‘There Is One Fight’: American Voters Reject Tech Oligarchy

The backlash targets a two-year stretch in which every major tech CEO courted Donald Trump with flattery and gifts, and Elon Musk was handed sweeping authority to cut federal programs and staff while his companies collected billions in government contracts. Trump has pardoned crypto criminals, overseen family cryptocurrency ventures worth billions, and presided over a gambling- and prediction-market-driven economy rife with insider trading. His administration has installed podcasters, X trolls, and conspiracy theorists in top roles, used commercial surveillance firms to power mass deportations, and communicated through what the article calls inscrutable AI “slop shitposting.” A cost-of-living squeeze—worsened by an “illegal war” with Iran that raised gas and diesel prices and by tariffs on allies—has hit households even as regulations on fossil fuel companies and big corporations were slashed. Watch whether the incoming Congress translates voter discontent into concrete curbs on Big Tech’s political spending, federal AI procurement, and crypto oversight.