Trump administration
Trump Administration
Trump Administration
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The elite of Silicon Valley delights with its new influence for a long weekend of inaugural matches, while the president chose to the resumption power of Donald J. Trump.
By Theodore Schleifer and Kenneth P. Vogel
Reporting from Washington.
A party at the Beaux-Arts mansion of the venture capitalist Peter Thiel. A blowout organized by hosts of the popular tech podcast “All-In” at a brand-new members-only club. A viewing ceremony hosted by an ascendant, Silicon Valley-inflected network of wealthy donors.
Some of the most coveted parties during President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inaugural weekend will be hosted by the Silicon Valley donors who are flush with power at the dawn of his second administration. The tech industry that has embraced Mr. Trump over the last year or so is set to revel in its clout over days of festivities that will make the tech donors the stars of the show.
Inaugurations attract deep-pocketed corporations and donors seeking access to an incoming administration that will oversee their industries and interests. Mr. Trump’s official inaugural committee has shattered fund-raising records.
Companies have poured in $1 million or more, including Fortune 500 stalwarts like Ford and General Motors; tech giants like Amazon and Google; cryptocurrency upstarts like Ripple and Robinhood; and traditional G.O.P. megadonors, including the coal billionaires Joseph W. Craft III and Kelly Knight Craft, who gave $1 million, according to a person with knowledge of their donation. In exchange, donors have been given tickets to exclusive official events, including intimate dinners with Mr. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, and V.I.P. access to the swearing-in ceremony on Monday.
But much of the action happens on the sidelines of the official program. Across Washington, dozens of big-money events are planned at the city’s most exclusive hotels and restaurants, rooftops and ballrooms, on land and aboard yachts, mostly catering to the corporations and wealthy executives who will be in the capital to usher in a new term that they hope will unshackle American business.
Parties are planned at downtown steakhouses and Georgetown sushi spots for clients and associates of lobbying firms with ties to the incoming Trump administration. Among them are the Chartwell Strategy Group, whose partners raised $3 million for the inauguration and represent clients including Hyundai, which donated $1 million through its U.S. subsidiary; and Ballard Partners, the firm of the top Trump fund-raiser Brian Ballard, who represents corporations that have collectively given millions to the inaugural committee, including Amazon and Ripple.
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