Dave Troy Presents

Trying to explain American politics without the radicalized billionaires behind it is like trying to explain 9/11 without mentioning Al-Qaeda. Gil Duran first joined us in March 2025, while he was still writing "The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy." The book debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list in August and is still there. Along the way he was permanently banned from X for two words - "TLDR: fascism" - and reviewed by a fellow of the very think tank his book investigates. We talk about what fascism means in 2026, and why the tech version promises not a return to a mythical past but an acceleration into a mythical future: Peter Thiel's Antichrist lectures, the "thermodynamic God," and the clash between tech religion and evangelical Christianity. We follow the money from crypto - "a weapon of mass corruption" - to the Trump family and back into Silicon Valley, and from Praxis and the network state to Kazakhstan and California Forever. And with the midterms a month away, Gil, a veteran Democratic communications strategist, explains why tech money is buying both parties. Guest: Gil Duran - independent San Francisco journalist and author of "The Nerd Reich" (Avid Reader Press, 2026); former communications strategist for Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris. https://www.thenerdreich.com https://www.youtube.com/@TheNerdReichNews https://bsky.app/profile/gilduran.com The America 2.0 Reading List: https://america2.news/the-america-2-0-reading-list/ Chapters: 0:00 Cold open: explaining 9/11 without Al-Qaeda 0:13 Intro 1:47 Welcome back, Gil 2:23 Number three on the Times list 5:13 The 40,000 words that got cut 7:15 A book in conversation: Applebaum, Michel, Silverman 9:07 Adventure capitalism and the long history of exit 10:33 Banned from X for "TLDR: fascism" 12:40 Fresh Air, and the outlets that won't touch it 14:31 The Bulwark review and the undisclosed tie 16:12 What is tech fascism? 20:38 Apocalypse on both sides 21:41 Thiel's Antichrist 23:12 It's a regime: crypto as a weapon of mass corruption 26:12 Buying the media, and Newsom's Silicon Valley Democrats 29:49 Praxis, Prospera and the network state abroad 33:03 Freedom cities, and a crypto city in Kazakhstan 35:13 California Forever and the miracle in Solano 38:12 Tennessee: Highland Rim and New Earth 40:42 From Solano to the data center fights 42:33 Will the AI money hold? S-1s and stranded assets 44:25 The doom machine markets itself 46:05 Why China has no AI apocalypse 49:29 If Charles Manson were a billionaire 51:46 Rival cults: evangelicals vs. the thermodynamic God 55:22 Yarvin's cathedral and the seizure of institutions 59:19 The midterms 1:02:09 Crypto money on both sides 1:04:11 What if the winners aren't seated? 1:06:23 Thiel in Nashville, and what's next 1:08:25 What you can do: ask your candidates 1:08:59 Outro and links Dave Troy Presents is published by America 2.0. https://america2.news

What if elections, which are a cornerstone of democracy, don't produce the outcomes that we desire? Terry Bouricius spent twenty years as an elected lawmaker in Vermont - city council, then the statehouse - followed by a decade at FairVote trying to fix elections with better elections. Then he quit. Since 2005 he has been the leading American theorist of sortition: choosing the people who govern by lottery, the way we choose juries — a practice rooted in Athenian democracy. This is a conversation about an idea most Americans have never encountered, and about why it keeps working wherever it is tried. Ireland used randomly selected conventions to settle same-sex marriage and abortion. Melbourne handed a stuck capital budget to 43 taxpayers chosen by lot. Connecticut is running the first statewide citizens' assembly in the United States right now. And the argument underneath it all is disarmingly simple: you can't lobby a jury. No donors, no primary, no next race, no way to know six months out whose ear to buy. Recorded before the 2026 midterms. We close on elections themselves - and Bouricius, an election-reform veteran who says the machinery is sound, names the thing that actually frightens him. Guest: Terry Bouricius - former Vermont legislator, ten years at FairVote, originator of the multi-body sortition model, co-founder of Democracy R&D. His book "Democracy Without Politicians: Government By the People" (Routledge, 2026) is open access - the full text is free. https://democracywithoutpoliticians.org https://terrybouricius.com https://democracycreative.substack.com https://sortitionusa.org https://democracyrd.org Chapters: 0:00 Cold open: what if jurors were elected? 0:46 Intro 2:23 Twenty years in office, and why he left 5:40 What sortition actually is 5:53 Athens: a democracy because of the lottery, not the assembly 7:59 British Columbia, 2004: "This is what democracy looks like" 11:10 The 200-year project and the peeling strategy 14:19 Why left and right both nod along 15:43 You can't lobby a jury 17:25 More likely to die in office than lose an election 17:37 Plato's ship vs. the wisdom of crowds 18:21 A thousand assemblies, and Macron's climate convention 19:57 Connecticut: the first statewide assembly in the US 20:43 Aristotle: the lot is democratic, election is oligarchic 22:10 What Madison and the founders actually feared 26:09 "How many of us are renters?" 28:35 Cognitive diversity: why the room beats the experts 33:27 Designing against bribery and capture 35:09 Binding or advisory? Melbourne's budget 37:58 Ireland: marriage and abortion, decided by lot 40:00 The abuse survivor and the gay juror 44:47 Tribal loyalty: Obamacare, tariffs, switching sides 50:22 Groupthink, facilitators, and multi-body sortition 52:35 Agenda-setting: the wall, the bridges, the climate 55:33 AI: the bubble, and who gets to decide 58:29 Could AI agents replace a citizens' assembly? 62:09 What to do Monday: Sortition USA 63:10 The book is free 67:02 Are the midterms secure? 67:54 The refusal to seat: "a real possibility within two months" 69:59 Outro and links Dave Troy Presents is published by America 2.0. https://america2.news

Jen Golbeck, a University of Maryland professor and director of the Social Intelligence Lab who reports on online extremism, walks through surveillance, AI hype, and radicalization. She discusses how pervasive tracking links people across platforms. She explores AI’s real harms versus the bubble, how belonging fuels extremism, and practical actions to defend local democracy.

