President-elect Donald Trump will display a strong show of force at his inauguration ceremony in Washington on Monday, at least when it comes to the tech world.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are set to have some of the best seats available, positioned next to Trump’s family, his Cabinet picks, elected officials and former presidents on the dais, according to multiple newsreports.
The news of the attendance of the three men who sit at the top of Forbes’ real-time billionaires’ list was first reported by NBC News.
All three have developed a warmer relationship with Trump as he prepares to return to the White House.
Musk, who wrote he was “honored” to get the special spot at Monday’s ceremony, has become one of Trump’s closest allies after assuming a prominent role in the final months of his campaign. He was also one of the top donors of his reelection effort. Trump has tapped Musk to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency along with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with the aim of making massive cuts to the federal budget. As part of this role, he is expected to have an office in the White House complex, according to The New York Times.
Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin and present owner of The Washington Post, has taken steps to appease Trump, including by choosing to kill the newspaper’s planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris this fall — the first time the outlet didn’t endorse a presidential candidate in a decade. More recently, Amazon dialed back its diversity initiatives in an apparent effort to curry favor with Trump, who has spoken out against such policies. Despite his decision to quit as CEO of the tech company, Bezos still serves as Amazon’s executive chairman.
Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced that his social media company would drop its fact-checking program. He said that fact-checkers have become “too politically biased,” and the company will also abandon initiatives meant to promote diversity.
Besides Musk, who has been a near-constant presence in Trump’s orbit following his November victory, Bezos and Zuckerberg have all been spotted at Mar-a-Lago in recent months.
Bezos and Zuckerberg have so far not commented on the reports of their attendance.
Meta and Amazon havedonated $1 million each to Trump’s Inauguration Fund.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg will host a reception on Monday evening to celebrate Trump’s inauguration, according to a flyer for the event first obtained by Puck News’ Tara Palmeri.
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