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Donald Trump, Elon Musk, GOP, Kamala Harris, Opinion, Politics

Pool Report: Governors Including Brian Kemp Sent To Overflow Room While Tech CEOs And Top Donors Take Prime Seats At Inauguration

Donald Trump reportedly made governors sit in an overflow room at his second inauguration.

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Much has been made in the past few weeks about tech industry leaders — including some, like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who were at odds with Donald Trump during his first term — becoming closer to Trump heading into his second. Bezos, in his ownership of the Washington Post, blocked an endorsement of Kamala Harris last year and has visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago, while Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg has also drawn closer to Trump, also visiting Palm Beach and retreating on numerous Facebook fact-checking and anti-harassment policies.

It was announced in recent days that several tech leaders, including Elon Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Apple’s Tim Cook, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, would attend the inauguration. As guests shuffled into the Capitol Rotunda Monday, it was noted that the tech CEOs all received better seats than even most members of Congress. And with the ceremony having moved inside due to weather, there was more limited space available than usual.

Before the inauguration, there was a pool report that several governors, even Republican ones, were shunted to an overflow room rather than the main rotunda. These included Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, and Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi. Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut, a Democrat, was also made to sit in the overflow room.

Kemp and DeSantis, of course, have been at odds with Trump in the past, with DeSantis even running against him, unsuccessfully, in the 2024 presidential primaries. But they were entirely on board with him more recently. Youngkin has gone back and forth, distancing himself from Trump at times and cozying up to others. And Reeves, among other Republican governors, is not known as a Trump opponent.

This decision drew some surprised reactions, especially about who Trump values and prioritizes.


 Featured image via X screengrab

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Stephen Silver

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Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy.

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