“I think it’s really problematic when a very wealthy few people control access to power,” Swisher said Wednesday on stage at Fortune’s annual Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah. He added, “I’m not naive, and I don’t think that the wealthy haven’t had power over the decades and centuries that our country has had. But this kind of blatant power grab has worked really well for them.”
During the conversation, Swisher specifically raised concerns about former President Trump’s pick for vice president, J.D. Vance. Vance was introduced to Trump through PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Swisher blamed venture capitalists and tech CEOs such as Craft Ventures’ David Sachs, Thiel and Elon Musk for “elevating him for years” despite his lack of experience as vice president. “He’s inexperienced, but he’s one second away from taking the reins of power if Trump wins,” Swisher said.
She also commented on Tuesday’s announcement by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in a YouTube video that they would endorse former President Donald Trump for president in 2024. In the video, the two investors, who run one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture capital firms, argue that a Trump administration would have better policies when it comes to cryptocurrency, AI and other technology issues important to U.S. innovation and startups.
In Swisher’s view, the political activism of venture capitalists like Andreessen is driven by simpler motives. He said he has “spent a lot of time” with Andreessen over the years. “If you say he has political leanings, he believes in himself. He loves himself and he loves his money, and that’s it. Same with Ben. They don’t care about the rest of the platform,” he said. (A spokesman for Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment.)
The growing political influence of Silicon Valley’s elites and their sudden and vocal shift to the right are a notable shift for an industry that has historically tried to distance itself from partisan politics — a shift that began in 2016 when Peter Thiel spoke at the Republican National Convention and endorsed Donald Trump in his first presidential run.
“They’re very interested in government power and control and they have a contempt for government. I wouldn’t say hatred, but just total contempt and they want to burn government down,” Swisher said. “This is something that Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen and everyone has been talking about for years, but instead of using violent methods, they’ve used their money and their power and all the tools they have to do it.”
Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference earlier this week, Sequoia Capital partner Rolof Botha said the VC firm remains politically neutral, even though individual partners at the firm personally endorse and support candidates.
Swisher has covered and criticized technology throughout his 30-year career, frequently criticizing entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Sachs and conducting memorable interviews with the likes of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Pointing to his recently published book, “The Burn Book,” which chronicles his years covering the industry, Swisher said that everything tech executives do “has to do with business and self-interest…I’d rather they act like investment bankers. Everyone knows why they’re there: to make money.”
“Don’t be fooled,” Swisher said, “They’re not here to save you.”
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