California tech CEO spearheads #Never Trump app to target battleground states
A San Francisco-based company launched a #NeverTrump app this week dedicated to defeating Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The networking app company Trimian, whose CEO and founder Amit Kumar was formerly with Yahoo, geared the app toward California users but hopes that the sentiment will build momentum across the voting public, according to a report in Recode.
#NeverTrump is a low-frills bit of programming that Kumar’s team built in a week with input from Zach Coelius, a tech investor who used to run a voting nonprofit aimed at students, the article states. By using the app, Californians can find contacts they know in battleground states throughout the country and send them targeted messages encouraging them to vote. The app also can help users organize political fundraisers and meetups.
Kumar, who is from India and views Trump as an 'existential threat' to the country, stated on his website that the app is intended to "help others channel their frustration positively" and spread the word and help save America."
The #NeverTrump app is just the latest in a series of attacks Silicon Valley has lobbed against the Republican nominee. On Thursday Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz pledged $20m to help beat Trump. Last month venture capital firm Charles River Ventures displayed a big “F*ck Trump” banner prominently on its home page. And in July about 150 tech CEOs, investors and others in the industry signed an open letter calling the prospect of a Trump victory a “disaster for innovation.” In a scathing letter, many Silicon Valley CEOs, investors and well-known tech figures (like Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak,) slammed Trump.
"Trump's vision stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people, and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy — and that provide the foundation for innovation and growth," the leaders wrote.
Notably, the list doesn’t include CEOs or other top executives from the biggest tech companies, like Google or Microsoft.