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Chuck DarwinOn the last Friday of September 2023, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Elon</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Musk</a> dropped in about an hour late to a dinner party at the Silicon Valley mansion of the technology investor <a href="https://c.im/tags/Chamath" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Chamath</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a>.Musk’s visit was meant to be discreet -- Still skittish about getting involved publicly in politics, he told the guests he had to be careful about supporting anyone in the Republican nomination fight. And yet here he was — joined by Claire Boucher, the singer known as <a href="https://c.im/tags/Grimes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Grimes</a> and the mother of three of his children — at a $50,000-a-head dinner in honor of the presidential candidate <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vivek" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vivek</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ramaswamy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ramaswamy</a>, who was running as an entrepreneur who would shake up the status quo.As the night wore on, Musk held forth on the patio on a variety of topics, according to four people with knowledge of the conversation: his visit that week to the U.S.-Mexico border; the war in Ukraine; his frustrations with government regulations hindering his rocket company, SpaceX; and Mr. Ramaswamy’s highest priority, the dismantling of the federal bureaucracy. Musk made clear that he saw the gutting of that bureaucracy as primarily a technology challenge. He told the party of around 20 that when he overhauled Twitter, the key was gaining access to the company’s serversWouldn’t it be great, Musk offered, if he could have access to the computers of the federal government?Just give him the passwords, he said jocularly, and he would make the government fit and trim. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/politics/musk-federal-bureaucracy-takeover.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/politics/musk-federal-bureaucracy-takeover.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare</a>

Dining & CookingA Who’s Who at Peter Thiel’s Trump Party: Zuckerberg, Adelson and More <a href="https://www.diningandcooking.com/1842464/a-whos-who-at-peter-thiels-trump-party-zuckerberg-adelson-and-more/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.diningandcooking.com/1842464/a-whos-who-at-peter-thiels-trump-party-zuckerberg-adelson-and-more/</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Adelson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Adelson</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Altman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Altman</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Calacanis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Calacanis</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Chamath" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Chamath</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/DonaldJJr" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DonaldJJr</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Inaugurations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Inaugurations</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/JD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#JD</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Jason" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Jason</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/MarkE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MarkE</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Miriam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Miriam</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/PeterA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PeterA</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/PresidentialElectionOf2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PresidentialElectionOf2024</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Recipes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Recipes</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/RecipesTopics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RecipesTopics</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/SamuelH" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SamuelH</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Thiel</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#trump</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Vance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vance</a> <a href="https://vive.im/tags/Zuckerberg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Zuckerberg</a>

Chuck DarwinElon Musk and Donald Trump have reportedly been speaking together frequently in recent months, and their bitterly reactionary politics obviously align. Within days, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk was committing a remarkable $45 million per month to "America PAC", a new pro-Trump super PAC that would also be supported by Palantir cofounder Joe <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lonsdale" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Lonsdale</a>, Mark <a href="https://c.im/tags/Zuckerberg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Zuckerberg</a> castoffs Tyler and Cameron <a href="https://c.im/tags/Winklevoss" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Winklevoss</a>, and several members of what’s sometimes called the Paypal mafia, a right-wing network of tech industry leaders with Peter <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Thiel</a> as its presiding majordomo.If, two years ago The New York Times could make the dubious claim that tech giants like Musk were hard to pin down politically, there is no room now for even that level of credulousness. It’s official: Silicon Valley has been fully MAGA-pilled, and the tech authoritarians are bringing their money with them.Trump unveiled as his VP pick Ohio Senator J.D. