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

What this episode covers

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.