The MAGA-tech situationship
- Steve Bannon, a prominent figure in the MAGA movement, appeared at Y Combinator’s Little Tech Summit alongside Rohit Chopra, a progressive and protégé of Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
- Bannon’s presence was unexpected, as his timeslot had been buried in the schedule, sparking surprise among attendees and observers.
- The event brought together two seemingly disparate ideologies: techno-optimism (associated with the tech industry) and populism (characteristic of the MAGA movement).
- According to reports, Bannon and Chopra engaged in a discussion about whether techno-optimism and populism are incompatible, highlighting the growing tensions between these two groups.
- The event marked a notable moment in the ongoing “war” between the tech right and the populist right within the Trump administration, with implications for the future of American politics.
I have been reporting in Washington for nearly six years, and on politics for over a decade, and I’ve attended more corporate-sponsored policy events (and tend to nod off during them) than I can remember. I’ve also reported on the gradual disintegration of reality caused by the rise of MAGA, so I thought my tolerance for confusing political phenomena was pretty high. But never in my life did I think I would see Steve Bannon sitting onstage in his beat-up barn jacket next to former Consumer Finance and Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra, a notable progressive introduced as “a protege of Sen. Elizabeth Warren,” with the two of them earnestly discussing the topic: “are techno-optimism and populism incompatible?”Â
Not that the topic was out of left field per se – the tech right and the populist right are in an all-out war, and it’s roiling the Trump administration. But this was a visual pairing that reduced me to sending a photo of the stage with the caption “what if horseshoe theory, but real” to several sources.
Bannon’s appearance at Y Combinator’s Little Tech Summit earlier this month was a surprise – his timeslot had been buried in the schedule …
Read the full story at The Verge.