This is His Worst Nightmare Come True

IHIP News

Jennifer Welch and Kara Swisher dissect the troubling alliance between tech billionaires and Donald Trump, examining how figures like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel leverage their

Key takeaways

• Tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Peter Thiel frequently attend White House lunches to secure favorable government contracts while actively avoiding AI regulation.
• Kara Swisher criticizes the tech oligarchs' emotional immaturity and lack of empathy, citing Elon Musk's treatment of his children and his self-victimizing public persona as evidence of psychological stuntedness.

Main topics

• Tech billionaire influence on Trump administration
• AI regulation and existential risk

Notable quotes

They don't care... they're only interested in their own businesses and their shareholders.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a sharp critique of unchecked tech oligarchy, ur

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Has J.D. Vance been a disappointment to the tech? I mean, Speaker 2 (0:03) they purchased him. They queer-eyed him. They still like him. The tech people still like him. Trump, I think, knows that he is repugnant to voters. And he doesn't admire that. I think he knows he's against him on the war, although he'll stick with him publicly behind the scenes. He was the leaker of all that stuff. Let's be clear. Oh, yeah. And he was. Like, be clear. He was absolutely. I know this. Speaker 3 (0:39) I'm already laughing because I'm joined in studio by the legendary great friend of the show and great friend of mine, Kara Swisher. Kara, these billionaires, these Speaker 2 (0:48) tech. Wow, you're going right there. Yeah, Speaker 3 (0:50) immediately. These tech billionaires and all the dipshittery that they're unleashing. Shittery, yeah, that's a good way to put it. At the White House. Yeah. And I think my question for you is this. How much should we pin on these people that are propping up this? fascist so all of these fascists are able to get power with when the elites prop them up and these elites were on display there yeah my thinking goes do you guys care about the killing of renee good are you guys okay with that well Speaker 2 (1:23) because presumably yes they've forgotten about it they've moved on they've moved on i mean i think one of the things that i in a message that i say over and over again and i always say they don't care like everyone's like well what are they i'm like they don't care and they think that means i think they're evil which i don't although it is evil to not care of course in my estimation but i think that's the issue is they don't care they're only interested in their own businesses and their shareholders and it's something i say over and over and over again you know, follow the money. And that's what they're doing with Trump there. And, you know, it was incredible about yesterday. You know, of course, the media covers it like, oh, they're here. I'm like, they're always at the White House. When are they not? How many times have you seen them at a lunch at the White House, at the she dinner at the White House, three months ago at the White House? They're always at the fucking White House. It's like they live there and they have like cafeteria privileges. And when I'm I'm almost like, can we bring like an oil guy in here? Or maybe we have a new round of assholes, you know. I'd feel bad if I were other, you know, oligarchic CEOs because you don't get to go to the White House. It's always Mark Zuckerberg. They added Dario Amore. It's Bezos. It's Elon. It's David Sachs. It's Michael. It's always the same groups of them. You know, Sergey Brin, they throw him in now and again. It was interesting. Apple was not there yesterday at this lunch, but it's the same crowd and they just continue to show up for him, which is really astonishing. Speaker 2 (2:53) Let's break down the psychology of this. Speaker 3 (2:55) So they all unite to go kiss the ring to get favorable contracts from the government. Is there inner competition between them? Speaker 2 (3:05) Yes. It's a Silicon Valley beef what is happening. And Trump, it's like a game of The Apprentice. He gets to dispense favors. And a lot of it, which I say to people, I'm like, they're not here. A lot of them in and between themselves don't like each other or they're fighting for power or whatever, like a Sam Altman and a Dario. You know, that's a very, it's a very tight race. So is Elon Musk, who's behind in the AI race comparatively to them. Then there's Zuckerberg, who's trying to come in from the left with his adorable little Tamagotchi. whatever it's called, his little charm, his muse charm, you know, which I can't wait till it goes rogue and starts killing people, right? That, you know, your charm starts like, I think we'll kill people you don't like because they're mean to you. But, you know, they all have their own business interests. And if you keep that in mind, it makes much more sense rather than they want to save us. You know, you don't create something that's an excess that you think or call an existential threat. And then one say. we're here to save you. So that's like the arsonist say, I just burnt down the building and now I'm here to fix the situation or put it out. Or, and then say at the very next breath, and by the way, buy my stock. Well, if there's an existential crisis, why are we making a product that's an existential crisis? Why are you pulling products that are dangerous? And, you know, and some of them, you know, articulated, Bill Gates is sort of on a PR round in order to, but