Silicon Valley is uniting against presumed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in an open letter today that calls out the candidate for his “anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas and new people, and a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline.”
The letter is signed by some of the biggest names in the tech industry, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mark Pincus at Zinga, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Vint Cerf and dozens of others.
The tech icons write that a Trump presidency would be a “disaster for innovation” because his vision would extinguish America’s open exchange of ideas.
Here’s the entire letter, which was published on Medium:
An open letter from technology sector leaders on Donald Trump’s candidacy for President
“We are inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers, investors, researchers, and business leaders working in the technology sector. We are proud that American innovation is the envy of the world, a source of widely-shared prosperity, and a hallmark of our global leadership.
We believe in an inclusive country that fosters opportunity, creativity and a level playing field. Donald Trump does not. He campaigns on anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas and new people, and a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline. We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation. His vision stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people, and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy — and that provide the foundation for innovation and growth.
Let’s start with the human talent that drives innovation forward. We believe that America’s diversity is our strength. Great ideas come from all parts of society, and we should champion that broad-based creative potential. We also believe that progressive immigration policies help us attract and retain some of the brightest minds on earth — scientists, entrepreneurs, and creators. In fact, 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Donald Trump, meanwhile, traffics in ethnic and racial stereotypes, repeatedly insults women, and is openly hostile to immigration. He has promised a wall, mass deportations, and profiling.
We also believe in the free and open exchange of ideas, including over the Internet, as a seed from which innovation springs. Donald Trump proposes “shutting down” parts of the Internet as a security strategy — demonstrating both poor judgment and ignorance about how technology works. His penchant to censor extends to revoking press credentials and threatening to punish media platforms that criticize him.
Finally, we believe that government plays an important role in the technology economy by investing in infrastructure, education and scientific research. Donald Trump articulates few policies beyond erratic and contradictory pronouncements. His reckless disregard for our legal and political institutions threatens to upend what attracts companies to start and scale in America. He risks distorting markets, reducing exports, and slowing job creation.
We stand against Donald Trump’s divisive candidacy and want a candidate who embraces the ideals that built America’s technology industry: freedom of expression, openness to newcomers, equality of opportunity , public investments in research and infrastructure, and respect for the rule of law. We embrace an optimistic vision for a more inclusive country, where American innovation continues to fuel opportunity, prosperity and leadership.”
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
69 responses to “Woz and other tech icons sign anti-Trump open letter”
We’re nearly 20 trillion dollars in debt. That does make us weak and we have been in decline. Face reality.
for every 1 dollar federal government spends now 40 cents is borrowed. The county cannot operate like this in a long run.
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I think 20T is our deficit this current year, I think with unfunded liabilities we are at the 100T mark.
Ain’t it the truth.
How does this compare to our GDP? And who holds most of the debt?
They’re rhetorical questions. Your answer depends on where you fall on the political spectrum.
What are you talking about? Who are you? #Creepy
What the hell part of ILLEGAL immigration can these people not comprehend?? Nearly every country on the planet enforces its immigration policies to the letter except the US!
But not nearly every country on the planet has an immigration policy that simply says “Ban all Muslims” like Trump wants….
What technology is it again that the us gets from muslims, genius? Enlighten us please. Goat humping is not a technology.
We admit 100,000 refugees a year. Most of them come here without proper vetting. Most have no passports or birth certificates when they are interviewed before admission to US. Most come here with one form in hand: either I-512 Advanced Parole or “Transportation Letter”. There is no way to vet them properly beforehand. So yes, admission of refugees needs to stop until there is proper way to scrutinize who they really are.
Dear God, he is not Anti-Immigration. He’s Anti-ILLEGALimmigration. As far as the so-called Muslim ban, he’s talking about putting a temporary halt on immigrants and refugees from countries on the U.S. Official Sponsors of State Terrorism and other countries with known ties to terrorism. The CIA and Homeland Security has already said our vetting and background process is flawed and admitted that many of the refugees they are letting in have no paperwork to prove who they are. But hey, vote for the proven corrupt, scandalous, worthless, and lying hag that is Hillary. She represents everything that is wrong with our government and political system and why Americans are pissed off.