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vance</a>, a former Thiel employee and venture capitalist who owes his election to the Senate to a $15 million campaign cash infusion from Thiel. For the tech industry, whose rightward swerve has been hard to ignore this campaign cycle, the Vance selection was sensational. “We have a former tech VC in the White House,” crowed Delian <a href="https://c.im/tags/Asparouhov" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Asparouhov</a>, a partner at Thiel’s Founders Fund who once drew notice for sharing a comic by the neo-Nazi cartoonist known as StoneToss. “Greatest country on Earth baby.” Musk, who had reportedly been agitating privately for Trump to choose Vance, celebrated the pick on X. “Resounds with victory,” he wrote. Vivek <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ramaswamy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ramaswamy</a> posted wistful, supportive remarks about being drinking buddies with Vance at Yale Law School. Using the term of endearment favored by his fellow mega-rich “All-In” podcast hosts, Chamath <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a> celebrated the news: “A Bestie adjacent as the VP?!?!?!”Thiel, who is infamous for his stated aversion to democracy, has claimed that he is sitting out this election, but his baton has been passed to a gaggle of ornery venture capitalists and tech CEOs whom you may recognize from their grievance-laden X posts: <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lonsdale" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Lonsdale</a>, David <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sacks</a>, Shaun <a href="https://c.im/tags/Maguire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Maguire</a>, Marc <a href="https://c.im/tags/Andreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Andreessen</a>, et al. They are all very rich and control a lot of capital beyond their own. They are also wielding increasing influence over the Trump campaign: Sacks spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/silicon-valley-trump-support-donations/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/silicon-valley-trump-support-donations/</a>

Chuck DarwinTech executives and investors said they were invigorated by Harris“It’s democracy time, people,” Roy <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bahat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Bahat</a>, an investor at Bloomberg Beta, posted on LinkedIn. Aaron <a href="https://c.im/tags/Levie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Levie</a>, the chief executive of Box, a cloud storage company, wrote on X that Mr. Biden had shown “amazing leadership,” adding, “Now let’s go!”The energy was a far cry from the dismay felt in tech circles recently as some of the industry’s most influential voices declared they were for Mr. Trump. The rejuvenation could blunt the momentum of pro-Trump conservatives in Silicon Valley and entice more wealthy tech executives to throw their support — and money — behind the Democratic ticket.Just last week, the political winds in Silicon Valley appeared to be blowing to the right. On Tuesday, Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Andreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Andreessen</a> 😨and Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Horowitz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Horowitz</a>😨, founders of the influential investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, argued in a 90-minute podcast that Mr. Trump was the best candidate for start-ups, with plans to donate millions to his campaign. Days earlier, Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Musk</a> 😨had also endorsed Mr. Trump. They had been preceded by David <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sacks</a> 😨and Chamath <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a>, 😨two tech investors who had hosteda $12 million fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in June. Doug <a href="https://c.im/tags/Leone" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Leone</a> 😨and Shaun <a href="https://c.im/tags/Maguire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Maguire</a> 😨of Sequoia Capital, a top investment firm, had also said that they would vote for Mr. Trump.Yet despite the growing sense of a MAGA takeover, not everyone in tech moved toward Mr. Trump. “You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match,” said Katie Jacobs <a href="https://c.im/tags/Stanton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Stanton</a>, founder of Moxxie Ventures, a venture capital firm. “By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley.” John <a href="https://c.im/tags/Coogan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Coogan</a>, a start-up founder, wrote in a blog post in June that media coverage of Silicon Valley’s support for Mr. Trump was “at odds with reality.” Top venture capitalists had given four times more money to Democrats than Republicans in the first part of the year, he argued.“Trump is very unpopular in Silicon Valley in general,” Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Khosla" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Khosla</a> said, adding that those who were pro-Trump were “only a small constituency.” Now liberals in tech are rejuvenated. Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mehta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Mehta</a> said that some of his WhatsApp chats, particularly those that included Indian people in tech, exploded with excitement for Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India. To show support for the vice president, some implored people to make small donations, while others discussed potential fund-raisers, he said. Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Hoffman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hoffman</a>, a founder of LinkedIn and a prominent Democratic donor, emphasized in essays, videos and social media posts that Mr. Trump was a danger to the rule of law and democracy. “You can’t use business justification as your cloak, as your rationalization, for being supportive of Trump,” he said.Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Levie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Levie</a> of Box said he had spoken to a dozen other tech and business people on Sunday who were now optimistic about the election in November. He said he was hopeful that Democrats could deliver a positive message on issues that the tech industry cared about, including A.I., entrepreneurship and immigration reform for high-skilled workers. “We have a chance to get excited and rally around someone,” he said.On Sunday, Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Hoffman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hoffman</a> endorsed Ms. Harris, while Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Khosla" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Khosla</a> called for an open process at the Democratic convention. Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Suster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Suster</a> said his phone blew up with a collective message of “thank god.” He estimated that three-quarters of the people he interacted with in tech were happy about Mr. Biden’s withdrawal and would not support Mr. Trump.

