While you and I are busy maintaining our thousand-yard stares off toward the orange-tinted collective doom looming on the horizon, big names in the world of Silicon Valley tech have commenced full on freakout about yesterday's election. Recode caught the beginning stages of the meltdown visible at the annual Web Summit conference happening right now in Lisbon, Portugal. Let's just say the news was not taken in stride.
“If you’re not fucking pissed right now, what is wrong with you?” speaker Dave McClure, founder of Silicon Valley-based VC firm 500 Startups, yelled at the audience after learning of the results. “I’m pissed off, I’m sad, I’m ashamed, I’m angry.”
"This shit will not stand," he added, "and you got to fight for your rights."
Video of the man trying to come to terms with president-elect Trump in real time is quite a thing to behold.
Wow, @davemcclure has a MELTDOWN on #WebSummit stage over Donald Trump election pic.twitter.com/aRJmFpYyQA
— Adrian Weckler (@adrianweckler) November 9, 2016
McClure of course isn't the only player in Silicon Valley who is likely in shock today. "[I'd] like to wake up now please," tweeted Y Combinator head and Peter Thiel-apologist Sam Altman. "[I've] never felt as alone in a room full of people as [I] do right now," he added.
BuzzFeed caught up with Keith Rabois, a partner at Khosla Ventures, who tried to sum up the mood in the tech circles in which he runs. “Just look at your Twitter feed or look at my Twitter feed, which is mostly Silicon Valley people," he told the publication. "It was totally divorced from reality. Everyone I know in Silicon Valley is in shock.”
Elizabeth Yin, a partner at 500 Startups, attempted to calmly express a similar concern. "Contrary to what many say, our recent election doesn’t alter America’s long-term prospects," she wrote in a blog post today. "But in the near term we are in trouble. Regardless of your politics, Donald Trump’s ethical and moral deficiencies are concerning and disappointing. My fear is that this country will devolve — that this country will somehow see Donald Trump as a role model and think that it is ok to screw over people, be divisive, and sexually assault others."
Others within the Valley fall somewhere else in the five stages of election grief. Noted investor Chris Sacca seems to have skipped right over "denial" and "anger," landing squarely on "bargaining."
We in the tech community are willing to work with President-Elect Trump to help those Americans who need it most. The door is open.
— Chris Sacca (@sacca) November 9, 2016
Noted Trump supporter Peter Thiel, meanwhile, is possibly celebrating last night's election outcome by toasting Trump with a glass of young-human blood. #Calexit, here we come.
Related: Nearly Ten Percent Of San Francisco Voted For Trump