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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Gilded Rage summary
Jacob Silverman
Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley
20 mins
Brief summary
Gilded Rage by Jacob Silverman delves into the growing discontent and tensions bubbling beneath America's economic surface. It examines societal disparities and the rise of populist anger, providing a critical lens on modern-day inequality.
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Gilded Rage
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Peter Thiel’s turning tide
It was 2016. Trump was deep into his first presidential campaign and he was not tipped to win. Already viewed as an outside chance, on October 7, just twenty-seven days before the election, the Washington Post dropped a bombshell: a video of Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, in graphic terms. So graphic, he used the words "grab them by the pussy". The mainstream media saw this as the final straw for his shambolic campaign.
Peter Thiel saw something else entirely. Eight days later, in a very pointed show of confidence, he donated $1.25 million to Trump's campaign.
Thiel’s support for Trump and the MAGA movement went against everything Silicon Valley supposedly stood for. The tech elite had cultivated an image as liberal, rational, opposed to Trumpian chaos. California was a deep blue state. The tech bros largely backed Hillary Clinton. But Thiel had never followed the rest of Silicon Valley’s lead. In fact, he built his reputation on contrarian bets – like funding Facebook when others passed – that paid off big-time – like funding Facebook when others passed.
In 2016, once again, the payoff came quickly. Trump pulled off a shock victory. And on December 14, 2016 fourteen tech execs held a summit with president-elect Trump – each of them hand-selected by Thiel.
Thiel and Trump eventually fell out. Trump asked for a $10 million cash infusion for his 2024 election run. Thiel refused and the relationship soured. But Thiel’s fingerprints were still all over the campaign, especially in Trump’s choice of JD Vance, a former Thiel employee, as running mate.
More importantly, Thiel had signaled a turning political tide. And Silicon Valley is a bit like nature. It abhors a vacuum. When Thiel stepped back, there were plenty of wealthy, vocal men ready to fill his space. One of the wealthiest – and certainly the most vocal? Elon Musk.
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What is Gilded Rage about?
Gilded Rage (2025) exposes how tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel became radicalized members of the MAGA movement and, more importantly, why. It unravels the strategic machinations of Big Tech’s support for Trump and lays bare just how much both parties stand to gain from what was, to start with, the unlikeliest of alliances.
Who should read Gilded Rage?
- Voters who want to know how their political choices are really being shaped
- Tech workers ready to reckon with the industry’s rightwing shift
- Anyone still making sense of the 2024 US election
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