Which tech mogul will replace Elon Musk as Trump's new tech industry BFF?
As the two most powerful men on Earth ripped off their shirts and savagely tore into each other Thursday, the citizens of the world looked on, transfixed by the spectacle. But even as the two antagonists flung fireballs at each other on their respective social networks, and as oddsmakers gamed out the potential outcomes, an important question was overlooked: Who will replace Musk as President Trump's new tech BFF?
The question might seem premature, perhaps even tangential, with all the drama still unfolding. But given the president's approach to industrial and trade policy, and the stakes that hinge on being in his good graces, or in his dog house, it seems logical that another savvy tech industry billionaire will seek to fill the seat that Musk just vacated.
Here's a quick overview of the top contenders and their respective strengths and weaknesses.
The 40-year old cofounder and CEO of OpenAI has a lot to gain by claiming the 'First Buddy' title. His company's large language models are pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence, challenging longstanding assumptions and policies around security, ethics, privacy, and labor—all areas where government regulation could come into play. Altman is also seeking to build a massive network of AI data centers, and he stood alongside Trump earlier this year to announce the so-called Stargate project. In fact, according to some media reports, Trump's support of the Stargate project irked Musk, who has a rival AI service.
It wasn't long ago that Trump mused in an interview about jailing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuck, whose various social networking apps banned Trump after the January 6, 2020 storming of the Capitol, got the message and has been diligently at work since then attempting to befriend Trump. Meta donated $1 million to the Trump inauguration in January and Zuckerberg was front-and-center during the inauguration festivities. On a Meta earnings call in January, Zuck even praised Trump for leading an administration that 'prioritizes American technology winning and that will defend our values and interests abroad.' While Trump hasn't repeated his threats of jailing the Meta CEO, the social networking company is currently awaiting a verdict in the government's antitrust lawsuit seeking to break the company up.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, is keen to mend fences with Trump, who he once offered to blast into space on one of his rockets. There's no love lost between the two. In his first term, Trump regularly railed about the Bezos-owned Washington Post. This term Bezos wants a reset, having visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and contributing to the inauguration. At stake for Bezos is Amazon's sprawling business, which encompasses everything from retail to cloud computing and grocery stores. Another potential motivation for Bezos to take Musk's place: the space race. Bezos' Blue Origin competes directly with Musk's SpaceX, and Amazon's Project Kuiper internet satellite effort is a rival to Musk's Starlink.
Once known as the Trump Whisperer for his skill at shielding Apple from Trump's trade policies, Tim Cook's star has not seemed to shine as brightly in the White House during Trump's second term. The president's tariffs have not exempted Apple as they did in the first term, and in May Trump even took a direct shot at Apple, threatening to impose 25% tariffs on its products if the company did not move its iPhone manufacturing out of China and India, and into the U.S. 'I had a little problem with Tim Cook,' Trump said in May, referring to overseas iPhone manufacturing. If Cook (or 'Tim Apple' as Trump once referred to him) can successfully step into the breach left by Musk, it would be a master move.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
American Military News
30 minutes ago
- American Military News
FBI moving headquarters, top Trump official confirms
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel confirmed on Tuesday that the agency will be closing its headquarters at the J. Edgar Hoover Building and opening a new headquarters at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. In a memo obtained by Fox News, Patel told FBI employees, 'Team, the FBI Headquarters will be moving down the street to the Ronald Reagan Building, and the Hoover building will be shut down.' In Tuesday's memo, Patel explained that the FBI is the 'world's premier law enforcement agency' and claimed that the agency's new headquarters 'will reflect that fact.' 'After nearly 20 years of constant churn surrounding the matter, we've finally gotten it done,' Patel stated. The FBI director added that moving the agency's headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building 'will be the most cost-effective way to best serve the American people while most efficiently using the resources available to us.' Fox News reported that the FBI and the General Services Administration have considered options for a new agency headquarters for over 10 years. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, General Services Administration Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters said, 'This move not only provides a world-class location for the FBI's public servants, but it also saves Americans billions of dollars on new construction and avoids more than $300 million in deferred maintenance costs at the J. Edgar Hoover facility.' READ MORE: Video: FBI increases monitoring of Iran-backed operatives in US: Report In the memo obtained by Fox News, Patel emphasized that while he is working 'closely with Congress and GSA' to move the agency's headquarters 'quickly,' there are 'a lot of moving pieces' involved in the transition. 'We need to ensure our security and technology requirements are in place before HQ employees can begin making the move, in phases,' Patel stated. 'Thanks in advance for your patience, and for staying the course.' The FBI director also asked the agency's employees to join him in 'celebrating this historic milestone for the FBI.' According to Fox News, a source with knowledge of the FBI's decision to relocate to the Ronald Reagan Building told the outlet, 'The Hoover building is a dump and not just unsafe for the FBI workforce, but unsafe for the country's national security.' In a statement to Fox News, President Donald Trump described the Ronald Reagan Building as 'a wonderful building,' adding that the FBI is 'a wonderful group of people.' 'The FBI will finally have the kind of building they deserve,' Trump said. 'Congratulations to Kash Patel, Dan Bongino and all the great people at the FBI.'
