Marc Andreessen, Chamath Palihapitiya and other prominent, influential technology venture capitalists are becoming increasingly critical of President Joe Biden in this important election year, with many of them now backing former President Donald Trump, The New York Times reports.

Biden’s loathing for the wealthy and his proposed 45% capital gains tax and 25% “billionaire tax” are what is giving them pause.

“If you keep telling someone over and over that they’re evil, they’re eventually not going to like that,” says Bradley Tusk, a VC investor and political strategist who currently supports Biden but who foresees more of his brethren moving to the right.

“I see that in venture capital,” Tusk says.

“I have bigger disagreements with Biden than with Trump,” says investor David Sacks.

Other VC bigs are criticizing Biden but not expressly supporting Trump. This camp includes Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital.

There is yet another group, including Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures, putting their energies towards getting more Republicans elected in Congress.

Initially critical of Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 uprising, Sacks is now actively fundraising for Trump.

Sacks and other venture capitalists backing Trump have enormous followings on social media and boundless money — and they are becoming more politically engaged as start-up funding continues to soar each year.

Totaling $344 billion in 2022, VC start-up funding grew eightfold from 2012, according to PitchBook, which tracks start-ups.

“When I started, everybody cared about tax issues and immigration issues,” says Bobby Franklin, head of the National Venture Capital Association trade group since 2013. “Now it is so much more complex.”

Delian Asparouhov, an investor at Founders Fund, recently wrote on X of the growing support for Trump, “Four years ago you had to issue an apology if you voted for him.”

Peter Thiel, who says he is sitting the 2024 presidential election out, loudly and enthusiastically supported Trump in 2016, donating $1.25 million to the candidate’s campaign and giving a keynote speech at the Republican National Convention.

Trump supporters in Silicon Valley are also disenchanted with the antitrust stance of Biden’s choice for chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan. Mergers and acquisitions are VC’s major bread and butter.

Higher interest rates imposed through 11 rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have also sent capital running from risky bets and initial public offerings — putting the start-up industry into a downturn since 2022.

Venture capitalists fear Biden’s proposed higher taxes will prevent the industry from offering stock options to founders and employees.

“It’s a good reason for Silicon Valley to think really hard about who it wants to vote for,” Sacks says.

Others are angry with Biden for his handling of the Israel-Gaza war.

“It’s impossible to support Biden,” Rabois says. “I am focused on electing a GOP Congress and Senate.”

Maguire of Sequoia Capital intimated on X that Biden is talking out of both sides of his mouth on the war, writing: “Biden has been getting away with double standards his entire career. We’ll see what happens this time.”

In November, a group of high-profile investors sent an open letter to Biden criticizing his executive order for safeguards around artificial intelligence, saying it would stifle innovation.

Venture capitalists are joining lobbyists to fight AI regulations. Jacob Helberg, one of those lobbyists and an adviser to the technology company Palantir, personally donated $1 million to the Trump campaign this month.

As Ben Horowitz, a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, put it last year in a blog post, he and the rest of the industry are throwing their support all in for the candidate who can ensure “an optimistic technology-enabled future.”

Bets so far seem to be on billionaire real estate mogul Trump to lead that charge.