No, he’s anti-immigration. He calls Mexicans “rapists.” He thinks someone born in Indiana is “Mexican” (and speaks “Mexican”) because his parents are Mexican. He wants to repeal the 14th Amendment. And so on and so forth. If you want to sell the idea that it’s “illegals only” that he’s against, I have a bridge to sell you.
Trump cannot repeal 14th amendment himself. Just as Obama cannot repeal 2nd amendment. Illegal presence by foreigners is a federal misdemeanor. Reentry is federal felony. Being here is a privilege not right. Those who come here illegally break the law. What if everyone all of the sudden decided not to pay their taxes? Would that be acceptable? Besides, if our society wants to legalize millions of illegals, that is fine but do it through Congress.
Being being? What if we all decided not to comb our hair? Dude, you’re speaking in tongues.
I am very jealous of you. Apparently, you have never made a spelling error while typing on the phone. The point is that laws have to be obeyed, that include all laws, including immigration laws.
Including the laws separating “the coloreds” from eating with the pure, Christian, White people, right? (HINT: Laws can be immoral and unethical. All you need is 51% of the morons on any given legislature to pass a law. And those laws don’t have to be obeyed.)
It’s up to Supreme Court to decide which laws are constitutional and just. The immigration laws were upheld by Supreme Court on multiple occasions. There is nothing racist or unjust about them. Move to Venezulela and check out what selective law enforcement (in the name of justice) leads to.
Why Venezuela when Texas will do?
There is no shortage of toilet paper and food in Texas. There is hunger, corruption and outrageous crime in Venezuela. This is a direct result of policies implemented in Venezuela, same policies that the liberals attempt to implement here. Big government and ill conceived redistribution of wealth.
Wait. What were we talking about?
I forgot.
Sigh. It always happens. Anyway, I’m sure you won the argument, or something. Also, give me back my shirt. You’re stretching it.
Peace
Namaste. Namaste out of these arguments. Some people be cray.
The only people I see speaking as divisively as you are are the far-left, in an attempt to imitate what the left believes is the far-right.
It must be awesome to know what people think and believe.
Actually, I believe that’s incorrect; according to birthright citizenship, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
There is so much wrong with what you just said I don’t even know where to begin. I’m not even going to bother, you’re too far gone.
Good for you. Way to give a non-answer. Thanks for letting me know you’re not going to reply, by replying.
The judge you’re referring to that was born in Indiana is Mexican. Are you suggesting Merriam-Webster is wrong? I just want to be clear. This is the sort of asinine liberal bullshit that is spewed out… no articulating, no actual conversation, and no logic or reasoning. Just finger pointing and emotions.
Full Definition of Mexican
a : a native or inhabitant of Mexico
b : a person of Mexican descent
c Southwest : a person of mixed Spanish and Indian descent
No actual conversation? Dude, you’re the one who wrote that you weren’t going to reply. Now, here you are bending yourself in knots trying to defend your führer. Relax. It’s an online commenting board. Go catch some Pokémon or whatever you 12 year-olds do these days.
“Everybody I don’t like is hitler.” – A Liberal Guide to arguing on the Internet. By Little Golden Books.
Someone doesn’t know German.
There’s nothing I said that would require me to know German. So, I have no idea what you’re referring to.
That’s okay. You’ve been so out in left field throughout this talk that I’m not surprised you don’t know what I’m referring to.
It must be so cool to just barely reference something obscure and then feel delighted when people on the internet don’t get your obscure reference so it makes you feel smarter. Whatever gets you off, buddy. I think it’s hilarious that you completely dodge any points made against you that make you wrong. Not much you can do about those.
“I see that you basically just proved me wrong, so let’s take a look at your grammatical errors instead. lol I’m awesome.”
– EpiRen
Yawn. You seem to think that I care what some random, anonymous dude with access to the internet has to say. I don’t, and neither should you. So have a great day, sweetheart.
K.
Just give me back my shirt. You’re stretching it.
Going back where? Also, there is no US law about citizenship. It’s in the 14th Amendment that anyone born here is a citizen. No need for laws about that. (Also, no need for all-caps. I can read you just fine.)
Section one of the 14th: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
No need for laws about citizenship when you’re born here. There’s nothing to clear-up with a law. Born here? Yes. Then you’re a citizen. End of story.
“Unless your father is a citizen at the time of your birth…” LOL. You’re funny.
Ann Coulter. Hahahaha. You almost had me there, buddy. I almost believed you knew what you were talking about. LOL.
