Nationwide political correspondent Maggie Haberman stated Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s latest go to to President-elect Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort might present that industries are searching for to construct a bridge with Trump forward of the inauguration, and never the opposite means round.
“It’s not clear that whether Zuckerberg sought this meeting or Trump sought this meeting, but one person described it as Trump essentially saying hey … ‘why don’t you come over to Mar-a-Lago?'” she stated Wednesday night on CNN’s “AC360.”
“And as you said, Zuckerberg had expressed praise for Trump earlier this year for his defiant posture after he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, by a would-be assassin,” she informed host John Berman, including later that “clearly Zuckerberg wants to have a better relationship with Trump.”
“I think we will learn more, but we are seeing as with a number of industries,” Haberman, a senior reporter with The New York Instances, continued. “But certainly, the tech industry, a lot of people coming to Trump and not the other way around.”
The assembly was first reported by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the incoming deputy chief of coverage, on Wednesday. Miller, in an interview on Fox Information, stated Zuckerberg and different business leaders needed to be a “supporter” of “making our economy prosperous.”
“They wish to be a component, a supporter, a booster of creating our economic system affluent, delivering for American staff and ensuring that America is probably the most highly effective, wealthiest, freest nation on the face of the earth,” Miller stated.
Zuckerberg is the newest tech CEO to attempt to mend his relationship with the previous president after previous tensions. Trump seemingly modified his tune on the Fb founder after he selected to withhold an endorsement through the 2024 presidential election.
Meta’s platforms — together with Fb and Instagram — have additionally more and more sought to maneuver away from political content material. Instagram up to date its requirements earlier this yr to now not suggest political content material until customers manually request it.
The president-elect has additionally grow to be shut with SpaceX and Telsa CEO Elon Musk. Trump tapped Musk, who endorsed him for president, together with biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, to go a model new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) when he returns to the White Home.
In the identical interview, Haberman signaled that the Trump-Musk partnership may final “for quite some time” regardless of criticism.
“If Trump is getting tired of him, Trump is not making that, especially public,” she stated.
“Musk is also, and depends on the day, the richest or one of the richest men in the world, and Trump has a huge fascination with wealth,” the veteran journalist added later. “As you noted, Trump equates wealth with intelligence, and so I actually think this relationship could last for quite some time.”
