Notices by Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is a familiar face on Capitol Hill.

But the billionaire crypto bro has some shocking beliefs.

He says the USA is in decline ... and it's time for "backup options."

"Crypto's destiny," he calls it.

My latest, via the @newrepublic #NetworkState

https://newrepublic.com/article/185738/coinbase-brian-armstrong-crypto-lobbying-washington-politicians

Only 7% of Americans held crypto in 2023.

Yet crypto corps have become a major player in American politics, pointing a $200 million gun at this election.

It's bad enough when companies with popular products (like oil) do this. With crypto, we're being held hostage by a cult.

Trump -- who says drug dealers deserve the death penalty -- promises to free the creator of Silk Road, an online marketplace for illegal drugs and guns.

Ross Ulbricht's case is a popular cause among crypto bros and libertarians.

For the San Francisco Chronicle, I wrote about his extreme anti-government views and why the Bitcoin drug kingpin belongs in prison.

Gift Link:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/crypto-silk-road-trump-19755604.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZjaHJvbmljbGUuY29tL29waW5pb24vb3BlbmZvcnVtL2FydGljbGUvY3J5cHRvLXNpbGstcm9hZC10cnVtcC0xOTc1NTYwNC5waHA%3D&time=MTcyNjQzMjUzODQxOQ%3D%3D&rid=ZDBhY2NhMjQtNzY2Ny00MWYzLWExNzktMGVmMjljNTdjNDE0&sharecount=NA%3D%3D

Kamala Harris would become a billionaire in 5 seconds if she launched a new company today.

And the press would rightly drum her out of the race for open corruption.

But here's Trump - who has called crypto a "scam" that's "based on thin air" - launching a full-on cryptoscam.

1. Like "Pizzagate," the racist attack on Haitian migrants is a deranged conspiracy theory.

2. The main pusher of Pizzagate just wrote a book depicting Haitians as bloodythirsty killers.

3. J.D. Vance wrote the foreword.

Coincidence? Or strategy?

https://www.theframelab.org/jd-vances-racist-attack-on-haitians-is-strategic/

Kamala Harris's joy = power.

"The key to effective communication is not just to present facts and figures, but to connect with people on an emotional level. Emotion shapes our thoughts and decisions more than logic." -- @georgelakoff

Learn more at the FrameLab podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/22-kamala-harris-joy-and-the-freedom-frame/id1329641299?i=1000666990054

Peter Thiel is a dreadfully inarticulate speaker. But his writing is clear:

“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

This sums up the anti-democracy extremism in today’s GOP.

Power and privilege for the few, servitude and suffering for the many.

The language of dehumanization — and of purging political enemies — has become popular on the extremist right.

At one time, praising a book like “Unhumans” might have ended JD Vance’s career. But incendiary beliefs are now a basic GOP qualification.

👉🏼 https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-horrifying-fascist-manifesto-endorsed-by-j.d.-vance

3. They want to punish Democrats in weird ways. One of their main influencers has suggested that tech bros should form a "gray tribe," purge Democrats from San Francisco and build statues to remind people of how bad Democrats supposedly are... https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

#2. They want control over existing governments. In addition to building weirdo colonies, they're also trying to capture existing governments. In San Francisco, a group of these tech zillionaires is trying to win control of City Hall ...(and now, by supporting Trump, they want control of the USA!) https://newrepublic.com/article/178675/garry-tan-tech-san-francisco

#1: They despise democracy. These Trump-loving billionaires believe democracy is bad. They want to create their own corporate dictatorships called Network States. They are actively trying to build these weird little dictator cities all over the world.https://newrepublic.com/article/177733/billionaire-solano-california-tech-secession

5. Most newspaper analyses suggest that these tech authoritarian guys just want lower taxes and friendly regulations, but that's only part of the story. They have developed their own weird sci-fi influenced tech authoritarian IDEOLOGY.
It overlaps with MAGA in multiple ways...

4. JD Vance is ONE OF THEM. Vance was literally put on Trump's ticket by the same group of people - Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen - who are behind all of the weirdness I've been writing about. https://newrepublic.com/article/183971/jd-vance-weird-terrifying-techno-authoritarian-ideas

7. This is not an exhaustive list. But you can see here how many of the tech authoritarian goals align with MAGA.

Antipathy toward taxes and regulations may be the root of their alliance, but there are many branches. But there are key ways in which tech diverges from MAGA...

6. MAGA/Tech overlaps:
- Collapse. They believe in an impending societal collapse.

- Messiah complex. They believe they alone can save humanity. They "alone can fix it."

- Supremacy. They share a believe in the supremacy of rich white (mostly straight) males over everyone else.

- Anti-Empathy. They abhor empathy/care.

- Anti-Public. They detest the idea of the public and seek to privatize most functions of government.

- Anti-Worker. They believe employers are superior to employees.

10. This story by @davetroy goes deep into the weird collection of ideas called TESCREAL. Many of these tech guys backing Trump have been working on this project for a long, long time. https://washingtonspectator.org/understanding-tescreal-silicon-valleys-rightward-turn/

9. Transhumanism is another -- a belief in merging with machines to obtain eternal life.
That's gonna sound pretty weird to fundamentalist Christians. . .
Lots of tech cults!

The tech billionaires behind Trump already have money. Now they want power -- to create their own countries, to change what it means to be human, to control the fate of the world. Their interest is mainly *ideological,* not economic.

Anyone saying otherwise has not done the reading.

8. For example, tech authoritarians see technology as being above God (if they even believe God exists).

As tech founders and investors, they see themselves as the top of the hierarchy -- the masters of the universe. These beliefs have resulted in some strange sub-cults...

The Network State is one sub-cult -- the idea of replacing existing countries with tech-run countries.

12. Some people refer to these tech authoritarians as
"The Nerd Reich."
That's also the name of my newsletter on this topic. Please subscribe -- it's paywall-free!
Here's this entire thread in newsletter format:
https://www.thenerdreich.com/with-j-d-vance-on-trump-ticket-the-nerd-reich-goes-national/

11. Not all tech is bad! But a lot of people in Silicon Valley have been aware of this weirdness for a long time and have stayed quiet ... or agree with parts of it. With Thiel/Musk/Vance putting it on the Trump ticket, it's time to tune in. Because folks -- it's gonna get weirder.

Crypto plays a HUGE role in this weirdness. Just as they created new currencies to challenge existing ones, they want to create new countries to challenge existing countries.

It's all about power and control.