Bahnsen Group founder and managing partner David Bahnsen assesses the tech leadership planning to attend President-elect Trump’s inauguration and discusses Treasury nominee Scott Bessent’s defense of the upcoming tariff strategy.
A growing list of high-powered executives is heading to the nation’s capital for the new president Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony. However, tech industry leaders will make up the majority of the list, signaling the sector’s increasing influence on the political and economic environment.
Over the past two months, a number of business leaders — including some who have had a rocky history with Trump, who has been temporarily banned from certain social media — have met with him at Mar-a-Lago. These meetings underscore their willingness to work with the new administration before he is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
Walmart confirmed this to FOX Business CEO Doug McMillon — who met with President-elect Trump last week to discuss U.S. investment, trade relations and innovation — will be in attendance.
WALMART CEO DOUG MCMILLON MET WITH TRUMP ABOUT TRADE RELATIONS, INVESTMENT IN US
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – who donated millions of dollars to Trump’s presidential campaign and is poised to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)– will be present.
Musk announced on X that he was “honored” to sit with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos will sit together *on the platform* with elected government members and elected officials.
Musk spoke at official events with the future president. For example, Musk delivered remarks at a Trump campaign rally in Washington, DC on Sunday and in October at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Tech entrepreneur, Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead efforts to cut government spending with Musk. will also be present on Monday.
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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are said to be in attendance. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will also reportedly be in attendance.
After a long and challenging relationship, Zuckerberg has made considerable efforts to ingratiate himself with Trump, recently reversing progressive corporate policies.
Zuckerberg podcast host Joe Rogan recently said that he was done with the “culturally neutered” elements of corporate America and said his company would embrace “masculine energy” in the future.
Similar to Zuckerberg, Washington Post owner Bezos has clashed with Trump in the past, particularly when it comes to the newspaper’s coverage of Trump.
The US Capitol is shown at sunrise the day before President-elect Donald Trump’s second term inauguration on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. OUR (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Steve Feinberg, head of Cerberus Capital Management and a nominee for deputy secretary of defense, is scheduled to attend along with Todd Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs.
However, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, who met with President-elect Donald Trump last week to present a commemorative bottle of Diet Coke, will not be present due to other business commitments, the company confirmed. Airbnb CEO Brian Checksy will also not be in attendance.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is also missing from the ceremony. The CEO told Reuters he was celebrating the Lunar New Year with employees and their families.
Fox News’ Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
