How Trump’s new ‘AI czar’ David Sacks went from MAGA critic to true believer

Immediately after Donald Trump incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the venture capitalist David Sacks said on his popular “All-In” podcast that Trump had “disqualified himself from being a candidate at a national level again.” 

He insisted the possibility of Trump’s running in 2024 was “clearly off the table.” He described Jan. 6 as a “disaster” and said: “Is Trump responsible? Yes. … Clearly. One hundred percent yes. Because he is the one who put forth this theory that the election was stolen.”

What a difference a few years can make. Sacks is now a MAGA true believer who reverently says watching Trump return to Washington was like witnessing “Caesar entering Rome.” He’s fluent in MAGA-speak, condemning what he describes as “vicious Democrat lawfare,” arguing that the “deep state” is really in charge of Washington and accusing President Joe Biden of attempting to imprison Trump. 

Sacks has that special zeal of the convert, which prizes loyalty above all else. And his loyalty hasn’t gone unnoticed. 

On Dec. 5, Trump announced that he would appoint Sacks as his “AI and crypto czar.” According to Trump, Sacks will “safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.” 

The idea that Democrats used “big tech bias and censorship” as a weapon against Trump is an article of faith in MAGA world, and Sacks recites the scriptures. The day after Trump’s announcement, Sacks cited the billionaire investor Marc Andreessen, who claimed that the Biden administration was planning to use AI to push the country toward authoritarianism. Sacks said the election of Trump was an escape from this “dystopian path.”

And it’s not just in policy where Sacks demonstrates his steadfast fealty to the boss. According to Sacks, Trump ran a “substantive campaign based on issues,” while Vice President Kamala Harris ran on “name-calling” and “platitudes” like “democracy.” Unmentioned is Trump’s insistence that his political opponents are “vermin,” “fascists” and “communists” — an “enemy within” that may have to be dealt with by the military.

Was Trump’s claim that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” part of his substantive, issues-based campaign? When one of Sacks’ co-hosts recently asked whether he would be OK with Trump deporting 15 million people, he reached for an old MAGA evasion tactic: “Trump should be taken seriously, but not literally.” 

Sacks views American support for Ukraine as a product of corrupt deep state war profiteering, saying in a November post on X, “The most under-reported story in Washington is how much corrupt Ukrainian cash is trying to buy influence. It wasn’t just Hunter Biden. Most of the warmongers are PAID.” He argues that “Ukraine is the Deep State’s laundry machine” and claims a “woke-neocon alliance” is responsible for a “one-way ratchet” toward “Woke War III.” He has been warning of a descent into World War III for years, and he thinks the Biden administration authorized the use of long-range American missiles inside Russia to “tie Trump’s hands on Ukraine.” Sacks has also echoed Russian government propaganda, such as the claim that Ukraine was behind the Moscow terrorist attack in March.

As far as Trumpism goes, Sacks isn’t just all in — he also supports some of the most unhinged people in Trump’s orbit. 

He recently said it’s “so important for Bobby Kennedy to be confirmed in whatever cabinet position that he’s going to get.” Trump has since tapped Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency he previously implicated in a grand plot to destroy American democracy during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In a recent conversation with MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk, Sacks said Trump’s intention to nominate of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence is “extremely important for the country” and “extremely important for our movement.” 

In 2017, Gabbard met with former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and questioned the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that he had used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. Nearly 100 former diplomats, as well as national security and intelligence officials, recently wrote to Senate leaders warning that Gabbard may be incapable of presenting “unbiased intelligence.” 

Sacks, in the interview with Kirk, says he “can’t think of a better person to be in charge” of American intelligence agencies than Gabbard. Like Sacks, Gabbard blames the Biden administration and NATO for the war in Ukraine — arguing that the alliance failed to respect “Russia’s legitimate security concerns.” In a November X post, Sacks wrote, “Tulsi was 100% right and only looks better in hindsight for having the courage to say it.” 

And when the GOP was deciding who would be the next Senate majority leader, Sacks demanded a “loyalist” who would “represent the MAGA agenda.” He said the MAGA movement would be watching Trump’s Cabinet appointments very closely for signs of “infiltration” to ensure Trump won’t be “betrayed” again.

Sacks supported Trump, and he was rewarded. It’s the same story with Elon Musk, Kennedy, Gabbard and many others who bet big on Trump. Musk, for his part, didn’t have to wait long to reap benefits, as Tesla stock has surged since Trump won. Sacks said Tesla’s pre-election stock price was a “lawfare discount — the stock market pricing in the viciousness of Democrats” — casually advancing the theory that the U.S. government has it out for Musk’s companies, even though those companies have long been the beneficiaries of massive federal and state investment. (Sacks put his fears of deep state interference aside when he begged the government to bail out Silicon Valley Bank in early 2023.) 

It’s possible Sacks sincerely believed Trump was unfit for office after Jan. 6. It’s also possible that he’s a genuine convert who thinks Trump’s triumph over the deep state and the vicious Democrats will be good for the country. (Sacks didn’t respond to my requests for comment.) Either way, his Trump worship earned him the leader’s blessing. Now that he has passed his audition, he will join the MAGA faithful united by one guiding principle: Trump is the leader, and disloyalty won’t be tolerated.