Democracy Now! "The Nerd Reich": Author Gil Durán on Big Tech Fascism, Peter Thiel, JD Vance & the War on Democracy

Aug 17, 2026 | A new book by longtime Bay Area journalist Gil Durán investigates “tech fascism” and its mounting influence on U.S. politics. The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy follows the rise of Vice President JD Vance, the former venture capitalist whose “outsider” campaign for Senate was bankrolled by the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, Peter Thiel. Durán traces the ideological lineage of the current Trump administration back from Vance to Thiel and the far-right-wing monarchist Curtis Yarvin, whose “right-libertarian” political theory has long made the rounds among Silicon Valley elite. “These guys were never libertarians,” says Durán. “Now that they are the government, we see their true face: They’re fascists, and they’re authoritarians.”

The Nerd Reich YouTube channel can be found here »

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Jesse Dollemore: Trump Says Rich People Take Showers Differently Than Regular People?!

Jan 22, 2025 | Jesse talks about Donald Trump's bizarre answer to a question about the fires in California, where he went off on one of his classic dumb guy rants about water and wealthy people. Specifically, he said, "They wanted to restrict you to 38 gallons of water a day. That sounds like a lot, but it's not when you're a rich person and you want to take a shower."