Some people have labelled the recent alliance between Silicon Valley and right-wing populist leaders “techno-fascism”. Is that too strong a term?

No, says Jacob Silverman in the latest New Money Review podcast.

“What do you call it when the highest levels of the corporate world merge with the executive of the government?” Silverman asks in the podcast. “I think that’s corporatism or fascism.”

Silverman is the author of a new book, “Gilded Rage”, in which he chronicles the radicalisation of Silicon Valley.  

Focusing on a few central characters—Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks and Donald Trump—he poses a question that should concern us all. What happens if the world's richest and most powerful men decide to dismantle democracy?

“I think it’s very worrisome,” says Silverman. “We keep on breaching markers—things that haven’t happened before.”

Listen to the podcast to hear a discussion of:

• The post-9/11 convergence of technology and the security state
• How tech firms colluded with Trump to merge corporate and political power
• Why the technology of freedom may be incompatible with democracy
• Tech titans’ desire for social and physical escape
• JD Vance, the tech industry’s man in the White House
• The religiosity of Peter Thiel and JD Vance
• Rising nationalism and the booming defence tech industry
• How cryptocurrency catalysed the Republicans’ resurgence in the US
• Cryptocurrency as an accessory to political corruption
• How the AI boom was fed by the crypto bubble
• Why Jacob sued Twitter—and what happened next
• Donald Trump, Jeffrey Yass and the US government’s about-face on TikTok
• Social media as the informational battleground of global geopolitics