Nothing to see here. Just the dudes who will be running Trump's business to avoid conflicts of interest sitting in on meetings. ? pic.twitter.com/E2mcSNHGBZ
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 14, 2016
Even the entities responsible for Star Wars Holiday Special are going, “Too cartoonish, dudes! You’re gonna lose your audience, dumb and uncritical as they are…”
Per the Washington Post:
A dozen or so technology executives filed into a conference room on the 25th floor of Trump Tower on Wednesday wearing suits not usually seen in Silicon Valley. Their combined net worth — at least $136 billion — was gilded even for the likes of Trump Tower. After months of acrimony that at times felt personal, they had come to make nice with President-elect Donald Trump.
And make nice they did…
But behind the cordiality was a sense of trepidation. While technology companies were among the most critical of Trump on the campaign trail, many understand that he will soon hold power over issues critical to them and their shareholders, including government contracts, high-skilled immigrant visas, Chinese imports and trade deals…
Trump just told tech leaders there's "no formal chain of command around here" pic.twitter.com/ghExU2251C
— Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) December 14, 2016
The infotech company with which Trump is most familiar didn’t get a seat:
oh my god https://t.co/PnQmpiuZin pic.twitter.com/YHCudk1E2C
— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) December 14, 2016
Are you f**king kidding me? https://t.co/Mp7z6Mi13E
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 14, 2016
Sean Spicer on MSNBC re: Twitter not being at tech meeting: "The conference table was only so big."
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) December 14, 2016
@aseitzwald But Twitter only takes up 140 characters!
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) December 14, 2016
@aseitzwald if Trump's kids weren't there, there'd be more room.
— Mallory Brock (@mallorybrock) December 14, 2016
But of course Peter Thiel did. Per the Post, again:
… The president-elect also heaped praise on Facebook board and transition team member Peter Thiel, shaking his hand and calling him a “special guy.”
Trump made a point of saying that Thiel, who convened the meeting, nixed companies that were too small from attending. But one relatively small company with ties to Thiel made the cut: Palantir. Unlike the other companies in attendance, the data-mining start-up, which Thiel founded in 2004, is private and had revenue last year of less than $300 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. A large portion of Palantir’s business involves contracts with federal agencies, and the company is currently engaged in a lawsuit with the Department of Defense over the right to compete for more contracts…
Palantir is several eschelons down from every other companies on this list, in case there was any doubt about where DOD/IC $ is heading. pic.twitter.com/M3uD9zN4pa
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) December 14, 2016
best part of WSJ transcript : "“Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir hoping to help bolster national security and [inaudible].”
um, violate privacy? https://t.co/TJsGYfWtzD— Daniel Gross (@grossdm) December 15, 2016
Only way to describe tech execs leaving Trump Tower without speaking to the press: Cowardly.
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) December 14, 2016