Jensen Huang made a lot of mistakes, but the one that really brought him down was getting too involved in DC.

The skillset of a great technologist is the opposite of someone who’s great at politics. Technologists have to think years, sometimes decades in advance. When they figure out a winning formula, they bet everything on it.

That’s a really bad way to operate in Washington, where things move on two-year election cycles and commitment to any one idea, faction, or ideology is a liability if and when the political winds change.

When Donald Trump was elected president for a second term, it seemed like the world was suddenly a fundamentally different place. The White House was open for business in a way never seen in history. It was irresistible for a lot of tech people (Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen also fell into this trap).

For a while, it seemed like Huang was one of the few technologists to find success in DC. His friendship with the president helped advance his worldview — that America should export its technology around the world, even to China. But it was all a mirage. Political people understood this would never last, and it would end in hearings, investigations, and prosecutions. This has all come as a shocking surprise to many in the tech industry.

Nvidia was aggressive in its policy positions in part because it had the backing of the president. It should have used that influence sparingly, and not just to get what it wanted but to make more allies on both sides of the political aisle.

So far, the underlying allegations against Huang are unproven. The alleged spy who led to this mess may not even be a spy. And many in the tech industry are angry and want to fight back. That’s the wrong instinct. In the tech industry, the relentless will to win is perhaps the most redeeming quality of every operator. In DC, you can’t ever really win. You can only lose.

The Nvidia scandal and the post-midterm tech industry peril are exactly the reason we came up with the idea for our convening, Silicon Valley & The World, which takes place next week in the heart of the industry. We’re bringing leaders in from around the globe to burst Silicon Valley’s bubble and make it a more worldly place. We have what I think is the best lineup of speakers ever assembled at a media industry convening and I hope Jensen Huang, who was supposed to speak, will reconsider. If you’d like to tune in, register for a virtual broadcast pass, or watch live on YouTube and at Semafor.com.