Facebook’s Zuckerberg hints at politics move

He is worth more than $56bn. The platform he invented has almost 1.8 billion members. He has created a foundation which plans, among other things, to ‘cure all disease’.

Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg has achieved far more than most 32-year-olds. Now, it seems, he is preparing to move into politics.

As the new year dawned, Zuckerberg announced he had made a resolution to travel to all 50 US states to talk to people. In a Facebook post, he said he would undertake road trips with his wife, host people at Facebook offices, meet teachers and scientists, and stop in small towns and universities.

Zuckerberg linked his decision to the divisive 2016 election. ‘After a tumultuous last year, my hope is to get out and talk to more people about how they’re living, working and thinking about the future,’ he wrote.

It is the latest evidence that he plans a political career. Last month court filings revealed he had discussed the idea with two Facebook board members. And on Christmas Day he declared he was no longer an atheist, neutralising a potential political liability.

He would become one of a string of business leaders to move into politics. Donald Trump was a lifelong tycoon before he ran for president. The Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, was CEO of a global investment firm before entering politics.

Most US presidents have been lawyers or career politicians. But the first president, George Washington, was an entrepreneur. Others, such as Andrew Johnson, Warren Harding and Harry Truman, have run companies, with varying levels of success; the 1920s economic boom saw three consecutive presidents with a business background.

Business figures such as Richard Branson and Karren Brady played an important part in the UK’s EU referendum last year. And amid public hostility towards traditional politicians in Europe and the USA — most spectacularly shown by Trump’s win — voters may consider business leaders an attractive alternative. So would Zuckerberg be making a wise move?

Face it

Yes, say supporters. Business provides a great initiation into the realities of human behaviour. Successful bosses must understand a fast-changing world and come up with products people will spend their money on. Career politicians have failed to prevent crisis after crisis: why not replace them with high-flyers from outside the bubble?

Bad idea, others respond. Politicians must work within democratic systems, whereas business leaders can be autocratic and insulated from ordinary people’s problems. Zuckerberg gets his own way at Facebook; as president, he would have to compromise and answer to the people. He would be unprepared for the messy business of politics.