In our first recording back from holiday, we get into the Silicon Valley Election and go through the relationship between Trump and Musk. What can we expect from the President and his First Buddy — personally and politically, institutionally and financially? Beyond Musk, how might the tech elite behave and benefit in another Trump administration? There’s a lot of potential and speculation and promises and hype at this point—and a lot of open questions that remain to be seen—but we set the scene and put the players on the board for what’s shaping up to be an exciting (and stupid) new season of TMK.

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••• Why Is Elon Musk Really Embracing Donald Trump? https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-financial-page/why-is-elon-musk-really-embracing-donald-trump
••• Elon Musk may already be overstaying his welcome in Trump's orbit https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-trump-donald-mar-a-lago-appointment-position-rcna179826
••• The cult of the founders https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/the-cult-of-the-founders
••• Musk Wants to Slash $2 Trillion in Federal Spending. Is That Possible? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/16/us/politics/dept-government-efficiency-explainer.html
••• US commission proposes ‘Manhattan Project-like’ initiative for AI https://www.computerworld.com/article/3609516/us-commission-proposes-manhattan-project-like-initiative-for-ai.html
••• Tech companies will have it easy under Trump. Just like they did under Biden https://www.fastcompany.com/91224437/tech-companies-will-have-it-easy-under-trump-just-like-they-did-under-biden

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Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)