Keen On

In Keith Teare’s That Was the Week newsletter for this week, he categorically asserts that there is no oligarchy in Trump’s America. Instead there are “just technologists with a passion for change and, of course, self-interest”. But I’m not so sure. So in this issue of our weekly show, Keith and I debate the nature of tech power in America. Keith argues argues against characterizing tech leaders like Musk, Zuckerberg, and Altman as oligarchs, claiming they're simply competing businessmen seeking influence rather than a unified controlling group. He views their alignment with Trump as a reaction to what he sees as over-regulation by the Biden administration. But regardless of whether tech leaders agree on everything, I argue, their enormous wealth and influence on what I call MAGA’s “national capitalism” effectively makes them an oligarchy. Indeed, they are, I think, a textbook example of Aristotle’s definition of “oligarchy” which he defined as "rule by the rich”. Keith Teare is the founder and CEO of Signal