"Mr. Trump appeals to some Silicon Valley elites because they identify with the man. To them, he is a fellow victim of the state..."

"... unjustly persecuted for his bold ideas. Practically, he is also the shield they need to escape accountability. Mr. Trump may threaten democratic norms and spread disinformation; he could even set off a recession, but he won’t challenge their ability to build the technology they like, no matter the social cost.... Most Americans... blame tech companies for contributing to the mental health crisis among teenagers, political polarization, rampant misinformation and privacy violations. Many of us, reading the evidence about social media’s negative effects on our children, do not want to make the same mistake of failing to create guardrails for new technologies, however promising they may be. Mr. Trump’s tech supporters see it differently. Echoing monopolists of the past, they say they are the victims of zealous progressives who want to overregulate the industry.... But just as we needed rules of the road for cars and safety regulations for planes, we need to manage these new technologies through public policy to ensure we like what they are doing to us, not resign ourselves to letting them run wild...."

Writes Chris Hughes, chair of the Economic Security Project (and a co-founder of Facebook), in "Why Do People Like Elon Musk Love Donald Trump? It’s Not Just About Money" (NYT).