One of the things that I think anybody can observe is that, even among the ultra-rich, they never seem to have enough. Never enough wealth, never enough toys, never enough. So what do you want if you've bought everything already? You want limitless wealth, limitless power. Even the
Election 2024
Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election begins a new era for tech's political extremists. The right-wing elements of Silicon Valley have merged with the MAGA movement, at least temporarily, and the bet has paid off big. Republicans captured every branch of government. Trump will make
The strange life - and afterlife - of a Mexican folk saint
Dystopia
This piece has been cross-posted at the FrameLab newsletter, which I co-founded with Dr. George Lakoff. Apologies to the handful of you who subscribe there as well. If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, tech moguls like Elon Musk will capture an unprecedented amount of power. Trump has even suggested
Quick correction: Here's the actual Gift Link to"How Tech Billionaires Became the G.O.P.’s New Donor Class: Elon Musk and a group of Silicon Valley allies have built a shadow campaign to put Donald Trump back in office." Apologies for the error!
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Peter Thiel, Curtis Yarvin, Elon Musk and J.D. Vance have a plan to unite with Trump's MAGA party and end democracy as we know it... Yes, that is the theme of this newsletter – and also the central
network state
This isn't weird at all
The crypto cartel's sudden rise as a force in politics is part of a shock and awe campaign to scare politicians into supporting crypto. “It’s a simple message,” said one person familiar with the Fairshake PAC, a pro-crypto group that has raised over $200 million for the
network state
As promised, here's my latest story in the New Republic. It's about Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, the nation's biggest crypto exchange. He's got a net worth estimated at over $8 billion – and some disturbing ideas about the future. He openly
network state
I spent the past week entirely focused on writing my next big story. And I can't wait to share it with you as soon as it's published. To research this new piece – the latest in my series on the rise of the Network State cult – I
network state
Balaji's dystopian cult grows louder
Elon Musk
CEO of X, Tesla and Starlink is a faithful reply guy to a racist troll whose online antics caused a major scandal at a software startup