In an effort to appeal to the incoming government of President-elect Trump, Google, which was a staunch supporter of Democratic bid Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign, are now hiring conservative managers for its lobbying and policy division.
According to insiders, after the election last month, Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has moved to revamp its office in Washington by hiring lobbyists with Republican backgrounds. In fact, the tech giant has already posted job advertisements for managers who have conservative political leanings.
Despite the company’s political preference prior to the election, the move by Google to appeal to Republicans did not come as a surprise primarily due to Trump’s victory. But aside from the background of the president, Google’s decision to hire conservatives may have also been influenced by the fact that majority of the seats in the House are controlled by the Republican Party.
Still though, it is interesting to see Google changing its political environment in an effort to appease the country’s new government. After all, the company is one of the most prominent firms operating in California’s Silicon Valley, a region that has strongly opposed Trump during and after his campaign. Many of them were generally against Trump’s demeanor and policies that could potentially affect their national and international operations.
Before the election, majority or about 1,350 employees from Google and Alphabet donated a total of $1.6 million to Clinton’s campaign. On the other hand, only 33 members from these tech firms only supported Trump. Their total donations only amounted to about $23,300, according to Fortune.
Given the number of liberals still working in Google, the company may have a hard time finding a common ground between its left-leaning staff members and potential conservative lobbyists. But, this is a matter that both Google and Alphabet have to overcome in order to successfully continue their operation
