Silicon Valley vs. American politics

Tech-world insiders are getting more involved than ever in national politics this year—and it’s not just Elon Musk. But as the presidential election looms, there’s a major disconnect between American politics and Big Tech when it comes to their visions of America’s future. On the campaign trail, Vice President Kamala Harris talks about the risk of “more chaos,” incipient fascism and a quick, steep slide back to the gender politics of the 1950s. Meanwhile, the retrograde cultural assumptions of former President Donald Trump’s platform were on full display at Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile in Silicon Valley, AI entrepreneurs promise a world where there’s little to be afraid of (except maybe overregulation) — and nostalgia is nothing but a brake on a future we should be ushering in as quickly as possible. The mismatch between the mindset driving tech—the engine of America’s prestige and global economic dominance—and the mindset driving American politics has never been sharper, and it’s upending technopolitics on the campaign trail.