How Mark Zuckerberg is moving to MAGA after being called a 'secret Republican' in 2013
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13785395/Mark-Zuckerberg-moving-MAGA-called-secret-Republican-Facebook.html
Mark Zuckerberg's bombshell letter to Congress this week calling the Biden administration's censorship campaign 'wrong' may signal yet another rightward shift in his politics.
The Facebook founder, a major Democratic donor who once backed former President Barack Obama, has spent more recent years appearing on right-leaning podcasts, mingling with MAGA-supporting UFC fighters and calling former President Donald Trump a 'badass.'
The billionaire tech mogul has even struck up a friendship with Trump's longtime ally UFC president Dana White — who introduced Trump at this year's 2024 Republican convention and still dreams of hosting a charity cage match between Zuckerberg and his billionaire rival Elon Musk.
>Trump himself, in fact, has claimed that the Meta CEO has called him 'a lot' during this election cycle for candid, private talks.
While the 40-year-old tech billionaire has expressly declined to endorse a candidate in the 2024 US presidential race, his actions have left many questioning his stances.
Whatever the truth behind that speculation, Zuckerberg's political donations for 2024 have dropped dramatically, as his once generous interest in giving to progressive causes and candidates wanes.
The apparent shift in his politics has coincided with a tough, physical makeover, with Zuckerberg trading his comfortable dorm-room hooded sweatshirts and Adidas flip-flops for sun-kissed Gen Z curls, and fitted shirts with gold chains.
Zuckerberg has also become more eager in mixed-martial arts training, training with past MMA champions and regularly attending live UFC events where Trump is also a regular attendee. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan on Monday, Zuckerberg said he 'regrets' that Facebook and the other social apps owned by its parent company Meta 'were not more outspoken' in their opposition to censorship.
The Biden administration, he wrote, was 'wrong' to demand that Facebook censor alleged 'COVID misinformation' during the pandemic, among other posts.
The White House, according to the Meta CEO, 'repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree.' We made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information,' Zuckerberg continued, 'we wouldn't make today.'
The comments — the Meta CEO's most direct criticism of the White House yet — came just weeks after Zuckerberg's comments lauding Trump's resilience in the face of last July's assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
'Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life,' Zuckerberg, 40, said during an interview with Bloomberg at Meta's HQ in Menlo Park, California.
'On some level as an American, it's like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight,' the Facebook founder added. 'And I think that that's why a lot of people like the guy.'
But Zuckerberg stopped short of any endorsement, emphasizing, 'I'm not planning on doing that this time, and that includes not endorsing either of the candidates.'