Chuck DarwinHow JD Vance’s path to being Trump’s VP pick wound through Silicon ValleyFollowing a brief period of work in corporate law after he graduated Yale, Vance moved to San Francisco and got a job at <a href="https://c.im/tags/Peter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Peter</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Thiel</a>’s Mithril Capital venture firm in 2015. After Hillbilly Elegy became a bestseller in 2016 and brought him to national prominence, Vance joined the venture capital firm Revolution, founded by the former AOL CEO <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steve" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Steve</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Case" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Case</a>.Vance remained a part of the tech VC world after returning to Ohio and leaving Revolution in early 2020. He received financial backing from Thiel to co-found the venture firm Narya Capital – which, like Thiel’s enterprises, was named after an object from The Lord of The Rings, this time a ring of power made for elves. Other prominent investors in Narya included <a href="https://c.im/tags/Eric" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Eric</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Schmidt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Schmidt</a>, the former Google CEO,and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Marc" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Marc</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Andreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Andreessen</a>, a venture capitalist, who announced his own support for <a href="https://c.im/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Trump</a> this past week. The stated goal of Vance’s firm was to invest in early-stage startups in cities that Silicon Valley tended to overlook.Narya Capital in 2021 led a group of conservative investors, including Thiel, to put money into <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rumble" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Rumble</a>, the video streaming platform that positions itself as a less-moderated and more rightwing friendly version of YouTube. Vance’s co-founder at Narya, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Colin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colin</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Greenspon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Greenspon</a>, touted the investment as a challenge to big tech’s hold on online services – a frequent conservative talking point during the backlash to content moderation around the pandemic and 2020 presidential election. It was also around this time that Thiel, who heavily backed Trump financially during the 2016 campaign, brought Vance to first talk with Trump during a secretive meeting at Mar-a-Lago in February of 2021, according to the New York Times.Vance’s long association with Thiel also proved lucrative during his run for senator in 2022. Thiel put a staggering $15m into Vance’s campaign and, according to the Washington Post, helped court Trump’s endorsement, leading to Vance winning a tightly contested Republican primary race and then the senate election.Although Thiel has pledged in recent years to stay out of donations to the 2024 election, Vance has since flexed his other Silicon Valley connections to ingratiate himself to Trump. The Ohio senator introduced <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#David</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sacks</a>, a prominent venture capitalist, to Donald Trump Jr in March, the New York Times reported, and attended Sacks’ pro-Trump fundraiser in June, co-sponsored by <a href="https://c.im/tags/Chamath" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Chamath</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a>, Sacks’ co-host on the popular podcast All In. The event, which cost as much as $300,000 to attend, was held at Sacks’s San Francisco mansion and featured the investor thanking Vance for his help making the fundraiser happen. During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sacks and Palihapitiya told Trump to nominate Vance as his VP choice.Sacks spoke at the Republican national convention Monday. In the days prior, he had also called Trump to advocate for Vance as the VP pick, as had <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Elon</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Musk</a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Tucker" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Tucker</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Carlson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Carlson</a>, the ex-Fox News host, according to Axios. Thiel also expressed his support for Vance in private calls with Trump, the New York Times reported. When Trump confirmed Vance would be his running mate, Sacks and Musk posted fawning celebrations on Twitter – with Musk saying the ticket “resounds with victory”.Many of Vance’s wealthy tech elite and venture capitalist supporters now appear to be preparing to offer even more tangible support. Investors including Musk, Andreessen and Thiel’s co-founder in <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palantir" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palantir</a>, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Joe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Joe</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lonsdale" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Lonsdale</a>, are all reportedly planning to donate huge sums of money to back the Trump and Vance campaign <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/19/jd-vance-trump-vp-pick-silicon-valley?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/19/jd-vance-trump-vp-pick-silicon-valley?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other</a>

Chuck DarwinThe payoff from Thiel’s early gamble in Trump is a lesson that has not passed others by. As with their other obsession, <a href="https://c.im/tags/crypto" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#crypto</a>, the best time to have invested in Trump was 2016, and the second best time is today. We already have a word for what we’re watching now: it’s <a href="https://c.im/tags/oligarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#oligarchy</a>. And we’ve already seen how this plays out. In Putin’s Russia, political and commercial interests are one and the same.Thiel is betting – again – on the same phenomenon in America. Betting that he will be first among a new breed of tech bro oligarchs – a new super-class of <a href="https://c.im/tags/broligarchs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#broligarchs</a>.In Trump’s America, there will be hard choices for everyone, including the billionaires. -- Though it may be less hard for them. Vance has said he wants to <a href="https://c.im/tags/deregulate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#deregulate</a> crypto