Vice President JD Vance made an explicit attempt on Tuesday to bridge warring factions within the Republican Party, arguing that the “tensions” between the populist and tech wings of the conservative movement could be overcome.
Mr. Vance’s remarks, delivered at a technology conference in Washington, amounted to the most intentional effort from the administration to date to manage these groups within President Trump’s movement. Some conservatives have worried that the uneasy alliance between Mr. Trump’s populist base and his new support from Silicon Valley was destined to unravel.
That political divide is a consequence of the support Mr. Trump has won from many tech leaders, particularly that of Elon Musk. Mr. Musk has fought with populist, longstanding members of Mr. Trump’s coalition, including Steve Bannon, over issues such as the H-1B visa program, which allows skilled workers like software engineers to work in the United States and is typically embraced by the tech industry to fill their engineering ranks.
“I’d like to speak to these tensions as a proud member of both tribes,” said Mr. Vance, a former venture capitalist who is now backed by much of the populist right. “While this is a well-intentioned concern, I think it’s based on a faulty premise. This idea that tech-forward people and the populists are somehow inevitably going to come to a loggerheads is wrong.”
Mr. Vance was the headliner at the American Dynamism conference organized by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, whose leaders, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, have embraced Mr. Trump. Mr. Vance declared himself to be a “huge fan” of the pair and said that he was “very moved” by a recent, pro-technology manifesto from Mr. Andreessen.
Mr. Andreessen, who has become the avatar of a movement that pushes for domestic technological development, has been deeply involved in the Trump administration, helping to evaluate hires during Mr. Trump’s transition and advising Mr. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.