Silicon Nightmare
Silicon Nightmare
Another Trump administration brings with it the empowerment of the tech industry's far right
Well, it’s been a while, but we’re back—both as a newsletter and a country living under a President Donald Trump.
Trump’s election last Tuesday was a decisive victory for the conservative movement, but it was more than that. It was also a victory for far right leaders in the tech industry, who now find themselves empowered and, in the case of Elon Musk, at the right hand of the president-elect.
More on Musk and the billionaires in a moment. First, a little housekeeping.
One of the reasons this newsletter has been dormant for so long is that I was working on my first book, Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left.
A rich history of the decades-long rise of this new right-wing alternative media takeover, Owned follows the money, names names, and offers a chilling portrait of a future social media and news landscape. It is a biting exposé of journalistic greed, tech-billionaire ambition, and a lament for a disappearing free press.
You can preorder here or anywhere you get your books.
A lot of the themes of this newsletter, as well as my work going forward, will be related to the content of Owned and I hope you check it out.
Readers can expect roughly one newsletter a week, usually on Sunday, going forward.
If you’re a former paying subscriber, I will not be restarting payments at this time (and likely won’t unless this becomes a more regular thing again).
Back to Musk. I appeared on Britain’s Times Radio a few times leading up to the election to discuss the billionaire and other Silicon Valley conservatives.
First, I discussed Musk’s $1 million “giveaway,” part of a gamble the billionaire made on Trump that sadly paid off.
Then, I talked about how the tech industry’s conservative movement is looking to Trump as a better option.
On November 7, two days after the election, I summed up the new reality for the country in a column at TruthDig, where I’ve been publishing some work lately.
One upshot of this election result is a further erosion of trust in traditional media. That’s something that these billionaires have long wanted. As tech newsrooms have become more antagonistic to the interests of the tech billionaires, their intention has been to destroy them and remake independent media in their image — a media that doesn’t challenge them with embarrassing and aggressive reporting. None have been quiet about their desire for overturning the press. In 2018, Andreessen led a funding round for Substack; an investment that not coincidentally came before a rightward tilt for the blogging platform.
That’s all for now. I’ll have more thoughts next week, and some links to other people’s work as well.
Please check out Owned and feel free to drop me a line with any questions or comments.
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