Why is Marc Andreessen so mad? Bloomberg fact-checks his MAGA turn

What's the deal? A 15 October Bloomberg profile reconstructs how Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen — a Hillary Clinton voter in 2016 — became one of Donald Trump's most vocal Silicon Valley allies, and finds that several of the grievances he cites for the switch don't match what the people who were in the room say actually happened.

What led here? Andreessen has said Biden administration officials privately told him the government planned to effectively take control of AI, and that the era of starting companies and releasing code freely was "over" under a second Biden term. Bloomberg traces the rupture partly to a 22 May 2024 lunch in the West Wing office of then chief of staff Jeff Zients, where Andreessen and investing partner Ben Horowitz vented to administration officials about AI and crypto rules. White House adviser Bruce Reed recalls that a proposed tax on the wealthiest 0.01% of households "seemed to offend him more than anything we'd done on AI or even crypto."

The fact-check: People present for the events and conversations Andreessen cites say his account doesn't always match what actually happened, Bloomberg reports — directly challenging the AI-policy, crypto-regulation and DEI grievances he has used to explain his pivot to MAGA.

The backdrop: The profile lands the same week Andreessen Horowitz cut most of its portfolio-recruiting team, adding a note of internal change at the firm just as its most prominent partner's political transformation draws fresh scrutiny.

Read more: Bloomberg