The Bay Area is typically known as an incubator of left-of-center ideas. But in recent years, it has become known as the source of an ideology influencing the Trump administration, a belief system journalist Gil Duran describes as “tech facism.” In his newsletter “The Nerd Reich,” Duran looks at how controversial writers such as Curtis Yarvin—who has argued that the United States should be a “monarchy” run by a “CEO”—have shaped the views of some of Trump’s top advisors, like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, as well as vice-president J.D. Vance.
Duran, who formerly served as spokesman and political strategist for Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, joins us to talk about his reporting on this distinctive strain of Silicon Valley conservatism and its influence on local and national politics.
SPEAKERS
Gil Duran, San Francisco Journalist, Author, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and The War on Democracy (Forthcoming, Avid Reader); Former Editorial Page Editor, The Sacramento Bee and The San Francisco Examiner
Moderator TBA
5:30 p.m. doors open & check-in
6–7 p.m. program
(all times Pacific Time)
Photos courtesy the speakers.
