JD Vance tries to knit MAGA and tech

In recent months, as a testy war of words has begun to strain President Donald Trump’s coalition of hardline MAGA populists and right-leaning Silicon Valley tech elites, one member of that alliance has remained surprisingly mum: Vice President JD Vance. The VP's silence has been especially conspicuous considering his unique position in the skirmish. A former Silicon Valley venture capitalist who rose to national prominence as the face of MAGA’s populist-nationalist wing, Vice President Vance sits at the center of the slow-simmering conflict that has been brewing between the so-called tech right and the populist right. That changed when Vice President Vance went public with a clear message to both factions: Squash the beef. The Vice President's comments, delivered at a high-profile tech summit in D.C. hosted by Andreesen Horowitz, marked his first public intervention in the skirmish. The speech was light on specifics, aside from applauding the Trump administration’s tariff and immigration policies and calling for an extension and expansion of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. But its real significance came from Vice President Vance’s effort to position himself as a kind of mediator.