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Stanley Druckenmiller
Katie Kramer | CNBC
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller went after President Donald Trump and lawmakers on Friday for attacking big technology companies.
“We are attacking our companies that are the leaders in this stuff. But man, it’s great. We’re supporting our steel industry, our coal industry, [and] our aluminum industry. Way to think about the future, President Trump, just genius,” Druckenmiller said sarcastically on CNBC’s “Squawk Box. “
Trump has criticized big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet for what he calls their bias against him and other Republicans.
“President Trump, we all know his motivation,” Druckenmiller said. “Now, the Democrats hate them because they’re convinced that Facebook’s platform got President Trump elected. That’s complete nonsense. Whether you like it or not, President Trump won because more people voted for him in the right states than voted for [Hillary Clinton].”
“I just do not understand the emotion over this issue,” he said. “Then, you’ve got the whole privacy argument. It’s very simple to me: If you don’t like what Google is doing with privacy, don’t use Google.”
Shares of these companies took a hit this week as multiple reports said government authorities are working on antitrust probes and business-practice investigations targeting them. Facebook and Alphabet were both down more than 5% this week entering Friday’s session while Amazon is down 1.2%.
Druckenmiller also commented on rising global trade tensions, noting they could kill the “animal spirits in the market. ” He added the stock market would plunge between 30% and 40% if Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, won the 2020 presidential election.