Tech’s Trump 2.0: Regulatory Reckoning Looms

Hello again, and thanks for reading Fast Company‘s Plugged In.

Three ⁤days after Donald Trump’s second inauguration, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tried to have it both ways. “I’m⁣ not ⁤going to agree with him ⁣on everything,”⁢ Altman tweeted of teh new president. “[B]ut I think he will be astounding for the country in many ways!”

the gist of Altman’s sentiment-lavish ⁣praise for trump, tempered ⁢with ⁣a polite disclaimer ‍that it wasn’t a‍ blanket endorsement-was far closer to ⁢a love⁣ letter than a critique. But at least it⁢ broached the possibility of disagreement. Almost a year later, most⁣ tech executives who have commented on the president⁣ have tended to follow a different principle: If you can’t say something nice about ‍Donald J.⁤ Trump, don’t say anything at all.

Shortly before Trump returned to the White House, I wrote about tech⁤ CEOs’ attempts to newly ingratiate themselves with him, which included congratulatory social posts, million-dollar donations to his inauguration fund, and pilgrimages to ⁣Mar-a-lago. I predicted that the era ⁣of good⁢ feelings would eventually run⁤ up against the certainty that the administration’s policies, such as the promise of unprecedented mass deportations, would embroil ⁢it in controversy.

What I didn’t know was how overwhelming the assault on norms, the rule of law, and decency itself would be. even⁣ a partial accounting of recent examples ⁢would include Renee ⁢Nicole Good’s death and the rest of the crackdown in minneapolis by Immigration and ‍Customs Enforcement. ‍ Venezuela. Greenland. RFK Jr. ⁤The Justice Department’s targeting of James Comey, ‍ Letitia James, ⁢and