Tech billionaire and co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman has reportedly considered leaving US after the victory of Donald Trump in the recent elections. A Democratic Party mega-donor, Hoffman was among the most vocal supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed campaign. According to a report in the New York Times, Hoffman has told friends that he is thinking of relocating overseas due to fears that Trump would use his power in the White House to seek retribution against his political enemies.
What is said to have made matters worse is Hoffman’s previous comments where he is said to have wished that the president-elect Trump was an “actual martyr” in the first failed assassination attempt in July this year. He is reported to have known Harris for years and is said to have spent millions of dollars into her White House campaign.
Funded lawsuit against Donald Trump
In April 2023, a report in the New York Times claimed that Hoffman also helped a defamation lawsuit filed by former New York magazine writer E. Jean Carroll against Trump. Trump’s lawyers argued in court at the time that Hoffman’s role in financing the lawsuit raised “significant questions” about Carroll’s credibility.
More tech billionaires in the list
Incidentally, Hoffman isn’t the only wealthy Democrat donor who toying with the idea of moving abroad. According to the Times, several major donors and their advisers have considered the prospect of leaving the country in private conversations.
The Times report added that a recent gathering of the Democracy Alliance, a left-leaning donor network, in Washington had the feel of a “funeral,” according to two attendees who spoke to the publication. tech mogul Steve Silberstein told the publication that people are kind of shell-shocked — and trying to figure out what happened. “People are trying to adjust to reality and plot out a path forward,” he reportedly said.
A recent report in Wall Street Journal claimed that another Democrat-backing tech billionaire who is said to be anxious about the incoming Trump administration is OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. What makes things tougher for Altman is his strained relationship with Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk, who is now regarded as closest buddy of the President-elect.
Altman as per the WSJ has tried to penetrate Trump’s inner circle by going through intermediaries, but so far has been unsuccessful due to the widely shared sentiment that Musk would oppose. The Journal reported that Altman has reached out to Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and his brother, venture capital mogul Josh Kushner, in hopes of ingratiating himself with the president-elect’s orbit — but without much success so far.
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