Right-wing Bash Harris’ speech in Silicon Valley before it happened

Marc Andreessen, who has become one of the leading faces of Silicon Valley’s emerging right-wing coalition, drew unflattering parallels to price capping in Venezuela. In a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, he cited an NPR article about Hugo Chavez’s decision to cap the price of food in supermarkets in 2003.

“‘The result of Venezuelan economic policies has been a humanitarian disaster. Just in 2017, the average Venezuelan adult lost 24 pounds because they weren’t getting enough to eat. Children die from lack of nutrition. And millions of people fled the country. ”, the quotes read.

Andreessen wasn’t alone in his complaints — David Sacks, a venture capitalist and another major Trump backer in Silicon Valley, retweeted a post from a partner at Sequoia Capital.

“I was hoping to wake up and this was just a nightmare, but it looks like it’s reality,” the post read, with the words placed above a screenshot of headlines about the soon-to-be-proposed policy. “Food price controls were literally the beginning of the end for austerity in the Communist playbook”

The discontent deepens an emerging divide in Silicon Valley, where a vociferous faction of leaders is throwing their support behind Trump.

Harris, for its part, has significant support among other big names in business and technology, although it still struggles to clearly define its regulatory policies. She immediately tries to appeal to her pro-business donors and economic conservatives in her own party, who are likely to support her future proposals.

Just yesterday, Mars, which owns brands like M&Ms and Snickers, announced it was buying salty snack owner Kellanova for nearly $36 billion. The deal is one of the largest this year and comes as the Biden administration continues to examine mergers.