Andreessen & Horowitz's Rightward Turn
Sources 19
Primary documents, filings, and reporting cited in this episode. Click any source to highlight where it comes up in the transcript, or press ▶ to jump to that moment.
The Techno-Optimist Manifesto — Marc Andreessen ↗
Andreessen's October 2023 manifesto declaring that technology and growth drive human progress, naming 'existential risk', ESG and the Precautionary Principle among its 'enemies' and listing Marinetti among its 'Patron Saints'.
The Little Tech Agenda — Marc Andreessen & Ben Horowitz ↗
a16z's July 2024 policy statement: regulators are using 'brute force' against blockchain and are being 'green lit' to do the same to AI, and the proposed tax on unrealized capital gains 'would absolutely kill' startups.
Opinion | What Really Happened at the White House Lunch That Marc Andreessen Says Sent Him to Trump ↗
Former Biden deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and AI adviser Ben Buchanan (Opinion, 09/10/2026 04:59 AM EDT) dispute Andreessen's account of the May 2024 West Wing lunch: they say they conveyed no plan to ban AI startups, and that most of the meeting was grievances about Biden's billionaire minimum tax and SEC crypto oversight.
Why Is Tech Billionaire Marc Andreessen So Mad? (How AI, Crypto and DEI Drove Marc Andreessen to MAGA) ↗
Bloomberg Businessweek feature, 15 Oct 2026: the May 22, 2024 lunch was in Jeff Zients's West Wing office; sources say Andreessen's grievances "don't always match reality".
Marc Andreessen Rises as a MAGA Power Player for 2026 Midterms ↗
Bloomberg's own syndication of the Austin Carr story; the public lede places the May 22, 2024 lunch in Jeff Zients's West Wing office.
Free trade and immigration are dividing Trump's GOP ↗
Quotes Andreessen on the Ross Douthat podcast: after the meeting they walked out and said "Yep, we're for Trump."
The Bitter Grievances Of Marc Andreessen ↗
Summary of the Bloomberg Businessweek profile, including the ~$116 million the a16z team has spent on federal politics since Trump's re-election.
Andreessen Horowitz founders explain in video why they chose Trump over Biden ↗
July 2024: on The Ben & Marc Show, Andreessen recounted backing Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 before switching to Trump over taxes and crypto regulation.
Andreessen Horowitz founders endorse Trump: 'The future of our business…is literally at stake' ↗
Fortune on the July 2024 podcast in which Horowitz and Andreessen endorsed Trump; Horowitz: "sorry Mom".
Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each donated $2.5 million to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC ↗
FEC filings (Oct 2024): Andreessen and Horowitz each gave $2.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC Right for America.
Marc Andreessen: It's Morning Again In America (Uncommon Knowledge) ↗
January 2025 interview: host notes Andreessen has spent half his time at Mar-a-Lago since the election; Andreessen calls himself an "unpaid intern" at DOGE.
Statement by President-elect Donald J. Trump Announcing Science and Technology Team ↗
Dec 22, 2024 statement naming Sriram Krishnan Senior Policy Advisor for AI at OSTP, working with David Sacks.
David Horowitz, 1939–2025 ↗
Obituary of Ben Horowitz's father, the 1960s New Left editor turned conservative activist, who mentored Stephen Miller.
Tomorrow's Advance Man (The Mind of Marc Andreessen) ↗
2015 profile: Horowitz's "grouchy Marc" wedding toast, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen and John Arrillaga as a "replacement family", the "cut you out of his life like a cancer" quote, Horowitz staying at Netscape when 40% left, and the pawnshop outburst.
My Dinner With Andreessen ↗
Perlstein recalls a 2017 book-club dinner at Andreessen's Atherton home where Andreessen disparaged small-town Wisconsin and said something like "I'm glad there's OxyContin and video games to keep those people quiet."
SpaceX & the Sentient Sun ↗
June 15, 2026 a16z essay framing SpaceX's February 2026 merger with xAI as a bet on orbital AI compute.
The DOGE Boys Get VC Funding to Support Their Latest Enterprise ↗
a16z led funding for Special, a holding company founded by ex-DOGE staffers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox; Steve Davis is among the DOGE-linked backers.
Introducing Special ↗
Founders' launch post on a16z's Substack: they spent most of 2025 at DOGE leading the Small Agencies team.
Schedule A receipts: Marc Andreessen to Right for America (C00867036) ↗
FEC itemized receipts for the Right for America super PAC from contributor Marc Andreessen.