Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose company serves as the highwater mark of woke leftist hysteria in Silicon Valley, is now taking positions contrary to his left-wing peers, including standing against California’s proposed wealth tax. He is reportedly been pushed to the right by his Trump-supporting girlfriend, who the President called Brin’s “really wonderful MAGA girlfriend.”
The New York Times reports that Google co-founder Sergey Brin told Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that he found California’s proposed billionaire tax intolerable. He was joined by girlfriend Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, a conservative influencer who supports Donald Trump. Gilbert-Soto joked she’d overlook Newsom’s policies because of his appearance, but argued the tax would severely damage California’s economy. Newsom, previously not supportive, announced the following month he would work to defeat it.
Brin, 52, has traditionally backed progressive causes: a 2008 same-sex marriage campaign, Obama’s 2012 re-election, and called Trump’s 2016 victory “deeply offensive” in remarks to Google staff exclusively reported by Breitbart News. He joined protests against Trump’s Muslim-majority travel restrictions, and in 2021 launched a nonprofit directing at least $88 million toward climate initiatives.
Now Brin has joined tech executives moving rightward. Last May, he attended a fundraiser with VP JD Vance and gave nearly $500,000 to the RNC. At a September White House dinner, he told Trump he was “very grateful” for the administration’s backing of tech firms. This March, he was appointed to a White House tech advisory body and donated to a Republican gubernatorial contender since endorsed by Trump.
The proposed one-time five percent levy on California billionaires has particularly unsettled Brin. He relocated before a December 31 cutoff to the Nevada shore of Lake Tahoe, though he still works at Google’s California headquarters on alternating weeks. He has committed $57 million against the proposal, including $9 million revealed Friday.
Brin said: “I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don’t want California to end up in the same place.”
His spending makes him the state’s second-biggest individual donor this cycle, trailing only Tom Steyer, also running for governor. Marty Wilson of the California Chamber of Commerce said: “This is a guy who is not a hobbyist. He’s very serious and this isn’t just some hobby for him. He’s going to play big time.”
Brin’s shift aligned with his 2023 relationship with Gilbert-Soto, after his divorce from Nicole Shanahan, RFK Jr.’s 2024 running mate.
Gilbert-Soto, 32, known as GG, identifies on Instagram as a “holistic health coach” and “clean meat enthusiast,” and appeared on “Vanderpump Rules.” She calls Trump her “bestie” and has displayed a photo of Brin in a red MAGA hat.
After Trump’s inauguration, where she and Brin held prominent seats, she wrote: “Mucho gratitude for my lovey, as without him I wouldn’t know the president or have even been at the inauguration.” She slammed YouTube, owned by Google, for suspending Trump’s account after January 6: “This kind of censorship was an abomination.” She was one of only four partners of tech executives invited to a September White House AI dinner, seated beside Apple CEO Tim Cook and across from Trump, who called her Brin’s “really wonderful MAGA girlfriend.”
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.