one, remain relevant. And two, give warnings. They're all saying it. Like, this is dangerous stuff. By all means, let's make more of it. It's like a bunch of people who have nuclear bomb companies saying, let's take care, we'll take care of it even though we have an economic capitalist interest in proliferating. And the reason why we haven't blown ourselves up after 80 years here, close to 100 years, is because we had nuclear non-proliferation. Where is that? for AI if it's this serious. I completely agree. Speaker 3 (5:04) As Speaker 2 (5:04) they Speaker 3 (5:04) say. So Elon Musk is always on, if you look at his ex profile between, you know, his personal grievances, he's a victim. People are mean to him. He's tweeted about me. I'm mean to him. Yes, he's tweeted about me. Speaker 2 (5:18) His Speaker 3 (5:18) feelings hurt a lot. What does he call you? A ghoul. An evil ghoul. Oh, yeah. I think he's attracted to you. Oh, it does? Yeah. Okay. So Speaker 2 (5:27) he looked like a lot of his ex-wives. Speaker 3 (5:29) I do. You do. So Speaker 2 (5:33) he says, my heart is filled with hate, which is... I think I've gotten that as well. Everything, like, you know, I say this all the time. Every accusation is a confession. He thinks he's a ghoul. His heart is filled with hate. Just whatever he says, you know, do the rubber glue thing. Yeah. I take it as a bad of all. Speaker 3 (5:49) badge of honor. Yeah, it's kind of stupid. Yeah, like why is he worried about what I'm saying? Also, he's an Speaker 2 (5:54) old man. Like, you're going to like act like a 12 year old. It's not even good for a 12 Speaker 3 (5:58) year old. Speaker 2 (5:58) Because I Speaker 3 (5:58) feel like I have something that Elon Musk will never have. What is that? I would never. Something in shape? What? I would never. Sorry, I shouldn't objectify. No, I love Speaker 2 (6:08) that. Yeah. I would never not love my child. Speaker 3 (6:11) Yeah. I would pick up a mountain and move it to the other side of the planet. And if I had a trans child, I would think I need to love that child even more because so many people are going to need. So I have something that's invaluable that he will never, ever have. And my children feel that. And so I'm not. He has a lot of Speaker 2 (6:30) children. He just picks and chooses who is in his favor. I think most of them, from what I can understand, and I know members of the different families are terrified of him. like they they will not talk on the record and actually this new musk movie coming out justine musk her first wife who i have a lot of regard for the mother of the mother of vivian um who called jenna is how they talk vivian is her name but um she she is in this musk movie and at great risk to herself talking about these issues um she's been a very quiet person not been out in public, but she's defending her child. And Vivian gives her great credit for that, like in doing that. But it seems like that's sort of the lowest bar on a parent thing is to love your child. Right. And Speaker 3 (7:14) he Speaker 2 (7:15) can't even do that. No, no. Speaker 3 (7:16) He's incapable of doing- He's always Speaker 2 (7:18) been that way around. I was recounting years ago, and I didn't pay attention to the time. I have super macho sons. They're like, ugh, very like, ugh. sports, that kind of thing. And it's Speaker 3 (7:31) not Speaker 2 (7:31) because I'm Speaker 3 (7:31) a Speaker 2 (7:31) lesbian and I grow super macho sons. They just happen to be right. And if they were different, although my oldest son has turned into a lesbian, he wears, you know, he lives in San Francisco, he wears Crocs and he has a Subaru. Fine. I'm accepting of this. Um, also a girlfriend who's also equally a hippie, like they're very hippie kind of thing. But, um, uh, It's funny when he when I said you could buy any car you want for college you picked a Subaru I'm like that car like really can't Speaker 3 (7:57) you Speaker 2 (7:57) pick a better one the Apple doesn't fall Speaker 3 (7:58) Yeah, although Speaker 2 (7:59) no, I don't like a super. I know but it's in his chain I understand but my other son of course wants a Corvette Because he's graduating college soon. Where'd I get off the thing? Oh You know, I remember him making a remark about my sons like how'd you get your son so manly or something like that? And I was like, you know I don't know. They're just that way. Like it was weird at the time. And now in hindsight, from what I understand about what happened with Jenna and other of his children, he's, he remarks a lot if they're too effeminate, if they're too, you know, not the way he imagines a man to be. So. I wonder why Speaker 3 (8:37) that's so triggering to him. Speaker 2 (8:40) You know, leave that up to the psychiatrist. He needs it. He's in desperate need of psychological help. Probably something, you know, if I talk to him again, I would say, what happened to you? And I don't mean recently. I mean, back then. There's something happened to you at some point early in his life that made him like this. Maybe it was the father. Maybe it was the mother. Maybe it was something else. And I would love, it's not an excuse. It's an explanation because something did. And I don't think we spend enough time. Speaker 2 (9:09) plumbing that as reporters. Like, what happened to you? Why did you get this way? Why do you think empathy is toxic and suicidal? Who put that in your fucking head? Like, where did it come from? How did, you know, it may have been him himself. He's an adult man. I think that the self Speaker 3 (9:25) -preservation that they need in order to do these nefarious acts is where the empathy