Some of the biggest names in the tech and startup world have united to take a stand against Donald Trump, signing on open letter saying his presidency would be a “disaster for innovation”.
The letter, written by Color Genomics CMO and former VP of global media at Twitter Katie Stanton and posted on Medium, slams Trump’s policies on immigration, the internet and infrastructure.
The letter is endorsed by 145 tech leaders, including Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
“We believe in an inclusive country that fosters opportunity, creativity and a level playing field. Donald Trump does not,” the letter says.
“He campaigns on anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas and new people, and a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline.”
The tech figureheads are concerned about how Trump presidency would impact America’s innovation sector.
“We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation. His vision stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy – and the provide the foundation for innovation and growth.
We believe that government plays an important role in the technology economy by investing in infrastructure, education and scientific research. Donald Trump articulates few policies beyond erratic and contradictory pronouncements. His reckless disregard for our legal and political institutions threatens to upend what attracts companies to start and scale in America.”
The letter comes only days after it was revealed that prominent Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel will be speaking at the upcoming Republic convention.
The open letter concludes with a disclaimer that the individual endorsements do “not reflect the endorsement of any organisation, corporation or entity to which they are affiliated”.
You can read the full letter and the names of those that co-signed it here.
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Denham Sadler is a freelance journalist based in Melbourne.