Well, you had to quote Ann Coulter instead or quoting the 14th and showing me on it where it states that a person born in the US is NOT a citizen. That is, you could have gone to the source to refute my statement. Instead, you had to go find out what to say, and from Ann of all people.
Also, the first person to get mad loses the argument. Why you mad, bro?
Genocide? Ah. Now I see it. You’re one of those angry White people who think there’s a genocide against you. No, no, you’re totes right. White people being killed left and right, and all of us Brown people taking over your world. LOL.
Oh, noes! Not the report button! What’s next? A call to my boss?
No, you don’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t make light of the word “genocide.”
What rule… don’t get it…
I’m one of those pissed off Americans! Will be voting for God Emperor TRUMP in November.
Mr. Trump called for a temporary ban, of course you would already know that if you didn’t have to have somebody else do your thinking.
My comment never addressed if permanent or temporary, and no idea what the second part of your comment is insinuating.
Damn, the Trump trolls are out in full force in these comments…..
Okay, since you knew Mr. Trump said “temporarily ban,” and you left that out, it makes what you wrote a falsehood and you a liar. As for the “second part,” it is self explanatory, you are a liberal.
Trump said ‘until our country’s representatives can figure out what’s going on’. According to other Trump rhetoric vitriol, sounds like he believes that’s not possible because only he is smart enough to do so. You assume a lot – like knowing a person is liberal without confirming, and that liberals do not think for themselves. No need to discuss anything further with someone like that – enjoy your day.
Thank you for making my day a little brighter.
Screw jabba the c___.
The reason all of the tech companies are agents Trump is he is calling them out on they way they do business. What I mean by this is they are using cheap labor in china to build there products to help them rake in giant profits! If these companies cared about America they would move there manufacturing to the us. they would still be profitable just not making billions of dollars in profit. I will not even start talking about how company like apple bend the law to there will to keep form paying there fair share of taxes! I for one will stop buying as many of the products that I can from the companies listed on this letter.
“China” is capitalized. It’s “their” instead of “there” in “there manufacturing” and “there fair share of taxes!”
Go ahead and stop buying those products. It’s obvious that neither access to information nor the word processors in computers and smartphones have helped you master English, so…
Good thing he had some spelling errors. You almost had to have a real counter-argument. +2 Liberal Points for you.
Oh, no! Please don’t brand me a Liberal. Please! I’m begging you! Please!
You poor thing.
Bless your heart.
LOL I was looking for that.
TOP KEK.
Pretty much, yeah. Without all of the bad grammar, of course.
“The average manufacturing wage in 2010 is about $2.00 in China and $34.75 in America. By locating the same iPhone factory in America, Apple would add more than $25 billion in labor costs a year, which would completely wipe out Apple’s 2010 profit of $14 billion.” – Forbes
“Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States. In China, it took 15 days.” – The New York Times
“China’s factories are now far bigger and more nimble than those in the United States. They can hire (and fire) tens of thousands of workers practically overnight. Because so many of the workers live on-site, they can also press them into service at a moment’s notice. And they can change production practices and speeds extremely rapidly.” – The Business Insider.
Lol so many trump bigots in the comments. You all follow pure hate. Trump has no plans, just hateful rhetoric. His campaign is held afloat by a bunch of xenophobes that think “their” country is being taken away from them. Hilarious
Typical. Just personal attacks and claims with no reasoning. Nothing interesting to add to the conversation. Welcome to liberal arguments 101.
You just described Trump’s entire campaign. No logic. No plans. Just hateful rhetoric. “Make America great again! Get the darkies!”
Point made.
Good job with Melania last night. I’m glad she paid homage to best First Lady in decades.
I really like this site and check it regularly for mac and technology updates. I personally hate how all of these other special interest sites are going political. You’re communist, we get it. But PLEASE let’s keep this about Apple and new tech. If this turns in to a left slanted website, I’m out and I will make sure to let others know. There are plenty of other websites we can go to which like to put the slant on things, or that likes to support a lying corrupt politician (Hillary) and/or a senile, racist old man who still thinks socialism is a good idea (Bernie). I can go on and on about how Trump haters misconstrue what he says, but I don’t not want to be a hypocrite and turn this tech website in to a political wastebasket. I’d appreciate if you do the same.