My 8-step plan for Dario Amodei to get off the Pentagon’s naughty list

• Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic this week, designating the AI startup as a supply chain risk.
• Dario Amodei criticized the Trump administration for bias against Anthropic due to a lack of political donations.
• Other tech leaders, including Tim Cook, have navigated relations with the Trump administration.

On Thursday, the Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, effectively blacklisting the AI startup from doing business with the US government.

In a recent internal memo, obtained by The Information, CEO Dario Amodei said the Trump administration opposes the company because it hasn’t donated to the president or offered the kind of “dictator-style” praise he said competitors had.

Sometimes, the solution to a problem is right in front of you. If Dario wants to get off the Pentagon’s naughty list, he can just follow the lead of more experienced tech leaders who have managed to stay in the administration’s good graces — like Apple CEO Tim Cook.

There’s a serious point to this: many Big Tech CEOs think their jobs are to make money for shareholders. This involves making compromises. It’s tough sometimes, but other tech CEOs have done it, with Cook perhaps being the GOAT Trump whisperer.

Here’s a multi-step plan based on what’s worked for other Big Tech CEOs.

Watch that documentary

Go to the White House and watch the Melania documentary. Or otherwise be seen widely to be watching the Melania documentary. In January, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, along with founder Jeff Bezos, Tim “Apple,” AMD’s Lisa Su, and Zoom’s Eric Yuan attended a screening. It’s only about two hours of your life, Dario.

Gong time

Give President Trump an obviously valuable gong thing. In August, Cook went to the Oval Office and presented President Trump with an inscribed piece of Apple-produced glass made in Kentucky that sits upon a 24k gold base made in Utah to celebrate the tech giant’s “American Manufacturing Program.” Apple has gotten tariff exemptions. It’s unclear if the gift influenced any decisions, but lemme put it this way: The gong probably didn’t hurt!

Praise, praise, praise

Lavish praise on the president in a public way. During a keynote speech at a major Nvidia conference in October, CEO Jensen Huang effusively praised Trump, saying the President’s energy policies deserved credit for ensuring that massive AI data centers would have enough energy to power them.

Praise while dining

Attend a dinner or another event with Trump, and also praise him. In September, Google CEO Sundar Pichai attended a high-profile White House dinner hosted by the president, where the Google CEO thanked the administration for “constructive dialogue” in relation to the company’s antitrust case. And check out this recent video of SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell praising Trump at a recent White House meeting to launch the president’s data center energy initiative, where AI companies pledged to pay for their own power.

Ding rivals

If possible, slip in a dig at President Biden or President Obama, or both. At a tech conference in Taipei last year, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang criticized the Biden administration’s export controls on AI chips to China.

Unveil a big Trump-aligned initiative

Announce an Anthropic initiative that supports one of the president’s top priorities. If this project were something Anthropic would do anyway, don’t worry. Other tech companies have done that, too. Stargate was announced as a bold new $500 billion project in early 2025 at a White House event. But bits of the plan were already in motion as parts of tech companies’ existing data center buildout strategies.

Mar-a-Lago is calling

Visit Mar-a-Lago. The weather in Florida right now is probably great. You can fly direct from SFO, business class, and make it back to San Francisco by the next day. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the trip in late 2024, after Trump was elected president for the second time. Trump once threatened to put Zuckerberg in prison, but not anymore.

$$$$$

You mentioned this one in your own memo, according to The Information. Give money to Trump-related causes. OpenAI President Greg Brockman has donated to Trump, and just think of it as a small investment in Anthropic’s future. It doesn’t cost much, and I’m sure you have some spare cash, with Anthropic’s valuation soaring past $300 billion recently. Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other tech companies donated to Trump’s inauguration fund, for example, mostly giving $1 million each. That was a missed opportunity for you. There will be others.

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