Ben Horowitz says he will donate to Kamala Harris after all

“As I have said before, Felicia and I have known Vice President Harris for over 10 years and he has been our best friend during that time,” Horowitz wrote in an email to his business firm that was obtained by the company. Axios. “Because of our friendship, Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to organizations supporting Harris Walz’s campaign.”

I… listen. Two things. First, one of the most impressive things about the podcast Horowitz did with his a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen was how focused both men were on who would take their meetings. Their political commitment, in many ways, depended on who would spend face-to-face time with them. Near the end of the podcast, Horowitz told what (I think?) should be a touching story about hanging out with Trump’s grandchildren — and how his reaction to hearing about the assassination attempt on Trump was, “Oh my god, Grandpa got shot.”

So, you know, everything where Harris has been “best friends” with both Horowitz and his wife is considered a political position for him. Somehow, I get it. I, too, want to see my friends succeed!

But secondly, that key Trump endorsement was made before Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in favor of Harris, even before a massive outpouring of support for the new Democratic candidate. That means a16z has already given up any leverage it might have with the Harris administration — and a candidate that made Trump look like an unlikely winner. In the case of Harris winning, these guys were looking at four whole years without important meetings, and we already know that they consider that a terrible disaster for the whole nation.

For us to regain power in a Democrat-led government, someone is going to have to eat humble pie, and it certainly won’t be Andreessen. Horowitz, whose support for Trump was called “Maga U-turn” by San Francisco Standardhas a history of giving to progressive causes; Harris, then a congressman, was a guest at Horowitz’s barbecue in 2018.

“I wonder what they will do if Kamala wins,” said one founder San Francisco Standard of a16z Trump approval. “Okay, how do you go back?”

Well, I guess we know now. Horowitz’s email says he had multiple conversations with Harris and his team — the important thing to note here is that he got to the candidate, because access is clearly one of Horowitz’s biggest political concerns. So while Horowitz still thinks President Joe Biden is not good and bad at worst, he is “motivated by my belief” in Harris to do good in technology, despite the fact that he has not held any policy positions.

Harris has some extremes on what Horowitz called “almost the touchy subject” of the election: crypto. One of his campaign aides said, “He’s going to support policies that make sure emerging technologies and that kind of industry can continue to grow,” in response to a question about crypto.