The Nerd Reich is one of our top books of the year. Gil Durán joins the show to talk about his incredible research and powerful story of how right-wing tech grifters have grabbed hold of our democracy and are threatening to strip it for parts. At stake are our most fundamental freedoms, and Gil explains that urgency to us. Watch below:

Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and every other ungodly rich (and therefore dizzyingly powerful) denizen of the shady crypto, surveillance tech, and AI world are currently building the resources that will get them through the apocalypse their tech is building. They’re making sure we won’t be that lucky. Elon’s recent projects, both developing sophisticated AI and technology to take the Nerd Reich to Mars as the earth burns (and we go down with it), remind us that he (like the others) fully comprehends how lucrative it will be for him to exploit all our data, destroy our earth with AI centers, and dip out to Mars. And in the meantime, he can make sure his anti-democratic projects avoid regulation by buying out our government.

If the situation sounds dire, that’s because it is dire! With Gil, we talk about the courage it will take to actually demolish the stranglehold the Nerd Reich has on our society. We’re up against a staggeringly expensive, sophisticated machine engineered to leave us powerless and squeeze every last drop of profit out of the working class. As we look ahead to the presidential elections of 2028 and reflect on the most recent lessons from the midterms, though, we see that distrust in AI and demand for its regulation (and increasing disappearance from public life) has become a major part of the conversation. It’s an absolutely essential mission that should earn a major plank in the Democratic platform writ large. Will the Democrats have the courage to actually adopt that plank and, in so doing, face up against the tech world terrorizing and oppressing their constituents? It’s a topic we’ll return to repeatedly in the next years. And Gil is the perfect person to shape our thinking on this conversation as it becomes increasingly front of mind.

Gil, what a pleasure to have you in the show! We highly recommend The Nerd Reich to anyone looking to gain knowledge on this extremely important topic. You can listen to our conversation with Gil as a podcast episode when it’s released tomorrow on major streaming platforms.