Why did Reed Hastings stay with the Democrats when much of Silicon Valley moved right?

Reed Hastings says many tech leaders moved right because Biden-era policy on crypto felt obstructive and they feared the same approach would reach AI, citing Elon Musk not being invited to an electric vehicle summit. Hastings says he was anti-crypto, so that policy never offended him. He remains a Democratic donor working on charter schools and hopes the party wins tech back, while noting Trump attacked him online when he left the Netflix board.

• Hastings says the abundance critique, that the left became too focused on blocking projects, has real validity.
• Hastings backs higher taxes on the rich, such as closing capital gains and estate loopholes, but calls California's one-time 5% wealth tax measure poorly written.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on On with Kara Swisher (2026-10-26). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode