Top Facebook, Apple and Google executives have donated little in the 2018 midterms, two years after clashing with President Trump

The top executives at Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have stayed on the political sidelines during the 2018 midterm elections, opting not to donate to federal candidates who might advance Silicon Valley’s political agenda — or battle back President Donald Trump. Two years ago, these tech leaders emerged as some of President Trump’s biggest critics, challenging his administration publicly on issues including immigration, climate change and gender equality. Personally, though, they’ve declined since then to write checks to congressional office-seekers who might serve as a bulwark against the White House, federal records show. Apple CEO Tim Cook so far has backed one Democratic lawmaker in California, after spending nearly $500,000 — almost entirely on Democrats, and a few Republicans — during the 2016 presidential race, according to data published by the Federal Election Commission. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google-parent Alphabet, so far haven’t written any checks to federal candidates, the records show.