(Headline USA) Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told former President Donald Trump recently that there is “no way” he can vote for a Democrat in November’s election, according to Business Insider.
In an interview with New York magazine published this week, Trump recalled several phone calls he received after the assassination attempt against him in July, including calls from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg.
“You know, I got so many nice calls from people I really don’t know. Jeff Bezos called. He said, ‘It is the most incredible thing I’ve ever watched.’ And he appreciated what I did, in the sense of getting up and letting people know,” Trump said, referring to the iconic moment Trump stood up on stage after a bullet narrowly grazed his head. “I said, ‘Despite the fact that you own the Washington Post, I appreciate it.’”
Trump added that the shooting seemed to have changed the way people approach him, including those who have been historically antagonistic toward him.
“Mark Zuckerberg called up and said, ‘I’ve never supported a Republican before, but there’s no way I can vote for a Democrat in this election.’ He’s a guy that, his parents, everybody was always Democrat. He said, ‘I will never vote for the people running against you after watching what you did.’ So, I mean, people really appreciated it,” he said.
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson insisted Zuckerberg’s private comments were not a public endorsement of the former president.
“As Mark has said publicly, he’s not endorsing anybody in this race and has not communicated to anybody how he intends to vote,” the spokesperson said.
Trump and Zuckerberg have frequently been at odds, with Zuckerberg even banning Trump from Meta’s platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol.
The Facebook founder was, in turn, accused of having actively meddled in the 2020 election by funneling an estimated half a million dollars into nonprofites that did little more than conduct glorified get-out-the-vote initiatives for Democrats in key battleground states.
However, Zuckerberg seems to have since softened his position toward Trump, especially after July’s shooting.
“Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” he told Bloomberg in July. “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.”
