, Zuckerberg texted Trump a photograph of a handwritten note from one of his grade-school-aged children. The letter expressed excitement for the "golden age of America"—a direct echo of the campaign slogan Trump had utilized throughout his victory tour.
When Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago shortly after Thanksgiving 2024, the reception was calculatedly awkward. Upon the CEO’s arrival, the President-elect played a recording of the national anthem performed by the "J6 Prison Choir," a group of individuals detained for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. It was a clear signal of the new power dynamics at play.
The Bezos Pivot: From Press Critic to Petitioner
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, adopted a more overtly transactional posture. During a high-stakes dinner at Mar-a-Lago in December 2024, Bezos reportedly sought to distance himself from the editorial independence of his own newspaper. According to the book, when Trump complained that The Washington Post was "unfair," Bezos did not defend the publication. Instead, he joined the criticism, describing the paper as one of his worst financial investments and labeling its staff as "terrible."
By July 2025, the relationship had evolved into a direct, if unsuccessful, lobbying effort. Bezos arrived at the Oval Office, ostensibly to discuss his space company, Blue Origin. While he engaged in small talk—even offering a celebrity-filled anecdote about his wedding to Lauren Sánchez—his true objective was to undermine his rival, Elon Musk. Bezos argued that allowing SpaceX to dominate American space infrastructure at Cape Canaveral presented a "national security risk." He urged Trump to intervene via the Department of Defense to demand "contractor diversity," a move that would have cleared a path for Blue Origin to secure lucrative government contracts.
The View from the Oval Office: Mockery and Disdain
Perhaps the most striking element of Regime Change is the depiction of Donald Trump’s reaction to these overtures. Rather than viewing the tech moguls as strategic partners, the President reportedly viewed them as subjects of derision.
"You would not believe the texts I got from these tech guys," Trump is quoted as telling guests at his club. "I’ve got to show you." He frequently regaled associates with stories of how Zuckerberg and Bezos were "kissing my ass," reveling in the reversal of fortune that saw his former antagonists begging for access.
The book highlights a particularly revealing conversation between Trump and Elon Musk, who appears to have acted as an amused observer to the humiliation of his rivals. Referring to Zuckerberg and Bezos, Trump reportedly remarked, "Think of where these guys were in 2016. They hated me. They were doing everything they could to knock me down. And look at them now."
Musk, enjoying the spectacle, responded with a cutting assessment: "First-class groveling."
Supporting Context: The Silicon Valley Calculus
The tech industry’s behavior during this period was not merely a reaction to a single election, but a calculated response to a changing regulatory environment. Silicon Valley giants have faced mounting scrutiny over antitrust issues, AI regulation, and data privacy. For leaders like Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Google, who also sought meetings with the incoming President, the goal was survival and the maintenance of market dominance.
The justification for this behavior, provided by sources familiar with the interactions, is that it represents "business as usual." One source familiar with the Bezos strategy noted that the Amazon founder has historically sought to remain on good terms with every sitting president, citing a $100 million donation to the Obama Presidential Library as proof of his non-partisan commitment to working with whoever occupies the White House.
However, the efficacy of this strategy remains in doubt. In the case of Bezos, his attempt to leverage his relationship with Trump to undermine Musk’s SpaceX failed. Trump ultimately reconciled with Musk, whose renewed support for the Republican party and expansion of the Starship operation secured his position as the favored partner in the American space program.
Official Responses and Denials
When presented with the details of the reporting, the White House maintained a stance of professional detachment. Spokesperson Kush Desai declined to address the specific anecdotes regarding the tech leaders, stating instead, "President Trump is committed to working with every American business and business leader to cement America’s innovative dominance, re-shore critical manufacturing, and accelerate economic growth."
Representatives for Blue Origin, Meta, and Elon Musk declined to comment on the specific allegations or the contents of the text messages described in the book. The silence from the tech giants speaks to the precariousness of their position: having spent months attempting to align themselves with the President, they now face the challenge of navigating an administration that prizes loyalty and strength above all else.
Implications for the Future of Tech-Government Relations
The revelations in Regime Change offer a grim look at the erosion of the traditional distance between the state and the private sector. The "extraordinary scramble" to appease the President suggests that the era of tech CEOs as independent power brokers is undergoing a fundamental transformation.
1. The Death of Corporate Neutrality
The willingness of these CEOs to criticize their own businesses—such as Bezos disavowing his own newspaper—indicates that "corporate values" are increasingly secondary to political survival. When the threat of regulatory retaliation looms, the incentives for maintaining institutional integrity evaporate.
2. The Return of the "Winner-Take-All" Economy
The Trump-Musk alliance, juxtaposed against the failed lobbying of Bezos, signals a return to a more patronage-based economy. Government contracts and regulatory favors are being steered toward those who demonstrate total alignment with the President, leaving competitors to fight for the scraps or face obsolescence.
3. The Humiliation as a Tool of Governance
Trump’s propensity for sharing private messages and mocking his supplicants serves a dual purpose. It satisfies his personal desire for retribution against those who once opposed him, and it establishes a hierarchy where even the world’s wealthiest individuals are forced to acknowledge the supremacy of the executive office.
As the second term of the Trump presidency progresses, the lessons of the 2024 transition are clear: in the new Washington, the price of admission is not just cooperation—it is total submission. The giants of Silicon Valley, once the masters of their own destiny, have found themselves tethered to a political machine that is all too happy to parade them before its guests, reminding everyone in the room exactly who holds the power.
Suro Senen
Asep Darmawan
