Trying to explain American politics without the radicalized billionaires behind it is like trying to explain 9/11 without mentioning Al-Qaeda.
Gil Duran first joined us in March 2025, while he was still writing "The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy." The book debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list in August and is still there. Along the way he was permanently banned from X for two words - "TLDR: fascism" - and reviewed by a fellow of the very think tank his book investigates.
We talk about what fascism means in 2026, and why the tech version promises not a return to a mythical past but an acceleration into a mythical future: Peter Thiel's Antichrist lectures, the "thermodynamic God," and the clash between tech religion and evangelical Christianity. We follow the money from crypto - "a weapon of mass corruption" - to the Trump family and back into Silicon Valley, and from Praxis and the network state to Kazakhstan and California Forever. And with the midterms a month away, Gil, a veteran Democratic communications strategist, explains why tech money is buying both parties.
Guest:
Gil Duran - independent San Francisco journalist and author of "The Nerd Reich" (Avid Reader Press, 2026); former communications strategist for Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris.
https://www.thenerdreich.com
https://www.youtube.com/@TheNerdReichNews
https://bsky.app/profile/gilduran.com
The America 2.0 Reading List: https://america2.news/the-america-2-0-reading-list/
Chapters:
0:00 Cold open: explaining 9/11 without Al-Qaeda
0:13 Intro
1:47 Welcome back, Gil
2:23 Number three on the Times list
5:13 The 40,000 words that got cut
7:15 A book in conversation: Applebaum, Michel, Silverman
9:07 Adventure capitalism and the long history of exit
10:33 Banned from X for "TLDR: fascism"
12:40 Fresh Air, and the outlets that won't touch it
14:31 The Bulwark review and the undisclosed tie
16:12 What is tech fascism?
20:38 Apocalypse on both sides
21:41 Thiel's Antichrist
23:12 It's a regime: crypto as a weapon of mass corruption
26:12 Buying the media, and Newsom's Silicon Valley Democrats
29:49 Praxis, Prospera and the network state abroad
33:03 Freedom cities, and a crypto city in Kazakhstan
35:13 California Forever and the miracle in Solano
38:12 Tennessee: Highland Rim and New Earth
40:42 From Solano to the data center fights
42:33 Will the AI money hold? S-1s and stranded assets
44:25 The doom machine markets itself
46:05 Why China has no AI apocalypse
49:29 If Charles Manson were a billionaire
51:46 Rival cults: evangelicals vs. the thermodynamic God
55:22 Yarvin's cathedral and the seizure of institutions
59:19 The midterms
1:02:09 Crypto money on both sides
1:04:11 What if the winners aren't seated?
1:06:23 Thiel in Nashville, and what's next
1:08:25 What you can do: ask your candidates
1:08:59 Outro and links
Dave Troy Presents is published by America 2.0. https://america2.news
