Ben Horowitz says he’ll donate to Kamala Harris in any case

“As I discussed earlier than, Felicia and I’ve recognized Vice President Harris for over 10 years and she or he has been a terrific good friend to each of us throughout that point,” Horowitz wrote in an e-mail to his enterprise capital agency obtained by Axios. “On account of our friendship, Felicia and I might be making a big donation to entities who assist the Harris Walz marketing campaign.”

I… pay attention. Two issues. First, one of the vital placing issues concerning the podcast Horowitz made together with his a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen was how targeted each males have been on who’d take their conferences. Their political commitments, in lots of respects, boiled all the way down to who would spend face time with them. Close to the tip of the podcast, Horowitz advised what was (I feel?) imagined to be a heartwarming story about hanging out with Trump’s grandkids — and the way his response to listening to concerning the assassination try on Trump was, “Oh my god, Grandpa simply received shot.”

So, you realize, the entire thing the place Harris has been “a terrific good friend” to each Horowitz and his spouse checks out as a political place for him. In some respects, I get it. I too need to see my associates succeed!

However second, that essential Trump endorsement was made earlier than Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in favor of Harris, and earlier than the large outpouring of assist for the brand new Democratic candidate. That meant a16z had already sacrificed any leverage it might need with a Harris administration — and a candidate who made Trump appear like much less of a certain winner. Within the case of a Harris win, these boys have been a complete 4 years with out vital conferences, and we already know they view that as a dreadful tragedy for the whole nation.

In an effort to regain any risk of leverage in a probably Democrat-led authorities, somebody was going to need to eat humble pie, and it certain as shit wasn’t going to be Andreessen. Horowitz, whose assist for Trump was termed a “Maga U-turn” by The San Francisco Customary, has a historical past of donating to progressive causes; Harris, then a senator, was even a visitor at a Horowitz yard barbecue in 2018.

“I’m simply questioning what they’re gonna do when Kamala wins,” one founder advised The San Francisco Customary of the a16z Trump endorsement. “Like, how do you stroll that again?”

Nicely, I suppose we all know now. Horowitz’s e-mail says that he’s had a number of conversations with Harris and her crew — essential to notice right here that he received to the candidate herself, provided that entry is seemingly certainly one of Horowitz’s primary political considerations. And so whereas Horowitz nonetheless thinks President Joe Biden is no-good and really dangerous, he’s “inspired by my perception” in Harris to do good for tech, even supposing she has not but staked out any coverage positions.

Harris has form of made overtures on what Horowitz termed “most likely essentially the most emotional subject” within the election: crypto. One among her marketing campaign aides has mentioned, “She’s going to assist insurance policies that be certain that rising applied sciences and that form of business can proceed to develop,” in response to a query about crypto.