Musk, Money and Misinformation: Tech & The U.S. Election

The tech lobby has quietly turned Silicon Valley into the most powerful political operation in America. 

Pro crypto donors are now responsible for almost half of all corporate donations this election. Elon Musk has gone from an occasional online troll to, as one of our guests calls him, “MAGA’s Minister of Propaganda.” And for the first time, the once reliably blue Silicon Valley seems to be shifting to the right. What does all this mean for the upcoming election? 

To help us better understand this moment, we spoke with three of the most prominent tech writers in the U.S. Charles Duhigg (author of the bestseller Supercommunicators) has a recent piece in the New Yorker called “Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster.” Charlie Warzel is a staff writer at the Atlantic, and Nitasha Tiku is a tech culture reporter at the Washington Post.

Mentioned:

“Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster” by Charles Duhigg

“Big Crypto, Big Spending: Crypto Corporations Spend an Unprecedented $119 Million Influencing Elections” by Rick Claypool via Public Citizen

“I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is” by Charlie Warzel

“Elon Musk Has Reached a New Low” by Charlie Warzel

“The movement to diversify Silicon Valley is crumbling amid attacks on DEI” by Naomi Nix, Cat Zakrzewski and Nitasha Tiku

“The Techno-Optimist Manifesto” by Marc Andreessen

“Trump Vs. Biden: Tech Policy,” The Ben & Marc Show 

“The MAGA Aesthetic Is AI Slop” by Charlie Warzel

Further Reading:

“Biden's FTC took on big tech, big pharma and more. What antitrust legacy will Biden leave behind?” by Paige Sutherland and Meghna Chakrabarti

“Inside the Harris campaign’s blitz to win back Silicon Valley” by Cat Zakrzewski, Nitasha Tiku and Elizabeth Dwoskin

“The Little Tech Agenda” by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz

“Silicon Valley had Harris’s back for decades. Will she return the favor?” by Cristiano Lima-Strong and Cat Zakrzewski

“SEC’s Gensler turns tide against crypto in courts” by Declan Harty

“Trump vs. Harris is dividing Silicon Valley into feuding political camps” by Trisha Thadani, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Nitasha Tiku and Gerrit De Vynck

“Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance” by Elizabeth Dwoskin, Cat Zakrzewski, Nitasha Tiku and Josh Dawsey