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Marc Andreessen , the conscientious objector - father of one of the most striking venture capital firm in Silicon Valley , sound out he ’s been a Democrat most of his biography . He says he has endorsed and vote for Bill Clinton , Al Gore , John Kerry , Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton .
However , he say he ’s no longer loyal to the Democratic Party . In the 2024 presidential backwash , he is supporting and voting for former President Donald Trump . The reason he is opt Trump over President Joe Biden churn down principally to one major topic — he believes Trump ’s policies are much more favourable for tech , specifically for the startup ecosystem .
Andreessen explained his reasoning and how the two presidential candidates ’ programs pile up against each other in the latest“The Ben & Marc Show ” sequence , a podcast that he cobalt - server with a16z co - founder Ben Horowitz .
“ I wish we did n’t have to pick a side,”said Horowitz , who also acknowledged that his political choice would swage many of his friends and even his female parent . “ We literally [ believe ] the hereafter of our business , the hereafter of engineering , and the hereafter of America is at bet . ”
Andreessen and Horowitz argued that tech prowess is one of the three pillars — along with economy and military might — that let the U.S. to be the most successful country in the humanity over the last century . American potency in these three area helped the U.S. to peacefully defeat one of the biggest menace of the 20th century , the Soviet Union . The Soviet Union ended the Cold War because it could n’t keep up with the U.S. technologically , the a16z carbon monoxide - founders suppose .
“ Why is tech important ? It ’s because if you do n’t have the tech part of that trilateral , you ’re not going to have the thriftiness part , you ’re not extend to have the military part , ” Andreessen said .
The duo listed several reasons they believe the Biden organisation is stifling startups through overregulation and potentially needless revenue enhancement , while Trump would help innovation flourish .
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Among other things , the co - founders explain that they do n’t agree with the current White House plan to “ overregulate ” artificial intelligence .
“ Any restriction we put [ on ] ourselves are going to disfavour the U.S. versus the rest of the World , ” Andreessen said .
They also talk about Trump ’s view on AI at a recent dinner party they had with the former President of the United States . “What he said to us is , ‘ [ AI ] is very scary , but we perfectly have to win because if we do n’t win , China gain , ’ ” Horowitz said .
to boot , Andreessen say that , unlike the Biden administration , Trump ’s crypto regulation plan is “ a flat - out blanket endorsement of the entire space . ”
But Biden ’s proposal to task unrealized capital profit is what Andreessen hollo “ the last pale yellow ” that forced him to shift from supporting the current president to voting for Trump . If the unrealized capital gains tax goes into effect , startups may have to pay up taxes on rating increase . ( Private companies ’ admiration is not liquid . However , the U.S. governing collects tax in dollar . )
“ If you ’re a venture firm , you ’re getting strips of your portfolio pulled aside from you every class . You ’re out of business enterprise , ” Andreessen allege . “ This makes startup wholly implausible . ”
Andreessen has been outspoken about the importance of tech to gild in the past . Last October , he published a “ Techno - Optimist Manifesto ” that called for applied scientist to ignore critics and pessimist and embrace tech as “ the only constant source of outgrowth . ” The 15 - year - sure-enough firm is one of the big speculation investor in Silicon Valley , with more than $ 42 billion in assets under direction , accord to PitchBook .