and unshackle AI. He’s said he’d <a href="https://c.im/tags/dismantle" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#dismantle</a> Biden’s attempts to place safeguards around AI development.And while he has it in for the <a href="https://c.im/tags/legacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#legacy</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/monopolies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#monopolies</a> of Google and Facebook – the platforms that his ideological bedfellows in the “new right” see as part of the “censorship industrial complex” suffocating rightwing speech – Silicon Valley is betting on a gloves-off, regulation-free, pro-business <a href="https://c.im/tags/goldrush" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#goldrush</a>.Another Peter Thiel acolyte was on stage at the Republican National Convention last week, electrifying the crowd: <a href="https://c.im/tags/Hulk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hulk</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Hogan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hogan</a>. Hogan is less well known as one of Thiel’s longterm bets, though in some ways he’s even more instructive than Vance. In 2007, the online magazine <a href="https://c.im/tags/Gawker" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Gawker</a> outed Thiel and ran a series of unflattering articles about him. It took him years, but he ultimately got his revenge, covertly funding Hulk Hogan to the tune of $10m to sue the publication for invasion of privacy and forcing it into <a href="https://c.im/tags/bankruptcy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bankruptcy</a>.On stage at the RNC, the wrestler, a permatanned orange, ripped off his shirt for the man who increasingly looks like he’ll be America’s next president. Or, if JD Vance, is correct, the man who will prove to be the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Caesar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Caesar</a> he says America needs. A man who he has already urged to fire the nation’s civil servants to 💥 “replace them with our people”, to defy the courts and rule his own way. Or, to put this in simple terms: to foment a <a href="https://c.im/tags/coup" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#coup</a>.Thiel knows what every investor knows. That a crisis is an opportunity. And that if Trump succeeds in tearing up the federal administration, there is not only billions to be made in the ensuing market <a href="https://c.im/tags/turmoil" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#turmoil</a> but that a new breed of oligarchs, close to Caesar’s throne, will be the first to share the spoils.And chief among them will be Thiel. It’s not a stretch to see how <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palantir" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palantir</a>, his data-mining company – that under the Conservatives got its teeth into the NHS – will profile and surveil and target Caesar’s enemies. And Thiel’s track record in winning, in successfully betting on the longest of odds, on biding his time, is maybe the most chilling of all the factors in a fortnight that has started to feel like the start of a run on the bank.Biden’s debate disaster, Trump’s victorious assassination survival, and now Silicon Valley’s ascension to the presidential ticket. The broligarchs have made their move – and the rest of us need to understand exactly what that means. <a href="https://c.im/tags/tech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#tech</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/elite" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#elite</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sandberg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sandberg</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Page" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Page</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bezos" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Bezos</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Peter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Peter</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Thiel</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/tech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#tech</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/bro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bro</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vance</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Elon</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Musk</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Marc" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Marc</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Andreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Andreessen</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ben" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ben</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Horowitz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Horowitz</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Winklevoss" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Winklevoss</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Chamath" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Chamath</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#David</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sacks</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palantir" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palantir</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vance</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mithril" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Mithril</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Capital" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Capital</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Narya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Narya</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Capital" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Capital</a>

