The Trump Realignment

After eight years of opposing Trump at virtually every step, the American ruling class has finally been forced to reconsider their virulent anti-Trump stance. The 2024 presidential election delivered such a stunning blow to elitism that the establishment has had no choice but to tone down the rhetoric and extend an olive branch.

This week, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg announced UFC CEO Dana White’s appointment to Meta’s board of directors. White, a close friend of President-elect Donald Trump and noted MAGA supporter, revealed, “I’ve never been interested in joining a board of directors until I got the offer to join Meta’s board. I am a huge believer that social media and AI are the future. I am very excited to join this incredible team and to learn more about this business from the inside. There is nothing I love more than building brands, and I look forward to helping take Meta to the next level.”

The day after, Zuckerberg announced that Meta would eliminate numerous free speech restrictions that have made his platforms unpopular among conservatives.

Accusing his own algorithms of “too much censorship,” the social media mogul called the “recent elections… a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So, we’re going to get back to our roots, and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expressions on our platforms,” he added. “More specifically…. we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X, starting in the U.S.”

Zuckerberg argued that “the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased, and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created....” Moreover, he said that he plans to lift restrictions on hot-button topics, including immigration and gender identity.

Previously, Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and donated $1 million to his inaugural fund (Meta did not donate to Biden’s inauguration), all in an attempt to repair his relationship with the man who recently threatened to send him to prison for the rest of his life. Additionally, Meta Chief of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan commended Trump as a “big [defender] of free expression.” “We’re going to work with President Trump,” he said in an interview with Fox News, “to push back on [censorship] around the world.”

Zuckerberg isn’t the only one to amend his position on the incoming commander-in-chief. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has also changed his tune about Trump, offering hopeful predictions about the president’s second term.

“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” he posted on X shortly after the election. “No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”

Later, in an interview with The New York Times, Bezos disclosed that he looks forward to partnering with Trump to roll back federal regulation.

“If we're talking about Trump… I'm actually very optimistic this time around,” he said. “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. And my point of view — if I can help him do that, I’m gonna help him because we do have too much regulation in this country.”  

“I’m very optimistic that President Trump is serious about this regulatory agenda,” he continued, “and, I think, he has a good chance of succeeding.”

Additionally, Amazon gifted $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, surpassing the $276,000 the company gave Biden in 2021, and forked $40 million for a documentary about Melania Trump. Salon called the film “yet another stretch in a race to earn some more of her husband’s goodwill.”

What are we to make of these ex-Trump critics sudden seeming rightward lurch? Have they had a genuine change of heart? Are they closeted conservatives? Probably not.

Zuckerberg, Bezos, and the rest of the American elite may not be “MAGA,” but they are good businessmen — shrewd entrepreneurs with enough sense to follow the money. Regardless of whether their overt overtures to Trump are sincere (and I have my doubts), they have learned a powerful lesson that everyday, right-leaning Americans are not as negligible as they once imagined. They are only groveling because you — the grassroots — made your voices heard. You forced their hand.

For now, Zuckerberg and Bezos have chosen to acknowledge the strength of the voter’s will by aligning their actions with the prevailing winds of political power. Whether this alignment will persist beyond the short-term utility of Trump’s second term or if it will revert with a change in political winds, time alone will tell. However, this exciting new chapter in American political history leaves no doubt about who is in charge — the so-called “silent majority.” “We the People” have returned with a vengeance, and not even the elite ruling class can ignore our comeback.

To force Washington, D.C., back into its constitutional box, sign the Convention of States petition below!