Vice President JD Vance delivered the opening remarks at Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism Summit in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. Watch it for yourself: Vance walked across the stage in a suit and red tie, while a16z founders and attendees stood up and cheered.
He smiled, waved, and addressed investors Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Katherine Boyle by their first names before promising to help the entrepreneurs in the room.
“As of a couple of months ago, you have an administration that is working with you and facilitating your hard work, rather than making it more difficult to innovate, which is, I believe, what the previous administration did,” Vance told the room of a16z-backed companies building companies in aerospace, defense, public safety, supply chain, and manufacturing.
He later added, “We recognize that now is the time in our administration to align our professional interests with those of all of you. It is time to align our technology firms’ interests with those of the United States of America as a whole.”
You would be hard-pressed to overlook the significance of this moment. Last summer, Andreessen and Horowitz made waves on their popular podcast by revealing that they would vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 election, a divisive move that surprised many in blue-leaning Silicon Valley.
They then donated $2.5 million each to a pro-Trump PAC. Less than a year later, several of the firm’s partners have taken official or advisory positions in the White House, the firm has recruited a number of Republican officials (or icons), and the sitting vice president will headline their conference, pledging support to a group of entrepreneurs backed by a16z.
Vance’s appearance as the keynote speaker makes a statement in and of itself. But that is what he had to say. Vance used strong language to declare that the Trump administration wants America to “dominate” artificial intelligence, not be afraid of it.
He attempted to address some of the rising tensions between two groups of people: the populists, or “laborers” who have long supported Trump, and the newer Trump-supporting “techno-optimists” (a reference to Andreessen’s 5,200-word essay published two years ago about how technology is the only perpetual form of growth).
Vance, who briefly worked as a venture capitalist, is positioning himself as someone who can bridge the gap between the two worlds. In other words, as the person who can bring together the people developing AI and those who are terrified of being replaced by it.
“When populists look at the future and compare it to the past, I believe many of them see workers being alienated from their jobs, communities, and sense of solidarity. “You see people’s alienation from their sense of purpose,” he explained. “And importantly, they see a leadership class that believes welfare can replace a job and an application on a phone can replace a sense of purpose.”
Importantly, Vance emphasized some of the more bipartisan talking points in the startup world, including the administration’s desire to “slash regulations” and “reduce the cost of energy so that you can build, build, build.”
He spent a lot of time talking about the importance of bringing labor back to America rather than relying on “cheap labor” from abroad. Those remarks echoed his speech from last Friday in Bay City, Mich., where he discussed America’s “industrial resurgence.”
Vance made no mention of the administration’s crypto-friendly approach, which has been a huge success for a16z and its diverse portfolio of crypto startups. Technically, the conference was for the firm’s American Dynamism portfolio, which focuses on companies that work with the government or solve national problems, rather than its crypto arm, a16z crypto.
Nonetheless, Vance’s speech clearly resonated with and excited many of those present, according to Joe Cohen, an a16z-backed founder who attended the summit and runs the electric vehicle company Infinite Machine from New York.
During a phone call with me following the event, he stated that it was “inspiring to hear from the VP who is a technologist and can talk intelligently to technologists and entrepreneurs.”
Two months in, Silicon Valley is hardly pledging its allegiance to Trump, despite the fact that the president has already made many tech allies, some of whom are outspoken supporters. Many people in the Valley are upset about Trump’s attacks on DEI policies, his aggressive tactics against illegal immigration, and his dislike for climate technology. Some tech-focused policymakers in D.C. have told me they are unsure how to interact with the new administration.
Policy-wise, it is still early and unclear how the administration will approach its stated priorities. Cohen stated that, while hearing Vance lay out the administration’s intentions was helpful, he would prefer to see incentives, rather than tariffs, to encourage startups to manufacture in America, such as tax credits, low-interest financing, or domestic product subsidies. “There needs to be not just a stick, but also a carrot,” he told me.
Vance was discussing the next four years in the room on Tuesday, but he could also be trying to get the tech community to support something more long-term.
Shortly after the summit, Vance was chosen by the Republican National Committee to lead its fundraising efforts for next year’s midterm elections, the first time a sitting vice president has held this position. This move has fueled speculation that he may run for president in the coming years.
