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Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, the past week’s top stories from the intersection of politics and the all-inclusive world of technology.
Trump vows to ‘make life good’ for Musk
In a rambling tangent over the weekend, Donald Trump boasted about how uber-rich right-winger Elon Musk reportedly is planning to spend $45 million a month on a pro-Trump super PAC and suggested that making the X owner’s life more comfortable should be a priority.
“We have to make life good for our smart people, you know? We have some smart people,” Trump told rallygoers in Grand Rapids, Michigan, adding: “We have to make life good for our smart people, and he’s as smart as you get.”
It was yet another authoritarian-sounding indicator that Trump would prioritize making life easier on uber-wealthy tech executives in his corner — like Musk, who seems to be living a pretty rich life already — if he regains the White House. Trump, who reportedly has offered oil executives favorable policy in exchange for donations, is behaving as though he’s indebted to Musk and other big donors. Musk reportedly pushed Trump to select Sen. JD Vance, someone else who has made a fortune from the tech industry, as his running mate. And Vance is the guy who reportedly courted Silicon Valley executives to throw their weight behind Trump. If the GOP ticket wins, we’re likely going to be living under a far-right technocracy.
Musk’s madness
In a recent sit-down interview with right-wing commentator Jordan Peterson, Musk went on a disturbing diatribe claiming that “the woke mind virus” had killed his adult trans child, who is still living. The remarks provide some insight into Musk’s perverse bigoted ideology and what may have helped inspired it.
Read more at USA Today.
Meta employee-turned-Project 2025 author
One of the authors of Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s sweeping far-right plan for a second Trump term, is a Meta employee. Dustin Carmack, who wrote Project 2025’s section on the intelligence community, works as a lobbyist for Meta.
Read about his plans for the CIA at SpyTalk.
Zuck praises Trump
During an interview in which he said he wouldn’t be endorsing a presidential candidate, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gushed about Trump’s “spirit” and “fight” after the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and called Trump’s raised fist in response “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Read more at NBC News.
Online attacks on Harris
Disinformation expert Nina Jankowicz has written a piece for MSNBC about a study she helped conduct about the racist and sexist disinformation and abusive content targeting Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate in 2020. Her op-ed offers helpful recommendations on ways to spot this content and how to undercut it before these harmful narratives take root broadly.
Read more at MSNBC.
How gaming can give rise to extremism
A new study from the Global Network on Extremism & Technology explores how streaming platforms, particularly those used by gamers, have become known for spreading extremist propaganda.
Read more at GNET.