Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta donates $1m to Trump’s inaugural fund in latest attempt to rebuild bridges

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly donated $1m to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, marking the latest twist in the complicated relationship between the tech boss and the Republican president-elect. Trump has been enjoying a very public “bromance” with Elon Musk in recent months while Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, a long-time enemy of the blustering New York property tycoon, praised his November 5 win as “an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory.” “What I’ve seen so far is that he is calmer than he was the first time and more confident, more settled,” Bezos recently told a New York Times conference. Zuckerberg was critical of the 45th president’s approach to tackling illegal immigration during his first term, writing in a Facebook post in 2017: “Like many of you, I’m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump.” Relations remained cordial, however, with the CEO visiting the White House in 2019 and dining with Trump before banning him from his platform in the wake of the Capitol riot on January 6 2021. He told Bloomberg: “On some level as an American, it’s like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy.” He stopped short of actually endorsing Trump but the Republican nevertheless claimed Zuckerberg had subsequently called him to say: “I’ve never supported a Republican before, but there’s no way I can vote for a Democrat in this election.” Trump then told a Barstool Sports podcast that he likes Zuckerberg “much better now”.