Scott Reich recently took the TED Democracy stage in Philadelphia to argue that a renewed ethos of service could help repair our fractured country. He joins Dave Troy for a conversation that runs from ancient Athens to a modern "GI Bill for civic service," by way of Robert Putnam, the 1917 baseball All-Star Game, and the simple, radical idea that citizens owe something to one another. Reich and Troy arrived at similar conclusions by different paths: that social mixing across background, region, and class — not screens and headlines — is how a democracy rebuilds trust. Together they make a hopeful (and stubbornly non-partisan) case for citizenship as a practice, not merely a slogan. (Production note: a couple of brief internet dropouts affected Scott's audio; we've worked around them.) Guest: Scott Reich - presidential historian and attorney; author of "The Power of Citizenship: Why JFK Matters to a New Generation" and the forthcoming "One Day in September: Baseball, Brotherhood, and the Birth of the All-Star Game"; board member of the JFK Library Foundation and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. https://www.scott-reich.com/ Chapters: 00:00 Cold open: why national service 01:18 Meet Scott Reich and the TED Democracy talk 04:34 Citizenship: rights, but also obligations 05:43 From "impossible" to practical: connection and service 07:45 The baseball "farm system": start with the young 10:18 What we stopped teaching: civics and Western civ 12:30 The proposal: a modern GI Bill for civic service 14:03 Ancient Greece and the making of a citizen 15:29 Mandatory or voluntary? Incentives over mandates 18:01 Reviving civic life: Peace Corps, clubs, and lost associations 19:55 The commoditization of youth sports 22:53 We've always argued: Adams, Jefferson, and healthy disagreement 24:49 "One Day in September": how Americans used to gather 29:02 Putnam, disinformation, and the loneliness crisis 30:29 Social mixing as national security 32:54 Cohorts across difference: rural Iowa to the Bronx 37:42 Service, not servitude: beyond the military 43:59 Overestimating the other side 46:05 Leaders as vehicles: JFK and the power of citizenship 50:22 What tragedy teaches: our capacity to unite 54:29 What can one person do? Small acts of citizenship 1:01:13 Outro and links Host Dave Troy writes at https://america2.news and https://washingtonspectator.org Dave Troy Presents is published by America 2.0. https://america2.news

Carissa Véliz, an Oxford philosopher and author of Privacy Is Power and Prophecy, explores how predictions have shaped society from ancient oracles to AI. They discuss prediction markets, insider influence, media manipulation, AI’s monoculture of sameness, surveillance, and the struggle to preserve human judgment, serendipity, and democracy in an algorithmic age.

Tonantzin Carmona, a Brookings fellow studying wealth, inequality, and how crypto harms minority communities. Molly White, an independent researcher who tracks crypto transactions and election money. They map crypto’s political muscle: industry spending in elections, the Trump family’s crypto web, stablecoin risks, regulatory capture, predatory inclusion targeting marginalized groups, and crypto’s quiet creep into mortgages, retirement, and payments.

If you've been following world events, you know that Taiwan's future has become a major question, and a fulcrum for the future of democracy. Chris Horton is the author of "Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and Its Struggle for Survival," a new book that offers a unique view into Taiwan's complex history, its precarious present, and its potential futures. "Ghost Nation" is a must read for those interested in the future of democracy, not just in Asia but around the world, and Dave's conversation with Chris is a great introduction to this complex set of topics. More info: https://chrishortonwriter.com Book: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Nation-Taiwan-Struggle-Survival/dp/1035034026 00:00 Introduction to Taiwan's Complex History 00:52 Meet Chris Horton: Author of Ghost Nation 03:15 The Dutch and Spanish Colonization 07:27 The Ming and Qing Dynasties 17:53 Japanese Rule and Modernization 23:48 The ROC and the 2-28 Incident 48:18 Martial Law in Taiwan: A Dark History 50:00 Democratization and Political Shifts 51:39 Taiwan's Identity and International Relations 01:00:56 Taiwan's Economic Transformation 01:04:10 TSMC: Taiwan's Semiconductor Giant 01:08:37 China's Military Threat and Taiwan's Defense 01:23:34 US-Taiwan Relations and Strategic Ambiguity 01:33:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Jason Pack, host of the Disorder Podcast and a geopolitical expert, dives into the complexities of Russia's influence on global politics. He explores Russian nationalism and the historical roots of its contemporary strategies, particularly through Project Russia. Pack discusses the ideological framework that challenges Western democracy and highlights the peculiar links between Russian Cosmism and modern technology. The conversation also emphasizes strategies to strengthen democracy in the West amidst disinformation and the vital role of independent journalism.

Gil Duran, a journalist and political communications specialist, dives into the rise of the Network State and its ties to Silicon Valley’s libertarian ideologies. He explores the impact of these extreme movements on democracy, discussing the controversial concept of 'freedom cities' and the influence of cryptocurrency on political divides. Duran highlights the risks of decentralized communities dismantling traditional governance and underscores the importance of public engagement in countering authoritarian trends.

Benn Steil, an economist and historian from the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses his book about Henry A. Wallace, a presidential candidate whose ties to the KGB predated Trump’s. The conversation dives into Wallace's unique political journey, mystical beliefs, and innovative agricultural policies. Steil explores the impact of Wallace's vision, particularly his famous speech 'The Century of the Common Man,' and his contentious political battles, especially with Harry Truman, revealing shocking parallels to today’s political climate.