Elon Musk and the Silicon Valley Right

Elon Musk and the Silicon Valley Right

This week on The Time of Monsters podcast, Jacob Silverman joins the show to discuss the reactionary politics of “the Paypal mafia.”

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

Elon Musk’s first few days as the head of Twitter have proved rocky, with advertisers leaving in droves after he spread a conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, followed by a round of firings and rehirings, all in the service of a murky agenda. Whether Musk will be able to make Twitter an ongoing concern is an open question.

The question of why the world’s richest man wants to control an influential social media platform is more urgent. To solve this riddle, I talked to Jacob Silverman, who profiled a group he calls “the Paypal mafia” in The New Republic. This group consists of leading Silicon Valley plutocrats like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and David Sacks, as well as sundry hanger-ons. Jacob and I talk about how this group is reshaping US politics on a host of issues including hate speech and criminal justice reform.

 

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe

Thank you for reading The Nation!

We hope you enjoyed the story you just read. It takes a dedicated team to publish timely, deeply researched pieces like this one. For over 150 years, The Nation has stood for truth, justice, and democracy. Today, in a time of media austerity, articles like the one you just read are vital ways to speak truth to power and cover issues that are often overlooked by the mainstream media.

This month, we are calling on those who value us to support our Spring Fundraising Campaign and make the work we do possible. The Nation is not beholden to advertisers or corporate owners—we answer only to you, our readers.

Can you help us reach our $20,000 goal this month? Donate today to ensure we can continue to publish journalism on the most important issues of the day, from climate change and abortion access to the Supreme Court and the peace movement. The Nation can help you make sense of this moment, and much more.

Thank you for being a supporter of independent journalism.

Ad Policy
x