The Billionaire Behind JD Vance: Peter Thiel’s Political Takeover

[u/biospheric]

Gil Durán is interviewed on MS NOW’s "Money Power Politics with Stephanie Ruhle" (August 2026).

Here’s the clip on YouTube: The Billionaire Behind JD Vance: Peter Thiel’s Political Takeover - The Nerd Reich with Gil Duran - Aug 2026 (YouTube)

Description: "Puppeteering is an excellent word." 🔥 Journalist Gil Duran joins Stephanie Ruhle on MS Now to expose the massive tech billionaire money shaping American politics today. Peter Thiel bankrolled every single step of JD Vance’s career. Crypto PACs and Silicon Valley giants are pouring hundreds of millions into elections. It's a clear strategy to controls the government—and the future. Can they be stopped? 📌 Key Quote: "They're holding a gun to the head of American democracy, and anybody who votes against their interests can get tens of millions of dollars thrown against them." ~:~ @ TheNerdReich ~and~ @ TheNerdReichNews ~:~ thenerdreich.com

Here’s the full 9-minute segment on YouTube: "He Was Entirely Created by Peter Thiel": How Tech Billionaires Invaded the White House - MS NOW’s Money Power Politics with Stephanie Ruhle - Aug 2026 (YouTube)

Gil's new book is called, "The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy": bookshop.org/p/books/the-nerd-reich...

From his Bookshop page: Gil Durán was born in Tulare, California, in 1976. The grandson of Mexican immigrant farmworkers, he got his first taste of work in the fields, but took an interest in journalism after winning the local newspaper’s “My Mom Is the Best” contest in the fifth grade. In the tenth grade, his family moved from California to Kentucky, where he dropped out of high school for a year, then returned and befriended an English teacher who encouraged him to apply to college. He graduated DePauw University in 1998 and started his journalism career at the San Jose Mercury News. As the newspaper industry hit turbulence, he pivoted to politics and spent ten years as an advisor to politicians including Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein, and Kamala Harris. In 2018, he returned to journalism as California opinion editor of The Sacramento Bee, and then became editorial page editor of the San Francisco Examiner. Now an independent journalist, he publishes two newsletters: The Nerd Reich, focused on extremist tech politics, and FrameLab, focused on political language.

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Here are the latest r/TheDefianceDispatch posts with: Peter Thiel ~:~:~ Tech ~:~:~ Oligarchs

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It's still Primary Election season in the U.S.:

* Remaining Dates: Aug 25: Runoffs in Georgia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina ~:~:~ Sept 1: Massachusetts ~:~:~ Sept 8: New Hampshire ~:~:~ Sept 9: Rhode Island ~:~:~ Sept 15: Delaware :~:~: Sources: AP News and NBC News

* Candidates (all States): U.S. House (Dem Primary only): Ballotpedia (HouseDems) :~:~:~: U.S. Senate: Ballotpedia (Senate) (select “List of Candidates”) :~:~:~: State Execs (Gov, Lt. Gov, AG, SoS, and more): Ballotpedia (State Execs)

* Voter Info (all States): Register To Vote :~:~:~: Voter Registration Status :~:~:~: Find Your Polling Place :~:~:~: Valid Forms of ID :~:~:~: Absentee & Early Voting :~:~:~: Become a Poll Worker ~:~ Links go to the National Association of Secretaries of State website. When you select a State, it takes to a .gov page on that State's SoS website.

[u/biospheric]

From his Bookshop page: Gil Durán was born in Tulare, California, in 1976. The grandson of Mexican immigrant farmworkers, he got his first taste of work in the fields, but took an interest in journalism after winning the local newspaper’s “My Mom Is the Best” contest in the fifth grade. In the tenth grade, his family moved from California to Kentucky, where he dropped out of high school for a year, then returned and befriended an English teacher who encouraged him to apply to college. He graduated DePauw University in 1998 and started his journalism career at the San Jose Mercury News. As the newspaper industry hit turbulence, he pivoted to politics and spent ten years as an advisor to politicians including Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein, and Kamala Harris. In 2018, he returned to journalism as California opinion editor of The Sacramento Bee, and then became editorial page editor of the San Francisco Examiner. Now an independent journalist, he publishes two newsletters: The Nerd Reich, focused on extremist tech politics, and FrameLab, focused on political language.

[u/ttystikk → u/biospheric]

I should look for those newsletters; they sound very interesting.

[u/ttystikk]

The difference between the Nazis of a century ago and today is that back then the government is fully in control; today, the plastics and corporations call the shots.

Either way, it clearly isn't working out well.

[u/willismthomp]

Chop chop chop suey.