Why What’s Happening in AI Is Not Unlike the 2016 Elections

Retail investors were taken for granted by VCs — just like certain elites took voters for granted in 2016. Now the backlash is building, and SpaceX is perfectly positioned to benefit.

I’ve been trading through this entire AI cycle, and the parallels to 2016 keep getting stronger.

For years the venture capital crowd ran the same playbook:

• Massive private rounds at insane valuations (Databricks at $134 billion after its latest big 2026 round, Anthropic pushing toward $380 billion, OpenAI in the $800 billion+ stratosphere).
• Kept companies private as long as possible to maximize marks and carry.
• Locked retail out completely.
• Then expected the public to show up and buy when they finally decided to IPO.

They took retail for granted — just like certain elites took voters for granted in 2016, assuming loyalty and that we had nowhere else to go. The result back then was a surprise shift. The same dynamic is playing out now.