Report: Trump’s Team Is Tracking Mark Zuckerberg As A Possible Opponent In 2020
- 7 years ago
President Trump’s team is reportedly viewing Mark Zuckerberg as a possible contender in the 2020 election.
President Trump’s team is reportedly viewing Mark Zuckerberg as a possible contender in the 2020 election.
According to Politico, the Facebook CEO is being tracked along with numerous other potential opponents as part of the president’s efforts to get a head start on his re-election campaign.
The publication reported Monday that the team “has begun conducting rapid-response against prospective Democratic rivals, casting them as hell-bent on preventing Trump from advancing his platform. Last week, it sent out a news release attacking New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobucha.”
While Zuckerberg is an outsider from the tech industry, speculation about a possible foray into politics has ramped up, in part, because a charity he founded with his wife--called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative--has brought on several experienced political operatives including David Plouffe and pollster Joel Benenson who both worked on former president Obama’s campaign.
The billionaire CEO is also in the process of completing his personal mission this year of visiting all 50 states; as Zuckerberg explained in a May Facebook post, his goal is to “learn about people's hopes and challenges, and how they're thinking about their work and communities.”
A Vox report in June pointed out the project’s ambiguity, stating, “...it’s hard to say if Zuckerberg’s travels this year are an unannounced presidential campaign or merely a corporate goodwill tour. The two projects have such similar goals that we should expect them to look similar in execution.”
As such, it may or may not be a coincident that he is being accompanied by Charles Ommanney, a veteran photographer of presidential campaigns, to document the project, notes CNBC.
Nevertheless, Zuckerberg has consistently denied any political motivations, writing in May, “Some of you have asked if [my personal] challenge means I'm running for public office. I'm not. I'm doing it to get a broader perspective to make sure we're best serving our community of almost 2 billion people at Facebook and doing the best work to promote equal opportunity at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.”
President Trump’s team is reportedly viewing Mark Zuckerberg as a possible contender in the 2020 election.
According to Politico, the Facebook CEO is being tracked along with numerous other potential opponents as part of the president’s efforts to get a head start on his re-election campaign.
The publication reported Monday that the team “has begun conducting rapid-response against prospective Democratic rivals, casting them as hell-bent on preventing Trump from advancing his platform. Last week, it sent out a news release attacking New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobucha.”
While Zuckerberg is an outsider from the tech industry, speculation about a possible foray into politics has ramped up, in part, because a charity he founded with his wife--called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative--has brought on several experienced political operatives including David Plouffe and pollster Joel Benenson who both worked on former president Obama’s campaign.
The billionaire CEO is also in the process of completing his personal mission this year of visiting all 50 states; as Zuckerberg explained in a May Facebook post, his goal is to “learn about people's hopes and challenges, and how they're thinking about their work and communities.”
A Vox report in June pointed out the project’s ambiguity, stating, “...it’s hard to say if Zuckerberg’s travels this year are an unannounced presidential campaign or merely a corporate goodwill tour. The two projects have such similar goals that we should expect them to look similar in execution.”
As such, it may or may not be a coincident that he is being accompanied by Charles Ommanney, a veteran photographer of presidential campaigns, to document the project, notes CNBC.
Nevertheless, Zuckerberg has consistently denied any political motivations, writing in May, “Some of you have asked if [my personal] challenge means I'm running for public office. I'm not. I'm doing it to get a broader perspective to make sure we're best serving our community of almost 2 billion people at Facebook and doing the best work to promote equal opportunity at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.”