Silicon Valley Doesn't Have Values

In 2016, Sam Altman compared Trump to Hitler. "To anyone familiar with the history of Germany in the 1930s, it's chilling to watch Trump in action." He called him "abusive, erratic, and prone to fits of rage."

In 2017, he tweeted: "I think Trump is terrible and few things would make me happier than him not being president."

In 2025, he donated a million dollars to Trump's inauguration and posted: "i think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!"

lol

And Sam's not alone.

In 2021, Zuckerberg banned Trump from Facebook after January 6th, writing that the risks of letting him stay on the platform were "simply too great." By late 2024, he was having dinner at Mar-a-Lago. At the inauguration, he sat in the front row next to Trump's family... ahead of the actual cabinet nominees.

These are the same people who in 2020 pledged billions to racial justice. Tech companies made $4.56 billion in pledges that year. Facebook committed $100 million to Black-owned businesses. Apple launched a $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative. Google pledged $1 billion to diverse suppliers.

Why? Because they were in a hiring war.

Between 2020 and 2022, tech went on a hiring spree like nothing before. Amazon added 500,000 employees in 2020 alone... over 1,300 people per day. Meta nearly doubled. Google almost doubled. Candidates were getting multiple offers with inflated salaries.

When u have that much competition for talent, salary alone isn't enough. So companies started selling belonging. Purpose. Values. "Bring your whole self to work." Mental health stipends. Paid weeks off for burnout. It wasn't about caring... replacing a senior engineer costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. "Empathy" is cheaper than attrition.

Then 2022 hit. Growth slowed. Meta laid off 11,000. Amazon cut 18,000. By 2023, tech had laid off 400,000 people. Suddenly employees didn't have leverage anymore. They couldn't just leave for a better offer. And all those values? Gone. The incentive to perform them disappeared.

Now? Meta eliminated its DEI team entirely. Google ended diversity hiring goals. Amazon is "winding down outdated programs." The pledges are gone. The diversity reports are gone.

Remember the 2018 Google walkout? 20,000 employees walked out over how Google protected execs accused of sexual harassment. Sundar said he supported them. Most of the organizers were gone within two years. The NLRB later accused Google of "terminations and intimidation in order to quell workplace activism."

When employees have leverage, companies perform values. When they don't, the performance stops.

And right now? Federal agents are shooting civilians in Minneapolis. Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, killed by Border Patrol. Over 450 tech workers signed a letter asking their CEOs to call the White House. Most won't even put their names on it.

James Dyett from OpenAI put it bluntly: "There is far more outrage from tech leaders over a wealth tax than masked ICE agents terrorizing communities and executing civilians in the streets."

When Trump threatened to send the National Guard into San Francisco last October, tech CEOs picked up the phone. Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff... they called the White House and Trump backed down. They have access. They have influence. They just don't use it unless their offices are threatened.

Silicon Valley didn't "shift right." There was no ideological awakening. They never believed any of it. They'll say whatever makes the line go up.

Right now, silence pays better than speaking up. So they stay quiet.