As Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes, San Francisco’s tech and finance elite took to social media to weigh in—and pop off—on Thursday’s historic verdict.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts in his New York hush money trial. He faces up to four years in prison and is due to be sentenced on July 11—just days before the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to officially become the party’s nominee for president.
Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks, who is due to host Trump next Thursday for a fundraiser dinner at his Pacific Heights home, quickly pounced on the news, calling the trial “a sham.”
A sham trial designed for one purpose: to brand Donald Trump as a “felon.” Watch Dems and the MSM endlessly repeat that word.
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) May 30, 2024
Meanwhile, Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire announced on X that he just donated $300,000 to Trump’s campaign.
“The timing isn’t a coincidence,” Maguire posted.
I just donated $300k to President Trump
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) May 30, 2024
The timing isn't a coincidence https://t.co/LDU4nJ8FBx
Mike Solana, chief marketing officer for Founders Fund, quipped, “ah, yes, a return to norms (jailing the frontrunner presidential candidate).” Then he posted a gif of Heath Ledger’s Joker hanging out the window of a cop car from “The Dark Knight.”
— Mike Solana (@micsolana) May 30, 2024
Fellow Founders Fund partner Delian Asparouhov outed himself for being on President Joe Biden’s campaign email list with a joke. (He claims a “troll friend or enemy” signed him up.)
the timing of this biden campaign email is comedic gold
— delian (@zebulgar) May 30, 2024
there's only one way? or are there two 😂 pic.twitter.com/ArnG5k5tnP
RootVC partner Lee Edwards (and Standard op-ed contributor) tried an appeal to reason to Trump supporters.
I mean. I would think even the biggest Trump supporter would have to admit this dude has committed a fuckload of crimes over his lifetime.
— Lee Edwards (@terronk) May 30, 2024
You like him in spite of all this. You’re not delusional enough to think he’s not a serial white collar criminal, I would hope?
And X employee and former startup CEO Chris Bakke used the opportunity to drop an IYKYK venture capital joke in a since-deleted post.
“Me if investing in pre-revenue companies at $45M valuations was illegal:” Bakke wrote, quote tweeting another post listing out the verdict for each count.