Tech billionaires join Trump for church service

A parade of tech billionaires and cardinal members of his orbit joined President-elect Donald Trump arsenic helium kicked disconnected his pre-inaugural celebrations with a religion work connected Monday morning.

Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos, Meta brag Mark Zuckerberg, Apple person Tim Cook, and Google main Sundar Pichai were seen taking their premier seats astatine St John's Church.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, FIFA president Gianni Infantino and erstwhile UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson were besides spotted astatine the church.

Many of these executives were among the archetypal concern satellite critics of Trump during his archetypal term, speaking retired connected issues specified arsenic clime alteration and immigration.

TikTok main enforcement Shou Zi Chou excessively is expected to be the inauguration, arsenic his institution grapples with the fallout from a US ban, arsenic good arsenic Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber.

Then of people determination is SpaceX and Tesla brag Elon Musk, who spent astir $300m helping the president run and has stuck intimately to his broadside ever since.

It is simply a striking spectacle. The past nationalist lawsuit successful Washington to bring truthful galore tech bosses unneurotic successful the aforesaid country was a 2020 legislature proceeding aimed astatine their companies.

Today, astir of the firms inactive person superior outstanding matters earlier the US government, including anti-monopoly lawsuits, investigations, regulatory fights and tariffs.

Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bennett, some Democrats, shared a missive addressed to the executives, which accused them of trying to "cozy up to the incoming Trump medication successful an effort to debar scrutiny, bounds regularisation and bargain favor".

"Funny they ne'er sent maine 1 of these for contributing to Democrats," Mr Altman posted connected societal media successful reply.

How enduring the tech bromance proves and however acold Trump volition propulsion connected galore of these issues stay unfastened questions.

But the president, who near bureau the archetypal clip arsenic a benignant of pariah successful the concern world, appears to beryllium revelling successful his caller position.

As helium wrote connected societal media past month: "Everybody wants to beryllium my friend!!!"