‘He doesn’t want to be on his enemy list’: Why was Zuckerberg at Mar-A-Lago?
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Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg met at Mar-A-Lago for dinner, but what does this mean about the new president’s place for business leaders and the US public.
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Read time: 4 mins
In brief…
- The next US president and the Facebook boss met this week, after years of less-than-friendly interactions.
- The News Agents say Zuckerberg is aware it will be more beneficial for him to work with the MAGA Republican than against him over the next four years.
- They say this approach, and Trump’s mandate, suggests the US public has largely forgiven all his previous wrongdoings.
What's the story?
Earlier this year, Donald Trump threatened Mark Zuckerberg with jail. This week, the two had dinner at the president-elect’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.
So it's safe to assume that winning an election can really shake up the relationship between billionaires.
In August 2024, Donald Trump stated that the Meta owner (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) would spend "the rest of his life in jail" if his platform and their algorithms were used to interfere in the US election.
Zuckerberg previously banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram following the 6 January insurrection in 2021 afterhis 2020 election loss. It was announced this would be revoked in January 2023.
So what has marked this huge shift from Zuckerberg, from someone leading a company ready and willing to take action against Trump, to someone willing to meet and eat with the MAGA figurehead? Is it just business, or does this reflect something greater in the public perspective of the next US president?
Why would Zuckerberg have dinner with Trump?
There's clearly a business benefit to being on the side of the US president than not – with X owner Elon Musk now reaping the rewards of his support during the election campaign.
Lewis Goodall says that Zuckerberg will be "aware of the potential favour" cosying up to Trump might confer.
"Zuckerberg is going for this lovely, fancy meal at Mar a Lago, because the alternative is – well, he doesn't really want to be on his list of enemies," says Emily Maitlis.
She says that while many people can't forget some of Trump's actions during his public life, the business world cannot work in the same way.
"Part of me is holding onto this stuff and going: 'Please don't forget Jan 6. Please don't forget that he was an insurrectionist'," she says.
"People died, 140 people were injured, and he's still lying and denying an election, and yet the business world can't deal like that.
"It has picked up the pieces and moved on."
She adds that there is now a "bigger conversation" around whether Trump's election victory, and the democratic mandate he has earned from the US public wipes out his past transgressions.
"Trump had a massive jury for all of it, and it was the electorate. They basically – politically, if not morally – exonerated him entirely from all of these things," says Lewis Goodall.
"Enough of the public have said they're not sufficiently concerned about this."
Why is there less resistance to Trump than in 2016?
It has been less than a month since Trump won the 2024 election, but even so, The News Agents say, the Democrats have found themselves "lost" in the wake of his victory.
Lewis says this is due to a "sinking realisation that they've had a decade to deal with Trump" – and have been unable to do that.
"In 2016 there was energy around the resistance, partly because people felt Trump was so outrageous, but partly because his victory seemed so accidental," he adds.
"Hillary won the popular vote. There was a feeling of profound illegitimacy that is not there this time."
He adds that his second victory secures the idea that Trump, and everything he stands for, is no mere "blip" in US politics.
And that sense of permanency, that MAGA is here to stay, may suggest why people such as Zuckerberg are now more willing to work with Trump than hold him to account.
"His style of politics, at least for now, is not a blip, and therefore that energy of resistance just simply isn't there," Lewis adds.
"And I think that is cutting across politics, is cutting across business, is cutting across culture."
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