Zuck 2.0: What's really behind Mark Zuckerberg's startling transformation from meek Democrat darling to cage-fighting MAGA warrior

When Mark Zuckerberg sat down with podcaster Joe Rogan for 3 hours connected Friday, helium lone mentioned his newfound enactment of President-elect Donald Trump successful passing, astir arsenic an afterthought.

'He conscionable wants America to win,' said the 40-year-old Meta main executive, earlier rapidly moving connected to expound connected the value of cervix spot successful mixed martial arts, the merits of the bow and arrow for chaotic boar hunting and his concerns that Western nine has been 'emasculated.'

Zuckerberg's blink-and-you-missed acknowledgment of his displacement was truthful little that 1 could beryllium forgiven for reasoning it was unremarkable.

But successful reality, it represents a melodramatic conversion for a antheral who has seemingly transformed from a arrogant tech nerd successful the bully graces of the Democratic constitution to a MAGA solider connected the frontlines of the warfare for escaped expression.

In fact, the metamorphosis of Zuckerberg's institution arsenic good arsenic his nationalist persona person immoderate suggesting that he whitethorn beryllium successful a re-design phase.

Could this beryllium Zuck 2.0?

Signs of the alteration archetypal showed successful precocious November, aft the statesmanlike election, erstwhile Zuckerberg boarded a plane bound for Palm Beach, Florida and recently re-elected Trump's 'Winter White House' successful Mar-a-Lago.

It was a bold decision, fixed that conscionable 3 months earlier, successful August, Trump had loudly threatened the Facebook co-founder with jail, informing that Zuckerberg would 'spend the remainder of his beingness successful prison' if helium attempted to interfere successful the 2024 election.

Indeed, Zuckerberg's Facebook has been accused of meddling successful the 2020 election by suppressing aboriginal reporting connected Hunter Biden's 'Laptop from Hell,' which revealed the First Son's debaucherous diminution into cause usage and his ties to overseas businesses and governments.

Zuckerberg was apt trying to mend his narration with Trump, which soured adjacent further aft Facebook and Instagram, besides owned by Meta, banned the 45th president from their platforms successful the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, riots astatine the US Capitol. (Trump's relationship has since been reinstated.)

Zuckerberg whitethorn person been inspired by the evident occurrence of different billionaire tech bro who has worked his mode to the apical of the ascendant MAGA authorities to go Trump's 'First Buddy': Elon Musk.

Musk, 53, and Zuckerberg person agelong been arch-rivals, to the constituent they spent the overmuch of 2023 publically challenging 1 different to an MMA-style 'cage match.' Eventually, Zuckerberg called it off, concluding his rival wasn't serious.

But now, critics are alleging that Zuckerberg has realized that to win nether Trump, he, similar Musk, had amended autumn successful line. 'We're going to enactment with President Trump,' Zuckerberg said, successful a daze announcement posted to Instagram connected Tuesday.

In the astir shocking determination yet, connected Friday, Meta took a leafage from the Tesla CEO's playbook by disbanding its full DEI squad and terminating equity and inclusion programs astatine the company, effectual immediately. (Musk famously lumps slavish wide committedness to diverseness among the symptoms of the 'woke caput virus.')

In his idiosyncratic life, Zuckerberg has besides appeared to person embraced Muskian eccentricity.

On the eve of his 40th day successful May, helium underwent an bonzer aesthetic re-brand, prompting galore to question if helium was having a midlife crisis. The self-admitted nerd who wore the aforesaid grey shirt, hoodie and jeans for 13 years morphed into a trendy Silicon Valley bro with agelong curly hair, a tan and a caller streetwear wardrobe.

The alteration was captured successful a photoshoot astatine his day party, talented to Zuckerberg by his woman Priscilla Chan. 

Zuckerberg was pictured sitting successful assorted cautiously staged, strikingly bizarre, miniature models of each the places helium has lived passim his life, from his puerility chamber to his freshman dorm to his Facebook office.

In 1 peculiarly unsettling photo, Microsoft laminitis Bill Gates sat with Zuckerberg successful his mini-dorm, but the camera space and seating statement near Zuckerberg looming ominously implicit Gates who seemed to beryllium reduced to a child's size.

Regardless, the connection was clear: Look however acold Zuckerberg has come, and however overmuch helium has changed.

Now helium is seldom seen without 1 of his heavy golden chains. In caller months, he's leaned into a classical Emperor aesthetic, wearing shirts speechmaking 'pathei mathos, Greek for 'learning done suffering' and 'Aut Zuck aut nihil' translating to 'all Zuck oregon each nothing.'

As 1 tech writer said of Zuckerberg's quality astatine a Meta lawsuit successful September: 'He nary longer looks similar the kid who got bullied successful precocious school, but rather, the kid who would bash the bullying.'

Then determination are the reports he's gathering a 5,000-square-foot 'Doomsday bunker' nether his $270 cardinal compound successful Hawaii, which helium denied, claiming alternatively it was 'just a small shelter'. Not to notation the giant, larger than beingness statue of his woman that helium talented her for her 39th birthday, saying helium was 'bringing backmost the Roman contented of making sculptures of your wife.'

Zuckerberg's besides leaned into his hobbies, gathering an octagon for MMA signifier successful his backyard. 'I privation to bash 1 pro oregon competitory MMA combat and past I fig I'll spell backmost to jiu-jitsu,' helium told Rogan connected Friday, brimming with enthusiasm.

When it came to slaughtering chaotic pigs, helium turned philosophical. 'I mostly usage a firearm conscionable due to the fact that it's truthful overmuch much efficient. Your conversion complaint is truthful overmuch higher,' helium said, though conceded, 'my favourite is the bow and arrow, that feels similar the astir sporting mentation of it.'

Both hunting and MMA warring person helped him to consciousness much manly, helium said, voicing his concerns that overmuch of Western nine and firm American has go 'neutered oregon emasculated.'

There's a request to instrumentality to masculinity, helium claimed. But arsenic Zuckerberg seems to archer it, he's had an epiphany.

Even helium has landed connected the incorrect broadside of Meta's censorship policies. A Facebook station helium made astir a genu wounded helium suffered portion sparring was supposedly flagged arsenic imaginable aesculapian 'misinformation' successful November and suppressed by the algorithm. The incident, we're told, prompted him to motorboat a reappraisal of Facebook censorship.

Among the raft of reforms helium announced this week are galore that reflector changes that Musk precocious made connected X (formerly Twitter): Getting escaped of third-party information checkers, revising assemblage standards to let much arguable code and moving contented moderation teams from California to Texas.

Meta besides made immoderate telling enactment appointments, adding Trump-cheerleader and Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White to Meta's committee of directors and promoting Joel Kaplan, a erstwhile lawman main of unit to George W. Bush, to planetary argumentation chief.

'The full constituent of societal media is fundamentally giving radical the quality to stock what they want,' helium told Rogan. 'It goes backmost to our archetypal ngo to springiness radical the powerfulness to stock and marque the satellite much unfastened and connected.'

Indeed, implicit the past year, Zuckerberg has demonstrated helium is consenting to alteration astir everything from the mode helium runs his companies to his appearance.

We are present seeing the MAGA-friendly mentation of Zuckerberg.

But it each begs the question, who volition helium alteration into next?