Trump gets little backing from Silicon Valley

Donald Trump has received almost no financial backing from the technology and communications sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

From the start of the current election cycle until June, the Republican presidential nominee has received $336,000 in donations from the sectors, the group found. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, received $30 million in the same time span.

{mosads}Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) each received roughly 7.4 times as much money from technology interests as Trump, even though Trump has been in the election six months longer than both of them.

Bush and Paul each received $2.5 million in donations from tech interests. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another presidential candidate who dropped out of the race five months ago, received $7.9 million — almost 24 times as much as Trump.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the numbers.

It’s been no secret that Trump and Silicon Valley don’t get along, but the new report details the extent of the frosty relationship.

President Obama received 8 of every 10 dollars spent by employees of major tech companies in the 2012 presidential election, but Trump is faring even worse than 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison alone gave a Romney super-PAC $3 million in 2012, far more than all of Trump’s total donations from the tech sector.

Even Peter Thiel, who spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention for the billionaire businessman, has no plans to donate or fundraise for Trump, his spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. Thiel donated $2 million to a super-PAC supporting Carly Fiorina earlier in the election cycle.

Others in tech have been more caustic to Trump — not just withholding funds, but attacking him head on.

Prominent tech players like venture capitalist Chris Sacca, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams and many others signed an open letter, calling him a “disaster for innovation,” and saying that “his vision” is diametrically opposed with things “that provide the foundation for innovation and growth.”

Trump has returned the sentiment, criticizing Apple for not complying with FBI requests to aid in unlocking the phone of one of the shooters involved in the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif.

Unlike Clinton, Trump has yet to declare a tech policy platform, which may also alienate him from people in the industry.

Trump himself reportedly uses very little tech. According to a deposition reported on by The New York Times, as of 2007, the real estate mogul had no personal computer. In 2013, he said he “very rarely” used email, a technology that he once declared “is for wimps.”