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Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia revealed why he left the Democratic Party and voted for President Donald Trump in an interview published Monday — citing border security concerns.
“This is a real problem and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be enforcing the laws of our country and our border. And so, I think, as I started to pull on that thread, I sort of began to look at other topics and eventually came to the point where I don’t think I can support a political party that wants to have an open border, that lets in criminals and dangerous people into our country. That’s not something I can get behind,” Gebbia told podcast host Katie Miller during “The Katie Miller Podcast.”
Gebbia previously worked for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and was tapped by Trump last month to spearhead a new federal design overhaul aimed at making government websites “both usable and beautiful.”
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Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and chairman of Airbnb.org, speaks during South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, March 13, 2022. (Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Gebbia said the border caught his attention in 2021 and told Miller he reached out to people on the Democratic side of the aisle about the issue, but felt unfulfilled.
He said he also reached out to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor, to discuss the border.
“I get on the phone with Jared and say, ‘Hey, can you help me, fill in the gaps for me. Like, what am I missing here? Is this normal? Like, it seems there’s no enforcement of our own border. Like, don’t nations need borders to be a nation?’ And so he put me on this curriculum of just talking to experts in the field, and I remember just being like holy cow, this is crazy. Like, this is not right,” Gebbia said.
Gebbia revealed in a post on X in January that he supported Trump in the 2024 election and said the Democrats he previously supported “lost their way.”
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Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia now serves as the Chief Design Officer of the United States and has been tasked with redesigning government websites by President Donald Trump. ( Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Airbnb co-founder, one of the world’s richest people with a net worth of over $8 billion, also spoke about his role as the first Chief Design Officer of the United States of America.
“I’m going to do my best to make government websites as usable as they are beautiful and really upgrade our nation to the level of excellence that I feel like the United States deserves,” he said.
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President Donald Trump walks at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)
While at DOGE, Gebbia aimed to digitize the government’s retirement process and called the current system an “injustice to civil servants.”
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In March, Gebbia said he hoped to turn the paper-based retirement process for federal employees into a system that only takes a few days. He said the antiquated system in its current state takes months.