Ben Horowitz says he’ll donate to Kamala Harris in spite of everything Leave a comment

“As I discussed earlier than, Felicia and I’ve identified Vice President Harris for over 10 years and he or she has been an amazing buddy to each of us throughout that point,” Horowitz wrote in an e mail to his enterprise capital agency obtained by Axios. “On account of our friendship, Felicia and I will probably be making a big donation to entities who help the Harris Walz marketing campaign.”

I… hear. Two issues. First, some of the placing issues concerning the podcast Horowitz made together with his a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen was how centered each males have been on who’d take their conferences. Their political commitments, in lots of respects, boiled all the way down to who would spend face time with them. Close to the top of the podcast, Horowitz advised what was (I feel?) purported to be a heartwarming story about hanging out with Trump’s grandkids — and the way his response to listening to concerning the assassination try on Trump was, “Oh my god, Grandpa simply received shot.”

So, , the entire thing the place Harris has been “an amazing buddy” to each Horowitz and his spouse checks out as a political place for him. In some respects, I get it. I, too, need to see my buddies succeed!

However second, that essential Trump endorsement was made earlier than Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in favor of Harris, and earlier than the monumental outpouring of help for the brand new Democratic candidate. That meant a16z had already sacrificed any leverage it might need with a Harris administration — and a candidate who made Trump appear like much less of a certain winner. Within the case of a Harris win, these boys have been a complete 4 years with out vital conferences, and we already know they view that as a dreadful tragedy for your complete nation.

With a purpose to regain any risk of leverage in a doubtlessly Democrat-led authorities, somebody was going to should eat humble pie, and it certain as shit wasn’t going to be Andreessen. Horowitz, whose help for Trump was termed a “Maga U-turn” by The San Francisco Commonplace, has a historical past of donating to progressive causes; Harris, then a senator, was even a visitor at a Horowitz yard barbecue in 2018.

“I’m simply questioning what they’re gonna do when Kamala wins,” one founder advised The San Francisco Commonplace of the a16z Trump endorsement. “Like, how do you stroll that again?”

Effectively, I assume we all know now. Horowitz’s e mail says that he’s had a number of conversations with Harris and her crew — essential to notice right here that he received to the candidate herself, provided that entry is seemingly one in all Horowitz’s essential political considerations. And so whereas Horowitz nonetheless thinks President Joe Biden is no-good and really unhealthy, he’s “inspired by my perception” in Harris to do good for tech, even supposing she has not but staked out any coverage positions.

Harris has type of made overtures on what Horowitz termed “in all probability essentially the most emotional matter” within the election: crypto. One among her marketing campaign aides has stated, “She’s going to help insurance policies that be sure that rising applied sciences and that type of trade can proceed to develop,” in response to a query about crypto.