SAN JOSE, California: Like many in the tech industry, Jeremy Lyons used to think of himself as a relatively apolitical guy.
\nThe only time he had participated in a demonstration before now was in the opening days of Donald Trump\u2019s first presidential term, when he joined fellow Google workers walking out of the company\u2019s Silicon Valley campus to protest immigration restrictions. Google\u2019s co-founder and its chief executive officer joined them.
\nLast weekend was Lyons\u2019 second, also against Trump, but it had a very different feel.
\nThe man directing thousands of marchers with a bullhorn in downtown San Jose on April 5 was another tech worker who would not give his full name for fear of being identified by Trump backers. Marchers were urged not to harass drivers of Tesla vehicles, which have gone from a symbol of Silicon Valley\u2019s environmental futurism to a pro-Trump icon. And no tech executives were anywhere to be seen, only months after several had joined Trump at his January inauguration.
\nTo Lyons, 54, the change says as much about what\u2019s happened to Silicon Valley over the past quarter-century as it does about the atmosphere of fear surrounding many Trump critics nowadays.
\n\u201cOne of the things I\u2019ve seen over that time is a shift from a nerdy utopia to a money first, move fast and break things,\u201d Lyons said.
\nPolitical gap seen between tech leaders and their workforce
\nThe tech industry\u2019s political allegiances remain divided. But as some in the upper echelons of Silicon Valley began shifting to the right politically, many of the tech industry\u2019s everyday workers have remained liberal \u2014 but also increasingly nervous and disillusioned. Their mood is in stark contrast to the prominent tech leaders who have embraced a conservative populist ideology.
\n\u201cI think you\u2019re seeing a real gap between the leadership elite here in Silicon Valley and their workforce,\u201d said Ann Skeet, who helps run a center at Santa Clara University studying the ethics of the tech industry.
\n\u201cThe shift hasn\u2019t been for a lot of people,\u201d said Lenny Siegel, a former mayor of Mountain View and longtime liberal activist in the valley. \u201cIt\u2019s a handful of people who\u2019ve gotten the attention.\u201d
\nThe biggest example of that is Elon Musk, the world\u2019s richest person and CEO of the world\u2019s best-known electric car company who has taken on a prominent role slashing federal agencies in Trump\u2019s administration. Musk has been joined by several tech billionaires, including investor David Sacks, who helped fundraise for Trump\u2019s campaign and became the White House\u2019s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, and venture capitalist Marc Andreesen. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also attended Trump\u2019s inauguration in Washington.
\nZuckerberg began praising Trump after the then-candidate, angered over money Zuckerberg steered toward local election offices in some states in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, threatened last summer to imprison him. Zuckerberg also donated $1 million to the president\u2019s inauguration fund and co-hosted an inauguration reception for billionaire Republican donors.
\nTrump has filled a number of his administration\u2019s posts with billionaires and his support from wealthy tech leaders led Democratic President Joe Biden to warn that the United States risked becoming an oligarchy ruled by elites. During Trump\u2019s first term, the valley and its leaders were a bulwark of resistance to the Republican, especially over immigration, given that the industry draws its workforce from around the globe.
\nIt\u2019s against that backdrop that thousands of people attended the recent rally at a downtown San Jose park to protest the actions of Trump and Musk.
\nEven as tech industry has changed, Silicon Valley has leaned Democratic
\nSanta Clara County, which comprises most of Silicon Valley, swung 8 percentage points toward Trump in November election against Democrat Kamala Harris, matching the shift across California. Even with that swing, the county voted 68 percent to 28 percent for the then-vice president and remains a Democratic stronghold.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re still in the belly of the beast,\u201d said Dave Johnson, the new executive director of the Santa Clara GOP, who said the party has gained some new members in the county but few from the tech industry. \u201cIf the lake was frozen, there\u2019s a little glimmer on top. I would not say there are cracks in the ice.\u201d
\nThe valley has long leaned Democratic, but with an unusual political mix: a general dislike of getting too involved in Washington\u2019s business coupled with an at-times contradictory mix of libertarian individualism, Bay Area activism and belief in the ability of science to solve the world\u2019s problems.
\nThat has persisted even as the tech industry has changed.
\nThe tech boom was fueled by scrappy startups that catered to their workers\u2019 dreams of changing the world for the better. Google\u2019s motto was \u201cdon\u2019t be evil,\u201d a phrase it removed from its code of conduct by 2018, when it and other companies such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, had grown into multinational behemoths. The companies have had layoffs in recent years, a shock to an industry that not long ago seemed poised for unlimited growth.
\nEntrepreneurs once dreamed of building startups that would change the world, said Jan English-Lueck, a San Jose State University professor who has been studying Silicon Valley culture for more than 20 years.
\n\u201cNow,\u201d she said, \u201cif you\u2019re part of a startup, you\u2019re hoping you\u2019ll be absorbed in a way that\u2019s profitable.\u201d
\nDiscontent among some in the tech industry about where it\u2019s headed
\nEven before some prominent tech leaders shifted toward Trump, there was mounting discontent among some in the industry over its direction. IdaRose Sylvester runs a business promoting a Silicon Valley-style approach to entrepreneurs in other countries.
\n\u201cI feel sick to my stomach now,\u201d she said.
\nSylvester was already disenchanted with the growing inequality in the valley and the environmental cost of all the energy needed to power crypto, AI and data centers. She took part in protests against Trump in 2017, but felt that energy fade once he lost the 2020 election to Biden.
\n\u201cI saw a lot of people get out of politics once Biden won. There was a feeling it was all OK,\u201d Sylvester said. \u201cIt was not all OK.\u201d
\nIt is worse now, she said. She helped organize one of several demonstrations across the valley last weekend during a national day of protests against the new administration.
\nAt first glance, the one in downtown San Jose could have been a typical anti-Trump protest anywhere. A large crowd of largely middle-age and older people carried signs against the president and Musk while chanting against oligarchs.
\nBut it was clearly a Silicon Valley crowd, one still reeling not only from Trump\u2019s challenges to the country\u2019s system of checks and balances but also from the actions of the valley\u2019s top executives.
\n\u201cThe money is all shifting to the wealthiest, and that terrifies me,\u201d said Dianne Wood, who works at a startup. \u201cUnfortunately, you\u2019ve got the Zuckerbergs and Elon Musks of the world who are taking that over.\u201d
\n\u201cJust coming here, everyone\u2019s saying turn off the facial recognition on your phone,\u201d Wood added. \u201cWe\u2019re all scared.\u201d
\nKamal Ali, who works in AI, said he felt betrayed by that shift.
\n\u201cThe trust is broken. A lot of employees are very upset by what\u2019s going on,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be different forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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