Chuck DarwinTech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chainLess than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, he invited the cream of Silicon Valley's <a href="https://c.im/tags/tech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#tech</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/elite" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#elite</a> to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower.It was an awkward affair. Facebook’s Sheryl <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sandberg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sandberg</a>, Google’s Larry <a href="https://c.im/tags/Page" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Page</a> and Amazon’s Jeff <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bezos" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Bezos</a> had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation. But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none of them had seen him coming.But one person was in his element. Seated next to Trump, uncomplicatedly beaming, was a South African-born tech entrepreneur whose early investment in Facebook had made him billions.This was <a href="https://c.im/tags/Peter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Peter</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Thiel</a>. And if this past week marked an inflection point, and there are many reasons to believe it did, the seeds of it were planted in the summer of 2016. This was when Trump was the outside candidate. The man no respectable west coast tech entrepreneur or east coast business elite wanted to touch.Last week marked a decisive end to that era. A week in which Donald Trump not only appointed a <a href="https://c.im/tags/tech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#tech</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/bro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bro</a> to be his second in command, choosing Senator JD <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vance</a> to be his VP, but in which he received the benediction of the tech bro-in-chief, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Elon</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Musk</a>.Musk has said he will donate 💥 $45m a month to Trump’s campaign, 💥though his ongoing endorsement on X, the platform he bought and owns, is worth countless millions more.But it’s some lesser-known figures in Silicon Valley who last week boarded the Trump bandwagon who are perhaps even more telling. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Marc" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Marc</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Andreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Andreessen</a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ben" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ben</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Horowitz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Horowitz</a>, who own one of the most storied and influential venture capital (VC) firms in Silicon Valley, have declared they’re all in for Trump alongside a host of lesser-known but important names who have either followed suit or who beat them to the punch, including the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Winklevoss" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Winklevoss</a> twins and investors and podcast hosts <a href="https://c.im/tags/Chamath" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Chamath</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#David</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sacks</a>.Back in 2016, Peter Thiel was the voice in the wilderness. And in that meeting in Trump Tower, it was Thiel’s hand that Trump picked up and stroked. (And whose data mining firm, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Palantir" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palantir</a>, picked up billions of dollars in contracts from Trump’s Department of Defense, and, most controversially, Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, where it profiled and surveilled migrants.)The principle that underpins Silicon Valley investing is to bet early and bet big. It worked for Thiel with Facebook. It worked for Thiel with Trump. And last week another of his bets paid off, though few could ever have predicted how spectacularly.Because JD <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vance</a>, the new potential VP, is Thiel’s creature. He is a man Thiel moulded in his own image through lavish investments in his business and political careers. Thiel gave Vance a job at his VC firm, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mithril" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Mithril</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Capital" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Capital</a>, backed him to start his own venture fund, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Narya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Narya</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Capital" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Capital</a>, then later invested $15m in his successful run for the senate. Max Chafkin, Thiel’s biographer, describes Vance as his “extension”. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/20/tech-broligarchs-court-trump-vance-elon-musk-peter-thiel?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/20/tech-broligarchs-court-trump-vance-elon-musk-peter-thiel?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other</a>

DrBob, Neurologist, 🧠MechanicJust what we need, a bunch of <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Billionaires" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Billionaires</a> mucking with our elections. I'm done with these guys. Can’t we at least tax them?“Several of Silicon Valley's noisiest tech moguls have begun to support the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vocal anti-vax activist who's challenging President Biden for the Democratic Party nomination.”<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/jackdorsey" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#jackdorsey</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/davidsacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#davidsacks</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/elonmusk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#elonmusk</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#musk</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/RFKJr" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RFKJr</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/PeterThiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PeterThiel</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Trump</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/twitter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#twitter</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Kennedy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Kennedy</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/robertfkennedy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#robertfkennedy</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Palihapitiya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palihapitiya</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/antivax" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#antivax</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/vaccine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#vaccine</a> <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/06/08/robert-f-kennedy-jr-tech-2024-campaign" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.axios.com/2023/06/08/robert-f-kennedy-jr-tech-2024-campaign</a>

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