is toxic, is where the tech oligarchs and the Christian nationalists. combined yeah but because you know that better because these christian nationalists they they have a jesus problem because jesus was a radical empath and the tech and so they want to do uh eroding laws that erode civil liberties that do not lift up the marginalized so that girl ali beth stuckey i think her name is she's a big christian influencer she wrote a book toxic empathy and tied it all to Christian faith. Speaker 2 (9:58) That's a new thing right now. Speaker 3 (10:00) You Speaker 2 (10:00) know, they're taking hope, for example. Speaker 3 (10:02) Elon wants to jump on that as well because he has nefarious plans for the United States. And mind you, he's always talking about communism. Right. I want to play this clip for you and let's dissect this. Play the clip. Speaker 3 (10:16) What Speaker 2 (10:17) are Speaker 1 (10:17) the jobs for the future? Because people looking at this will be worried particularly laptop jobs. What are Speaker 2 (10:22) they going to do in the future? Speaker 1 (10:24) Well, I think it is worth highlighting the positive benefits of AI, or SI, pardon me. Thank you. Superintelligence. I think by far the most likely outcome is an age of abundance, where we don't have just universal basic income, we have universal high income. Speaker 3 (10:44) That right there. A world of abundance where basically he's admitting we're going to take all the jobs so we get all of those wages. Right. And then you're going to get universal high income. Yes. That's the thing. The most un-philanthropic person, rich person on the planet is Elon Musk wants us to believe who also is anti-communist. That Speaker 2 (11:05) was a Speaker 3 (11:05) group of un Speaker 2 (11:05) -philanthropic people there, by the way. Jeff Bezos is being put to shame. They're all being, if you added up all of Mackenzie Scott's, this is Jeff Bezos' ex-wife. Yes. If you added all of it up that she's given away, they're still down. And you include Bill Gates, who has been very generous, along with Melinda Gates. They're tiny compared to what she's done, $26, $7 billion. So this is interesting to me, and we need to pay attention to this. Speaker 3 (11:30) Yes, I pay a lot of attention. We're basically saying... We're going to capture everybody's jobs meaning we get the wages right of those jobs with our robots and then in exchange We're gonna give you this universal high-income, right? Which number one is communism on its face everything We're gonna capture all the means of production and then what you need will be provided for you But it also dovetails with what I've read about Peter Thiel talking about one ringleader of all this he wants a techno feudal Yes. Governing. Where they're in charge. Speaker 2 (12:02) Yes. Yes. Yes. The price we pay is they're the kings. They're the kings. They're the techno kings. That's what they call them. You know, that's a word. Techno. Techno kings. Techno kings. Okay. Yeah. Speaker 2 (12:15) I don't want to spell it, but it's called Techno Kings. But that's how they want it because they know better. If you read, Teal to me is the smartest among all of them. And he's been on a real religious journey recently. Yeah, it's weird. Speaker 3 (12:26) It's weird. Speaker 2 (12:26) It's strange. And he looks like his face is melting like he's from Raiders of the Lost Ark when the guy looks in the Covenant, the Nazi looks in the Covenant. Speaker 3 (12:33) Yeah. Speaker 2 (12:34) Again, I shouldn't objectify people, but there it is. He looks strange. We're in Trump's America. Right. Everyone remarks on it, pretending. I don't know what happened, like, because he looked relatively normal before. But you could say about half of Hollywood, so I guess. Anyway, he really does, they do believe, and in Elon's case, he's not nearly as smart as Peter Thiel, like, in that way. Peter Thiel is quite crafty and smart, but his philosophy is... fucked up like it's very right it's fucked up and one of the things that's interesting he gave an interview last week to matthias duffner who just basically fellated him the whole time he's the head of axel springer um you know we didn't push back at all that said you know essentially evil is good because evil is effective that was one i saw that and i can i understand him saying that like everyone's like can you believe it i'm like uh-huh yeah he says that all the time the other thing was you know well i you know i called the Pope, the Antichrist, the Pope is pushing back on all this quite well, and they don't know what to do because it's not anti-tech. It's quite pro-tech. It's pro-tech for humanity. Very different. And, you know, I shouldn't have called it, maybe it was harsh to call him Antichrist. I'm like, you think, you know, you know, sir, like anything. But he is, and then he called him a communist. He called him a creature of the Communist Party. Meanwhile, they're all having dinner with guess who? The top communists. all of them were there as well as the fox news people this is all supreme court justices right right they have not been anti you know verbally anti-communist recently i'm they always suck up the supreme court justice no matter the administration the um uh you know if there's a democrat the democrat ones will be there yeah whatever i don't care um they're captive then we need more of them so they're not quite as captive um but they you know you had uh you had um uh jesse waters there mr i hate communists hanging out like lady water lady water so really Speaker 3 (14:34) he Speaker 2 (14:35) is very delicate isn't he he's Speaker 3 (14:36) free he spends