When the world’s richest men decide democracy is optional, we all pay the price.

They once championed marriage equality and promised to make the world more open and connected. Now Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and a tight network of Silicon Valley billionaires are bankrolling authoritarian politics, questioning democracy itself, and leveraging their control of our communication infrastructure to reshape American power.

But here’s the uncomfortable question: Is this genuine ideological conversion, or simply the world’s most expensive insurance policy? And does it even matter?

On this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast, journalist and author Jacob Silverman talks to me about how a few dozen mostly white men — many connected through South African roots, shared grievances about “woke culture,” and an interlocking web of investments — transformed from progressive donors into Trump’s most powerful allies.

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