S8 Ep. 20: Journalists Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker on Trump and his Tech Oligarchs.

New Atlantic staff writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, authors of a recent article called “The Tech Oligarchy Arrives,” join host Whitney Terrell to talk about tech oligarchs’ influence over President Trump’s administration. They discuss the significance of prominent billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos attending Trump’s inauguration as visible supporters, how these tech leaders have changed their opinion of Trump over time, and the regulatory and legal benefits they may gain from their close association with the new administration. They also discuss Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the fallout from that group’s efforts to access Treasury data and dismantle USAID.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan.

Selected Readings:

Ashley Parker & Michael Scherer

• The Tech Oligarchy Arrives |The Atlantic |January 20, 2025
• Trump Advisers Stopped Musk From Hiring a Noncitizen at DOGE |The Atlantic |February 4, 2025
• Trump Takes Over the Kennedy Center |The Atlantic | February 7, 2025
• Trump’s Conquest of the Kennedy Center Is Accelerating |The Atlantic | February 8, 2025

Ashley Parker

• The Memo That Shocked the White House |The Atlantic | January 29, 2025

Michael Scherer

• Why Meta Is Paying $25 Million to Settle a Trump Lawsuit |The Atlantic | January 29, 2025

Others:

• DOGE task force gains access to U.S. Treasury Department data, payment systems |CBS News |February 3, 2025
• Doge v USAid: how Elon Musk helped his acolytes infiltrate world’s biggest aid agency |The Guardian |February 5, 2025
• Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity – The White House |The White House |January 21, 2025
• Meta Goes Full MAGA as it Kills Off DEI Programs |Daily Beast|January 10, 2025
• The Tech Oligarchy Arrives |The Atlantic |January 20, 2025
• Trump, a populist president, is flanked by tech billionaires at his inauguration | AP News | January 20, 2025
• Zuckerberg Turns Facebook Full MAGA and Smears California Staff

|Yahoo! News |January 7, 2025

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