Why have some of America's historically Democratic tech figures rallied behind Donald Trump? Tesla and X boss Elon Musk was present at the Republican president's inauguration ceremony, but so were the chiefs of Amazon, Meta, Google and Apple. Olivier Alexandre, author of La Tech. Quand la Silicon Valley Refait le Monde ("Tech. When Silicon Valley Redesigns the World," Seuil, 2023) has analyzed the driving forces behind this "turnaround." Deputy director of the CNRS Centre Internet et Société (Internet and Society Center), the sociologist points to the role of tensions between the Democrats and the digital sector, particularly during Joe Biden's tenure.

There are several reasons for this shift, which was unthinkable just a year and a half ago, and which was demonstrated in a concrete way by the presence of major tech bosses at Trump's inauguration. The images taken that day are powerful iconographic symbols.

There are several layers to the complex web formed by these acts of support. There's the inner circle, with Elon Musk, Peter Thiel (an assertive conservative Republican from Silicon Valley) or David Sacks (former partner of Messrs Musk and Thiel in PayPal and Trump's adviser on artificial intelligence, AI). There are also some stakeholders posing as patriots, like venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, and opportunists – sometimes annoyed by Joe Biden's administration and by the Democrats – who are trying to make the most of the situation, like Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg or Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

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