The Hill
35 minutes ago
- The Hill
Raskin on Trump ‘ugly' remark: Not everyone can live up to his ‘exquisite' level of ‘handsomeness'
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a vocal critic of President Trump, shot back with sarcasm after the president seemingly called him 'ugly' in a post online. 'I suppose I don't like being called ugly by Donald Trump, but not everybody can live up to his exquisite levels of handsomeness and personal physical grace,' Raskin told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on 'The Last Word.' 'And so that — I would consider myself probably in the large majority of American men who simply can't live up to the exquisite standards that he's set, and his extraordinary popularity with American women,' he quipped. His remarks came after Trump, in a post on Truth Social, called the Maryland lawmaker a 'third rate Democrat politician' and said Raskin 'has no idea what is in our fantastic Tax Cut Bill, nor would he understand it if he did.' 'This DOPE has been consistently losing to me for YEARS, and I love watching his ugly face as he is forced to consistently concede DEFEAT TO TRUMP — And tonight should be another of those nights,' the president added. 'Raskin is a bad politician, and a TOTAL LOSER!' The lawmaker is no stranger to attacks after serving as impeachment manager during Trump's second impeachment trial following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He also sat on the select committee investigating the riots. The back-and-forth came as the House GOP was considering the Senate-passed version of the 'big, beautiful bill.' The lower chamber advanced the spending package early Thursday after overcoming a dramatic procedural vote overnight. Democrats have been vehemently opposed to the reconciliation package, with Raskin posting on social platform X Wednesday that 'House Democrats have been 100% united in standing up for all Americans and saying no to the GOP's job-killing, health care-destroying, debt-exploding tax bill.' On Thursday, he went a step further, calling the bill a 'tax scheme.' 'The GOP's tax scheme strips health care coverage from millions of Americans, including at least 245,000 Marylanders,' he wrote on X. 'I'm voting 'hell no.'' The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
San Francisco Chronicle
37 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
How Ukraine can cope with the US pause on crucial battlefield weapons
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The decision by the United States to pause some weapons shipments to Ukraine has come at a tough time for Kyiv: Russia's bigger army is making a concerted push on parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and is intensifying long-range drone and missile attacks that increasingly hammer civilians in Ukrainian cities. Washington has been Ukraine's biggest military backer since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022. But the Trump administration has been disengaging from the war, and no end to the fighting is in sight, despite recent direct peace talks. Specific weapons needed from U.S. Amid recurring concerns in Kyiv about how much military support its allies can supply and how quickly, Ukraine has raced to build up its domestic defense industry. The country's output has gradually grown, especially in the production of more and increasingly sophisticated drones, but Ukraine needs to speedily scale up production. Crucially, some high-tech U.S. weapons are irreplaceable. They include Patriot air defense missiles, which are needed to fend off Russia's frequent ballistic missile attacks, but which cost $4 million each. That vital system is included in the pause, and many cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv, could become increasingly vulnerable. A senior Ukrainian official said Thursday that Patriot systems are 'critically necessary' for Ukraine, but U.S.-made HIMARS precision-guided missiles, also paused, are in less urgent need as other countries produce similar assets. 'Other countries that have these (Patriot) systems can only transfer them with U.S. approval. The real question now is how far the United States is willing to go in its reluctance to support Ukraine,' he told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the subject. The official said that Patriot missiles exist in sufficient numbers globally, and he said that accessing them requires political resolve. 'There are enough missiles out there,' he said, without providing evidence. He also stated that Ukraine has already scaled up its domestic production of 155 mm artillery shells, which were once critically short, and is now capable of producing more than is currently contracted. 'Supplies from abroad have also become more available than before,' he said. Backup plan Amid at times fraught relations with U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been enlisting greater European help for his country's arms manufacturing plans. European countries don't have the production levels, military stockpiles or the technology to pick up all the slack left by the U.S. pause, but Zelenskyy is recruiting their help for ambitious joint investment projects. Draft legislation to help Ukrainian defense manufacturers scale up and modernize production, including building new facilities at home and abroad, will be put to a vote in the Ukrainian parliament later this month, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced this week. Zelenskyy said last month that major investments will go to the production of drones and artillery shells. 'The volume of support this year is the largest since the start of the full-scale war,' he said about commitments from foreign countries. Under Trump, there have been no new announcements of U.S. military or weapons aid to Ukraine. Between March and April, the United States allocated no new help at all, according to Germany's Kiel Institute, which tracks such support. For the first time since June 2022, four months after Russia's full-scale invasion, European countries have surpassed the U.S. in total military aid, totaling 72 billion euros ($85 billion) compared with 65 billion euros ($77 billion) from the U.S., the institute said last month. Big battlefield problem Without Patriot missiles, as well as the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile and shorter-range Stinger missiles that are also included in the pause, Ukrainian cities likely will take a bashing as more Russian missiles pierce air defenses. On the front line, Ukrainian troops haven't recently voiced complaints about ammunition shortages, as they have in the past. They have always said that during the war, they have never had as much ammunition to as their disposal as Russian forces. The army faces a different problem: It's desperately short-handed. It's turning to drones to compensate for its manpower shortage, and analysts say the front isn't about to collapse. 'This is war — and in war, steady deliveries are always crucial,' he said. ___ Barry Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. ___
