Zuckerberg gives a very surprising endorsement to this presidential candidate

While Mark Zuckerberg has decided not to endorse either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump ahead of the upcoming presidential election, he did pay one of the politicians a notable compliment.

Meta’s CEO declined to comment on the matter on Friday, but he did praise Trump for surviving the much-publicized assassination attempt a few days earlier.

Calling the Republican fist pump ‘one of the most bada*s things’ [he’d] ever seen in [his] “Life,” he said, but he does not want to play a “major role” in the 2024 elections.

He offered the explanation Bloombergwhile several influential figures in Silicon Valley begin to support Trump for president.

Big names include billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, as well as several former Democratic Party donors, such as Palantir advisor Jacob Helberg and Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire.

“Seeing Donald Trump stand up after being shot in the face and put his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg, 40, said at one point during the interview.

“When I saw Donald Trump stand up after he got shot in the face and put his fist in the air with the American flag, that was one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg, 40, said during an interview at Meta HQ in Menlo Park, California.

“As an American, on some level it’s hard not to get emotional about that spirit and that fight,” the Facebook founder added.

“And I think that’s why a lot of people like him.”

But he refused to make any kind of endorsement, saying, “I don’t plan on doing that this time, and that means I won’t be supporting either candidate.”

“The biggest thing I hear from people is that they actually want to see less political content on our services because they come to our services to connect with people,” he said, explaining the reasoning behind him and his $1.2 trillion company.

‘So that’s what we’re going to do.

“We give people control over this, but we generally try to recommend less political content,” he continued.

“I think our services will play a less important role in these elections than in the past.”

So I think you’re our [Meta’s] “Services play a lesser role in this election than they have in the past,” he said in another. U.S. President Joe Biden is seen greeting shoppers at Mario’s Westside Market supermarket in Las Vegas last week

Earlier, during the 2020 election, the then-Facebook boss pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into local polling stations to recruit likely Democratic voters. Also pictured is independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Vegas last week. He previously ran as a Democrat

Facebook and Instagram reactivated Trump’s accounts last year after he was suspended for years following the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Earlier, during the 2020 election between Biden and Trump, the then-Facebook boss invested hundreds of millions of dollars in local polling stations to turn out likely Democratic voters after saying he was “disgusted” by Trump’s rhetoric on race.

But just like this year, he stayed well short of an actual recommendation, as often happens with corporate executives who must navigate the tensions of anti-monopoly laws and political bias.

The growing public hostility toward the super-rich doesn’t help matters either. For a given candidate, this hostility can even be seen as an advantage or a burden.

This is especially true for the leaders of Big Tech, a sector that has been on the rise in recent years.

Trump has attacked Zuckerberg several times on social media and in interviews over the years, even declaring on his own platform Truth Social that he would send “ZUCKERBUCKS” to jail if elected.

Trump has also said that Zuckerberg has secretly approached him. At a 2022 meeting, he told Business Insider, “Last week, this strange man — he’s a strange man — Mark Zuckerberg came to the White House and kissed my ass all night long.”

Facebook and Instagram restored Trump’s accounts last year after he was suspended for years following the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Biden, for his part, has also criticized Zuckerberg in the past, seemingly stemming from the federal government’s allegations about surveillance, antitrust and intelligence gathering.

Zuckerberg has supported both Republicans and Democrats in the past. In 2013, he ran for governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, for the then Republican Party. In 2012, he joined then-President Barack Obama in the digital campaign.

He was criticized for his donations to polling stations during the previous election, with Republicans accusing him of playing a role in the election of President Biden.

That’s why the nonprofit that distributed the money said during the 2022 midterm elections it would no longer make such donations.

Biden, for his part, has also criticized Zuckerberg in the past, ostensibly stemming from the federal government’s allegations of surveillance, anti-monopoly measures and intelligence gathering.

“I’ve never been a big fan of Zuckerberg,” the president told The New York Times about Zuckerberg when he was running for president in 2020. “I think he’s a real problem.”