Trump Inauguration, Brought to You By … ZuckBucks?

Alternate headline: Second Look at Facebook. Has Meta’s founder been red-pilled? Or just adjusting to the new political reality in Washington DC?

Mark Zuckerberg has a long track record of progressive activism, or at least had. His ZuckBucks helped elect Joe Biden in 2020 by funneling $350 million to Geroge Soros allies. Facebook participated in the Biden administration’s attempts to censor dissent and debate by blocking or suppressing social media posts that contradicted government positions. Zuckerberg has been rumored to be one of the billionaires funding Arabella, a dark-money progressive outfit that has operated in the shadows for years. 

Three months ago, Zuckerberg started expressing regrets over his previous political interventions and pledged to stay out of electioneering in this cycle. At the time, I asked whether Zuckerberg was “declaring himself a conscientious objector, or has he changed sides?” This looks like it might be the latter … maybe:

Meta Platforms has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, the latest step by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to bolster his once-fraught relationship with the incoming president.

The donation, confirmed by the company, is a departure from past practice by Zuckerberg and his company, and comes after an election campaign in which Trump threatened to punish the tech tycoon if he tried to influence the election against him.

“A departure from past practice”? That’s a bit of an understatement, for the reasons outlined above. Zuckerberg spent years promoting Trump’s opponents and punishing his allies on his ubiquitous Facebook platform as well as in massive infusions of cash. At one point, Zuckerberg booted Trump off his platforms altogether.

Now he’s donating to Trump’s inauguration. Has Zuckerberg changed sides? The incoming administration wants to paint it that way:

Stephen Miller, Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff, confirmed Trump’s Mar-a-Lago meeting with Zuckerberg in late November in an interview with Fox News. “Mark Zuckerberg has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of — and a participant in — this change we’re seeing,” Miller said. “He’s made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under President Trump’s leadership.”

That would have been a fair interpretation of that meeting, albeit open to other interpretations. Kicking in a million Zuckbucks to celebrate the inauguration certainly makes a stronger argument for an actual endorsement. It still could be attributed to Zuckerberg simply paying to keep his options and access open, and given the stakes involved, perhaps not even that large of an investment. But still, a million dollars is a million dollars, and if Zuckerberg just wanted more dialogue, picking up the meal tab from the Mar-a-Lago Club restaurant might have sufficed. 

Of course, that might run five figures anyway. You know what they say: when the menu doesn’t list the prices, you can’t afford it. 

As it turns out, Zuckerberg’s not the only media billionaire rethinking life choices in the wake of Trump’s victory. Jeff Bezos, whose newspaper still has its ludicrously sanctimonious slogan “democracy dies in darkness” in its banner, suddenly sees the light now too:

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, long a foe of the president-elect, congratulated Trump on X after the election for “an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” and said this month that he was “actually very optimistic this time around.” Speaking at a New York Times conference, he said: “What I’ve seen so far is that he is calmer than he was the first time and more confident, more settled.”

Has Bezos also kicked into the inaugural fund? No word on that yet, but if it comes out that he has, the Washington Post staff will no doubt revolt again over it.