The Nerd Reich

Why are Silicon Valley billionaires lined up behind Donald Trump? Why is Trump—who once called crypto a "scam"—now a crypto billionaire and the crypto bro in chief? Bay Area journalists Gil Durán and Adam Becker discuss the terrifying merger of tech power and MAGA fascism in a conversation about Durán's book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy. Durán's new best-selling book exposes a cult of Silicon Valley billionaires—led by Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel— who believe it is their destiny to destroy democracy in the 21st Century. The Nerd Reich, largely told in the words of Thiel and other Silicon Valley figures, reveals how extreme anti-democratic ideas once considered fringe have migrated directly into the Trump White House. Fascist Berkeley blogger Curtis Yarvin and Thiel protégé JD Vance feature prominently in this book, which argues that American democracy faces an existential threat from a group of billionaires who dream of world domination—and are taking steps to make their dystopian dreams into reality.

Gil Durán was born in Tulare, California. The grandson of Mexican immigrant farmworkers took an interest in journalism after winning the local newspaper’s “My Mom Is the Best” contest in the fifth grade. He started his journalism career at the San Jose Mercury News. As the newspaper industry hit turbulence, he pivoted to politics and spent ten years as an advisor to politicians including Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein, and Kamala Harris. In 2018, he returned to journalism as California opinion editor of The Sacramento Bee, and then became editorial page editor of the San Francisco Examiner. Now an independent journalist, he publishes The Nerd Reich newsletter.

Dr. Adam Becker is a journalist and astrophysicist. His critically acclaimed book More Everything Forever dismantles tech billionaires’ grandiose delusions about the future of AI and humanity. His first book, What is Real?, is a subversive history of quantum physics. In addition to his books, Adam has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, the BBC, NPR, Fortune, Scientific American, and many other publications. He has been a journalism fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, the Simons Institute, and Yale. Adam is also the host of the podcast Dreaming Against the Machine. He lives in California.