Perhaps one of the most welcome surprises of the 2024 election cycle was the large number of Democrats and/or progressives who threw their support behind President-elect Donald Trump. The cumulative damage to the U.S. after four years of progressive rule, the deceitful way it had been implemented, and the speed with which it occurred, left even some lifelong Democrats disaffected. Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen was among this group.
During a Tuesday interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Andreessen described the moment he decided to leave the Democratic Party. In the spring, he had participated in a series of White House meetings about the future of AI. Over the course of their discussions, Biden officials fleshed out “their plan to control AI through government regulatory capture.” Horrified by the administration’s intentions, Andreesen walked out and endorsed Trump.
What had left the tech billionaire so spooked? Andreessen explained:
The AI thing was very alarming. We had meetings this spring that were the most alarming meetings I’ve ever been in. Where they were taking us through their plans, and it was – basically just full government – full government control – like this sort of thing, there will be a small number of large companies that will be completely regulated and controlled by the government, they told us. They said don’t even start startups – there’s just no way that they can succeed – there’s no way that we’re going to permit that to happen.
Rogan gasped.
Andreessen continued, “They said that this is already over. It’s going to be two or three companies and we’re just gonna control them and that’s that. Like this is already finished.”
“When you leave a meeting like that, what do you do?” Rogan asked.
Andreessen smiled and said, “You go endorse Donald Trump!”
Andreessen also claimed that the Biden administration has “debanked” more than 30 tech startups, including crypto companies. Debanking means that a bank will suddenly close an individual’s or an organization’s account, or refuse to open an account for a new customer. This typically occurs when a person or an entity is seen as a risk “legally, financially, or to the bank’s reputation.” Under the current administration, debanking was used as a means of control.
The use of debanking as a control mechanism began under the Obama Administration, Andreessen noted. It was called “Operation Choke Point.” The administration started to debank “marijuana businesses, escort businesses and gun shops.”
According to Andreessen:
Just like you’re done. You’re out of the banking system.So, if you’re running a marijuana dispensary in 2012, then, guess what, you’re doing your business all in cash. Because you literally can’t get a bank account. You can’t get a Visa terminal. You can’t process transactions. … You’ve been sanctioned. None of that stuff is available.This administration [Biden] extended that concept to apply it to tech founders, crypto founders and just generally political opponents. That’s been like super pernicious.Operation Choke Point 1.0 was 15 years ago against the pot and the guns. Choke Point 2.0 is primarily against their political enemies and then to their disfavored tech startups. … We’ve had like 30 tech founders debanked in the last four years. It’s been a big recurring pattern.This is one of the reasons we ended up supporting Trump. We can’t live in this world. We can’t live in a world where somebody starts a company that’s a completely legal thing and they literally get sanctioned and embargoed through the United States government through a completely unaccountable [authority].By the way, no due process. None of this is written down. There’s no rules. There’s no court. There’s no decision process. There’s no appeal. Who do you appeal to? Who do you go to to get your bank account back?
As stories like Andreessen’s continue to mount, it’s become clear that the Democrats have but one goal: single-party rule in the U.S. And they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. To that end, the Biden administration turned into a progressive propaganda machine, the likes of which we never imagined we’d see in our democratic republic.
With each new success, their confidence grew. If only they could install Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House, they would be there. With another four years, they could cement their fundamental transformation of the U.S.
Unfortunately for them, reality interfered.
Voters were offered two vastly different choices on Nov. 5.
Thankfully, the American people woke up in time and realized they were about to lose their country. Even Democrats like Andreessen.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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