How Zuckerberg Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Trump

One oligarch’s journey into MAGA apologism.

(Photo Credit: Mijansk786 / Shutterstock.com)

It can be hard to remember now, but for a while, Mark Zuckerberg really did talk a lot about protecting American democracy. In the wake of the 2016 election, when it became clear that Facebook had been used to help elect the most anti-democratic president in history, Zuckerberg took real, concrete steps to try and grapple with the problem squarely—at least for a while.

He seriously beefed up Facebook’s moderation system to weed out dangerous or illegal content. The company cooperated with the government in its investigation of Cambridge Analytica and other firms that had been used to manipulate American public opinion. And, in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, he oversaw the banning of accounts that touted the Big Lie and shut down groups that promoted dangerous election conspiracies. Facebook even suspended Trump from the platform.

But in the years since, Zuckerberg seems to have undergone a change of heart. Throughout the 2024 election cycle, he leaned all the way into Big Tech’s new pro-MAGA ethos, taking up mixed martial arts with a gusto, talking about bringing “masculine energy” back to his companies, and abandoning the old jeans-and-hoodie look for something more… macho?

Once Donald Trump won, the transformation was complete. Zuckerberg kicked in $1 million to his campaign slush fund, and appeared as a human prop at his inauguration alongside other Big Tech lickspittles like Jeff Bezos. He ended Facebook’s fact-checking program, saying it was “too politically biased,” and started talking publicly about the virtues of Trump’s MAGA authoritarianism.

It’s an open question whether Zuckerberg’s heel-turn reflects a genuine personal transformation or an opportunistic bit of brown-nosing. Probably it’s a little of both. The Silicon Valley mogul set has undergone a definite rightward turn in recent years, led by such anti-democratic Big Tech luminaries as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Curtis Yarvin. Many of them talk about being fed up with liberal pieties, and fearing regulation, especially now that we’ve entered the AI arms race. That’s the genuine part.

Then there’s the opportunistic part: Zuckerberg didn’t amass a world-spanning empire and achieve a net worth of $240 billion by accident. He’s a shrewd, cunning, famously cutthroat oligarch whose primary concern is maximizing the profitability of his various companies. He recognizes that Donald Trump is a capricious, vindictive, easily manipulable charlatan who can be flattered with empty promises and public displays of obsequiousness. These are things that Zuckerberg has been more than happy to provide.

The results have been telling. Trump used to attack Zuckerberg, blasting his “self-righteousness” and saying his lefty politics were “putting the lives of Americans at risk.” Now, he’s happy to host Zuckerberg at the White House, take his money, and even says he likes him “much better now.” While we can’t see what’s in the man’s heart, it’s logical to assume that Zuckerberg believes he’s won himself protection from Trump’s wrath, which frees him up to continue hoovering up people’s data in the escalating fight for AI dominance.

In all of this, Mark Zuckerberg has proven one thing: He’s a coward. But that doesn't mean the rest of us have to be, too. It’s abundantly clear that Donald Trump’s second-term agenda rests on him cowing into submission all of the elites who stand a chance of opposing his reckless, anti-democratic agenda. That includes Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, and their ilk, all of whom have proved themselves remarkably susceptible to this kind of pressure.

Rather than speak out, Zuckerberg sucks up to Trump. Rather than call out his authoritarian lies, he amplifies them. Rather than be brave, he hides behind his billions.

You know who can’t afford to do any of this? Ordinary people. Right now, real, hardworking, honest Americans everywhere are being crushed by Trump’s disastrous second-term agenda.

His tariffs and the trade war they set off are wiping out small businesses. His DOGE cuts are leaving families across the country without their livelihoods. And his war on critical government services is destroying people’s access to lifesaving medical research.

These are the victims of Trump, Zuckerberg, and the rest of the president’s willing enablers. Home of the Brave exists to tell these people’s stories, and ensure the country knows about the irreparable harm that’s being done. So if you’ve suffered harm because of Trump’s policies, we want to hear from you, too. Share your story today.

The only way we get out of this authoritarian moment is by standing up, speaking out, and telling the truth. Mark Zuckerberg is too much of a coward to do it. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to follow his lead.

Home of the Brave is a new project dedicated to telling the human stories of people harmed by Donald Trump’s disastrous second-term agenda.