On Wednesday, the Presidential Inaugural Committee filed its final report with the Federal Election Commission, revealing the full list of donors who financed Donald Trump’s electoral college victory party. Unsurprisingly, the biggest names in tech all chipped in, including Google, Amazon, Intel, and Microsoft, all of whom spoke out against Trump’s Muslim ban. The filing reveals that just weeks before the companies denounced the executive order, they gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to celebrate the man who promised to issue it. AT&T, Trump’s biggest ally in communication, was silent.
The tech companies include:
- Microsoft, which donated $500,000.
- Google, which donated $285,000.
- Charter Communications, which donated $250,000.
- Verizon, which donated $100,000.
- Amazon, which donated $57,746.13.
- AT&T, which donated $2,082,483.43.
- Intel, which donated $500,000.
- Boeing, which donated $1,000,000.
- Qualcomm, which donated $1,000,000.
Unlike his taxes, the FEC filing is both publicly available and searchable. The committee reports a total of $106,715,308.29 in donations. In addition to tech and telecommunications, Trump’s campaign received millions in funds from various real estate tycoons, oil barons, and automakers like General Motors and Ford. Beer maker Anheuser-Busch, which ran a pro-immigration Superbowl ad, and multiple payday lenders, who are banned from advertising on Google, chipped in funds too.
Of course, individuals can donate to committees, too, and Silicon Valley’s elites opened up their wallets as well. Peter Thiel, now a member of Trump’s transition team, donated $100,000. Margaret Maloney, wife of former Intel China head Sean M. Maloney, donated $100,000.
Companies like Google and Amazon garnered very positive press for their opposition to the Muslim ban, so these donations seem immensely hypocritical. What policy preferences or political influence those companies garnered with their money remains to be seen, but if there’s one truth the Trump, it’s that even his most heavily criticized actions are mostly in line with the promises he made on the campaign trail. These companies have been aware of Trump’s intentions all along and met him first with cash and later with public criticism. The former speaks much louder.