Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and former President Donald Trump have butted heads over the years.
But even Zuckerberg, whose parent company Meta once suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, has found a newfound appreciation for Trump’s resilience.
During a New York Times interview conducted at the Meta CEO’s Menlo Park headquarters, Zuckerberg called Trump a “badass” for standing up, raising his fist and shouting “Fight!” after nearly losing his life to a gunshot. Trump was grazed in the right ear by a bullet Saturday at a rally in Butler, 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 told the outlet. “On some level as an American, it’s like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy.”
Zuckerberg’s interview seems like a total reversal from previous comments as the Meta CEO drew the ire of conservative watchdog groups and lawmakers after the Zuckerberg Initiative donated roughly $350 million to CTCL to help administer 2020 elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics viewed the grants purchased by CTCL and sent to nearly 2,500 election departments across 47 states as a means of boosting Democratic participation in the elections.
Meta suspended Trump from Facebook and Instagram for two years after Jan. 6, 2021, stating that the former president tried to “undermine the peaceful and lawful transfer of power to his elected successor.” Trump’s accounts have since been reinstated, and the final lasting restrictions on the GOP nominee’s accounts were lifted ahead of the Republican National Convention.
But that hasn’t stopped other tech founders from throwing their support towards Trump, especially in the aftermath on the attempt on Trump’s life.
Billionaire Elon Musk endorsed Trump on X following the attempt on the former president’s life. Musk announced plans to commit around $45 million a month to fund the American PAC, a super political action committee helping to elect Trump in November.