Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that he was “emotional” after the attempted assassination of 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
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 refused to endorse Trump and made clear that he is “not planning” to be involved in the 2024 election, The New York Times reported.
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. (RELATED: FBI Identifies Gunman Who Allegedly Tried To Kill Donald Trump)
In 2022, Zuckerberg announced he would not be donating any money to facilitate the midterm elections.
Aunque Mark Zuckerberg dice en entrevista que no va a respaldar a ningún candidato hace un guiño a @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/xs3Ko9ifXi
— Rodrigo Pacheco (@Rodpac) July 19, 2024
Zuckerberg told The New York Times that he wants his social media platforms to “play less of a role” in elections, emphasizing company moves to limit political content.
“The main thing that I hear from people is that they actually want to see less political content on our services because they come to our services to connect with people,” Zuckerberg said. “I think you’re going to see our services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past.”
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.
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.
Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks has also thrown his support behind Trump, participating in a Silicon Valley fundraiser for the GOP nominee in June that exceeded its goal by millions.
