A handful of ultra-wealthy CEOs, hedge funders and venture capitalists are endorsing former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race.
Vinod Khosla isn’t one of them.
What Happened: While Tesla CEO Elon Musk, currently the richest person in the world by more than $50 billion, pledges to donate tens of millions of dollars a month to Trump's campaign, Khosla — a billionaire in his own right — refuses to hop on the ‘Trump Train.’
"Come on, Vinod. Trump/Vance LFG!!!" Musk wrote.
Khosla, an OpenAI investor, fired back: "Hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me.”
Khosla, an Indian-American venture capitalist and investor with a net worth of nearly $10 billion, posted his support for an open process in selecting a Democratic nominee, citing potential candidates like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
He has also defended Vice President, and now Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, contrasting her to the twice-impeached Trump.
Billionaire Boys: Trump has support from a who’s who of wealthy bros: Marc Andreessen, the co-founder and general partner of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz; Bill Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management; Peter Thiel, former CEO of PayPal; and former Yammer CEO David Sacks.
Thiel helped fund Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance‘s Senate campaign in 2022.
Khosla, who has racked up a fortune by backing successful startups like DoorDash and Instacart, shot down the idea that he would support Trump on Election Day.
"He may cut my taxes or reduce some regulation but that is no reason to accept depravity in his personal values,” Khosla said. “Do you want [a] President who will set back climate by a decade in his first year? Do you want his example for your kids as values?"
Harris also has billionaire-backing. Lazard CEO Ray McGuire, and Marc Lasry, billionaire CEO of Avenue Capital Group, are among her supporters.
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