Silicon Valley billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya is no longer hedging his bet on President Trump.
The venture capitalist and “All-In” podcast co-host delivered a sweeping political mea culpa on CNBC Tuesday, declaring Trump “fantastic” and blaming news coverage for his own years-long hostility toward the president.
“You’re 100% right on Trump. He’s fantastic,” Palihapitiya told “Squawk Box” co-host Joe Kernen. “Unbelievable person, very smart on top of it, open-minded… great president, so far.”
That was not always Palihapitiya’s position.
After the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Palihapitiya denounced Trump. Now, Palihapitiya says he got Trump completely wrong because he accepted a distorted portrait presented by the press.
“The reality is that most of us were lied to by the media about President Trump,” Palihapitiya said.
“And if you just go back to the source material, you should take away two things, one, he didn’t say half the things he said, and two, why did these other people just fabricate what they wanted to say so that they could essentially assassinate his character?”
“I think that that second thing is completely unacceptable in America and there’s still been no repercussions, really,” he added.
The investor credited Kernen, one of CNBC’s most openly Trump-friendly personalities, with having the president figured out long before he did.
Watch the clip below:
"I took the time to learn, I admitted on my podcast that I got it totally wrong," says @chamath of changing his mind on @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/f7VGdsz2Oo
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) July 14, 2026
