Tag: Tech Bros

Fascist Tech Bros Are Lining Up Behind Trump

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If ever there was a sign that America has collectively given up, it’s the way that wealthy tech bros — who should know better — are now all-in for malignant ding-dong Trump. It’s a very curious development, to say the least.

But here we are, with plutocrat and former Paypal HR guy David Sacks arranging a big fundraiser for Trump. The whole thing is surreal. It is staggering to me that people like Sacks who are smart enough to know better, are willing to support someone has racist and dumb as Trump…just because they want lower taxes?

And, yet, that doesn’t really even begin to address the broader problem — Sacks and his ilk are also openly supporting Putin in his war of aggression against Ukraine.

All of this is an eerie replay of what happened with Hitler and German Industrialists who supported him because they thought they could “control him.” It’s all very bonkers.

I don’t know what to tell you. We continue to be in a situation where the 2024 election could go either way. And, if anything, I think that’s the key thing to remember — if every election your democracy has is existential, then you’re not really a democracy anymore.

And that’s the long term issue that the United States faces — a sizable portion of the electorate wants a white Christian ethnostate and that danger isn’t going to end anytime soon, even if we crush Trump at the polls later this year. Even if we manage to defeat Trump in November and he doesn’t start to rant about the need for a National Divorce in an effort to escape prison time, he is probably going to run again in 2028 — even if he has to do it from prison.

Jesus Christ, Is Tech Bro David Sacks A Dick

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I try, you know. I really do. I try to force myself to listen to people I disagree with because it forces me to better understand what I believe and why. It’s that thinking that causes me to listen to the All-In podcast even though sometimes what those asinine tech bros have to say gives me the heebie-jeebies.

But it’s tech bro David Sacks who continues to grate on my nerves. He loves, loves, loves, to second guess and bitch about what you would think every American would do without much thought — support Ukraine.

He seems to go to ridiculous lengths to think up reasons why we should give up on Ukraine and let Putin run roughshod over that proud nation. And he’s not alone — there are plenty of other Tech Bros who think the same thing.

It’s all very curious and alarming.

But what do I know. He’s far more wealthy than I am and we’re all supposed to listen to people like Sacks because they’re wealthy and successful. Right?

The Existential Political Problem of The ‘All-In’ Podcast

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Of all the podcasts I could listen to in an effort to challenge my own political orthodoxy, the Tech Bro podcast “All-In” is probably one of my better potential options.

But.

My chief issue with the podcast is it is working on the assumption that MAGA is a valid political movement in the context of a functioning democracy. From the few times I’ve listened to the podcast so far, they treat MAGA not as the fascist aberration that it is, but rather just a more spicy variety of regular old American conservativism.

As such, there are times when I grow very frustrated with the wealthy, well educated men who should know better. It is growing more and more clear that MAGA is not only growing stronger but it’s becoming closer and closer to nothing short of American Nazism.

What’s interesting is I listen to David Sacks and his talking points are identical to those of my Traditionalist family members. He gets really angry about the “media narrative” that is somehow making his life hell. What bothers me so much about this is I thought in 2016 that I was supposed to “fuck my feelings” according to MAGA and now I’m supposed to have some sympathy for Sacks who wants to burn the country to the ground…because he got his fee-fees hurt?

What the what?

Remember, the soft power of the mainstream media is not nearly as powerful the hard power that Nazis MAGA fascists crave at the moment. People like Sacks love, love, love to conflate the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob” with the hard power that a MAGA controlled government would have once they’re in power again.

We have, as a nation, come to a tipping point — MAGA is American Nazism and should be treated as such in political debate. As such, extreme partisan Traditionalists — like Sacks and my relative — have to fish or cut bait. Either own being a MAGA Nazi or get woke and join the broad anti-fascist alliance that is trying — without much success at the moment — to save what is left of our free country.

But I know nothing I say is going to change anything. People like Sacks ant the other Tech Bros are going to try to hang on to the non-existent “middle” for as long as possible so they don’t have to make that choice.

In the end, of course, the choice will be made for them,

The Appeasement Sentiment Of Tech Bros Is Alarming

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I suppose it’s been so long since we had to fight fascism that the Smartest Guys In The Room think more about the cold, hard metrics of what’s going on in Ukraine with the Russians as opposed to what is just and right.

While they’re all obviously far more successful than me and probably a lot smarter, Tech Bros continue to come across as appeasers. They want Ukraine to just give up and let Putin take at least 20% of the land if not more. And, really, using Tech Bro logic, the United States should just become Fortress America, gut the social safety net and make only the Poors pay taxes because they’re rubes who don’t realize taxation is theft.

It’s all very annoying.

It’s annoying because Tech Bros should know better. They should realize that sometimes in global affairs, you have to take a stand against tyranny even if it comes at a cost.

And it was, after all, Russia who invaded Ukraine. They started and just because Ukraine is going on the offensive, doesn’t mean the United States should just throw up its hands and give up. Yes, the risk of nuclear war has increased of late, but who’s to say if we don’t support Ukraine that Putin might not go after the Baltics next, and then where are we?

We definitely would have a WW3, then, because NATO would get involved. So, there is no easy solution to what’s going on with Ukraine and Russia. The reliance on cold, hard metrics that serves Tech Bros so well, falls apart when you’re dealing with geopolitics.