It wasn’t long ago that Silicon Valley’s elite viewed any associations with Donald Trump as potentially career-ending. Indeed, after the former president’s tumultuous exit from office, our fearless tech titans suddenly backpedaled out of the MAGA-verse by banning Trump from their social media platforms and discouraging his reelection. Yet now, in a bewildering turn of events, a parade of Big Tech’s wealthiest and most influential figures are lining up to endorse the very man they once shunned and, in many cases, loathed. This cadre of tech moguls, each with their own motivations, has set aside their past reservations to rally behind Trump harder than almost anyone in corporate America, pledging huge donations and emphatic endorsements, with promotional posts and podcasts to boot. All of it raises the question: Why the sudden change of heart?

Consider Elon Musk: Two years ago, the Tesla CEO claimed that a second Trump term would involve “too much drama” and that Trump should “sail into the sunset” rather than run for reelection. Fast-forward to today, and Musk isn’t just posting incessantly about how Trump is the greatest thing since rocket fuel; he’s also reportedly pledged to donate $45 million a month to support Trump’s campaign (although a lot of people question his follow-through, and he appeared to dispute the report in a post on X, calling it “FAKE GNUS”). Brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, prominent cryptocurrency investors who became famous for their early involvement in Facebook, have also joined the pro-Trump chorus, motivated by Trump’s favorable stance on cryptocurrency regulation. David Sacks—a prominent venture capitalist and member of the podcast All-In, who previously supported Hillary Clinton—framed his endorsement partly in economic terms, stating, “We can’t afford another four years of Bidenomics.” Doug Leone, former managing partner at Sequoia Capital, cited a broad range of issues, expressing worry about “the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps.”

There’s also Marc Andreessen and Bradley Horowitz, who have expressed their support for Trump, citing concerns about the future of technology under Biden. In particular, they’ve taken issue with a Biden-backed proposal to tax billionaires (like them) on unrealized capital gains—which would, in their words, “kill both start-ups and the venture capital industry that funds them.” Even Mark Zuckerberg, who rarely ever wades into the murky waters of politics, made news in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, when he called Trump a “badass” after the recent attempt on the former president’s life—but stopped short of a formal endorsement. “Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg said. “On some level as an American, it’s, like, hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy.”

What all of this boils down to is, of course, money and power—as opposed to, say, the larger implications of a second Trump term on the rest of America or the world. “It’s super simple,” as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explained to Bill Maher on Real Time. “These are very rich men who have decided to back the Republican Party that tends to do good things for very rich men.”

For instance, Andreessen and Horowitz have been deeply critical of the Biden administration’s attempts to impose stricter regulations on crypto, tighter controls on AI, and new tax rules for unrealized capital gains. And it’s no surprise why: Their firm, A16z, raised a $7.6 billion fund for crypto in 2022. Meanwhile, Trump has laid out a very tech-friendly agenda, at the forefront of which is his promise to slash regulations—music to the ears of investors like Horowitz, Andreessen, and the Winklevoss twins. Perhaps most notably, the former president has pledged to cut capital gains taxes in a second term, a move that could potentially save venture capitalists and entrepreneurs hundreds of millions of dollars.

There’s also the J.D. Vance factor, which adds another layer to Silicon Valley’s newfound embrace of Trump. Vance, unlike most high-ranking government officials, brings a unique understanding of the tech industry to his role as Trump’s running mate. He spent several months in Silicon Valley as a principal at Mithril Capital, a venture capital firm cofounded by Peter Thiel, in 2016, and later launched his own firm, Narya Ventures. During his tenure as a venture capitalist, the Ohio senator was involved in investments across tech sectors, including cybersecurity, biotechnology, and enterprise software. At the same time, many of the people now backing Trump in Silicon Valley did so before Vance came into the picture.

And then there’s the immigration component: There has long been a talent crunch inside companies like Musk’s and Andreessen’s, and while there have been a lot of layoffs in Silicon Valley as of late, there is still a need for highly skilled workers from other countries, especially when it comes to AI engineers. And Trump’s vow to prioritize the entry of high-skilled immigrants into the US economy—while overseeing mass deportations of undocumented immigrants—is a desirable combination for the tech elite.

Silicon Valley’s self-serving pivot back to Trump is galling in its own right. But it becomes even more objectionable when you consider the issues these tech moguls purport to care about—but aren’t discussing. They’re not talking about Trump’s stance on climate change; they’re not addressing his views on science and education; and they’re most certainly not mentioning his track record on social issues or democratic norms. Instead, their focus is laser-sharp on the policies that directly affect their bottom lines: taxes, regulations, and immigration policies that benefit their companies.

The way I see it, these tech elites are going to come to regret their decision to back Trump, regardless of who wins the next election. If Kamala Harris, who will now likely be leading the Democratic ticket, ends up being the next president, these tech billionaires and their respective companies will likely be in the crosshairs of her regulatory moves, especially with Harris’s experience taking on Big Tech—from enforcing privacy practices as California’s attorney general to advocating for antitrust protections in the US Senate. But if Trump wins, given the way he turned on a long list of high-level official who worked in his last administration—including his defense secretary, national security adviser, and vice president, Mike Pence, whom Trump said should be hanged—these tech billionaires will likely find themselves in the same position they were in during Trump’s first term: scrambling to distance themselves from a volatile president. History suggests that Trump’s alliances are fleeting—and these Silicon Valley elites may once again have to backpedal out of photo ops, delete old posts, and explain away their support for a man they realize, for a second time, is “too much drama.”