Podcast Summary: How Big Tech Sets the Agenda in Trump’s America

Podcast: The New Yorker Radio Hour
Host: Evan Osnos (in for David Remnick)
Guest: Katie Drummond (Global Editorial Director, Wired)
Date: August 22, 2025
Topic: The influence of Big Tech on the current U.S. political landscape, especially during Trump’s second term, with a focus on the convergence of technology, politics, and the ongoing impacts of AI and cryptocurrency.

Overview

This episode explores how Silicon Valley and the broader tech industry have become power brokers in Trump’s America. Evan Osnos interviews Katie Drummond, Wired’s global editorial director, to discuss the magazine’s in-depth reporting on topics like Elon Musk’s political role, the enigmatic “Doge” group, and the broader societal and political ramifications of AI, cryptocurrency, and tech culture’s shifting ideology.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Wired’s Approach to Covering Tech-Politics Convergence

[00:12 - 04:29]

• Background on Wired’s reporting: Wired saw the overlap between technology and federal politics as a major story even before Musk’s rise in 2024. The magazine anticipated the need for deep political coverage intertwined with tech expertise.
• Collaboration: Wired’s coverage of Doge and tech influence involved teamwork between business reporters (with deep tech backgrounds) and politics reporters.
• Journalistic advantage: Wired’s established tech reporting gave it 'first-mover advantage' in uncovering the Doge phenomenon, receiving tips from both federal insiders and contacts close to Silicon Valley’s new right-wing faction.

“The technology industry is now the locus of power in the United States... The CEOs of major tech companies hold so many of the keys that determine the way we all live our lives, certainly the way our country is governed.”
— Katie Drummond [02:20]

2. Civil Service vs. Tech Disruptors: The Culture Clash

[04:29 - 05:37]

• Culture clash: Long-serving civil servants and tech disruptors view each other as obstacles. The move-fast-break-things mentality of Silicon Valley creates intense friction within traditional government structures.

“You start moving fast and breaking things and sending emails asking for, you know, bulleted lists of productivity from people who have been civil servants for two decades. I mean, that is an extreme culture clash.”
— Katie Drummond [05:09]

3. Ideological Shifts in Silicon Valley

[05:37 - 08:16]

• From left-leaning to opportunistic: The tech industry is no monolith, but there is a pronounced move toward pragmatic, self-interested alignment—tech elites follow what serves their business interests, not necessarily conservative or liberal values.
• Empowerment to pursue self-interest: Tech leaders feel increasingly emboldened to align with any political power that suits them, even if it’s ethically dubious.

“They are opportunistic to the nth degree. And that is what we're seeing.”
— Katie Drummond [07:48]

4. The Evolution From Tech Optimism to Cynical Realism

[08:16 - 11:56]

• Early optimism: Tech journalism once viewed tech as a force for utopian connection and progress (circa 2008-2010).
• Backlash and impunity: After facing media criticism and public backlash since 2016, tech elites developed a “futile sense” of power and relative impunity, seeking maximum alignment with the administration that allows them to operate freely.
• Consequences: Despite unpopularity, tech giants align with Trump for deregulation and lax oversight.

"If I don't sort of have the hearts and minds of the press and of the general public, fuck em… I hold all the keys, I have all the money... So I will do with it what I wish. Consequences come what may."
— Katie Drummond [09:39]

5. Lessons from Elon Musk’s Political Downfall

[11:56 - 13:49]

• Downfall as lesson: Musk’s high-profile collapse taught Silicon Valley's power brokers to be quieter, not necessarily more restrained.
• Open season for tech elites: Musk's downfall is seen as a tactical error ("don’t be weird"), not as a limit on tech influence—rather as an invitation to climb higher if playing by GOP rules.

“If they've learned anything from what Elon Musk was able to accomplish, it's that this is open season. Like, this is an invitation from the president... for these tech elites to ascend to wherever they want to in this country, provided they play by the GOP and Trump's rules.”
— Katie Drummond [13:32]

6. The AI Surge: Money, Hype, and Societal Impact

[15:34 - 20:48]

• AI’s inevitability: Tech leaders talk about the rise of AI as unstoppable, using both inevitability rhetoric and doom-laden hype as a PR strategy to elevate perceived value and power.
• Motives and marketing: Catastrophizing AI serves to bolster fundraising and frame their companies as essential to managing whatever comes next.
• Hype vs. reality: The public, politicians, and even journalists struggle to distinguish between the real impacts of AI and marketing hyperbole.

“A lot of that catastrophizing... was marketing. They want these models and this technology to sound as big and daunting and powerful and impressive and scary as they possibly can.”
— Katie Drummond [18:22]

7. The Future of White Collar Work and AI's Labor Impact

[20:48 - 24:32]

• Uncertainty reigns: While some white-collar jobs will vanish, and new ones will arise, the reality so far is that mass job elimination is premature; many firms have overshot, implementing AI before it’s ready.
• Advice: Learn to work with these tools—across all career stages.

“There are some jobs... that in a year, do I think they'll exist? Like, probably not... But I think... we are seeing the premature elimination of some roles... I am waiting for some of that dust to settle.”
— Katie Drummond [22:25]

8. AI in Education: From Panic to Practical Response

[24:32 - 26:37]

• Educator adaptation: After initial panic over AI-enabled cheating, educators shift to redesigning assignments and curricula for an era where AI is present and accessible.
• Reality check: Detection tools don’t work well, so assignments and evaluation methods need to fundamentally change.

“Educators by and large are starting to move away from the panic... It becomes, well, what are you going to do about it? ...You need to change the way you conduct your curriculum.”
— Katie Drummond [25:15]

9. Big AI and Monopoly: The Tightening Grip

[26:37 - 29:05]

• Market consolidation: Despite hope for a more distributed ecosystem, current conditions (money, power, lobbying) point toward increased monopolization—with big players absorbing or outlasting smaller startups.
• Ongoing dominance: The “era of monolithic big tech is by no means over,” and new AI giants may simply become the next cohort of dominant firms.

"I think that we are moving towards an ongoing monopoly of big tech... many of these smaller AI companies or startups just being hoovered up by the bigger players."
— Katie Drummond [27:28]

10. Reasons for Optimism: Signal and Bluesky

[30:01 - 32:42]

• Signal: Led by Meredith Whitaker, providing robust, encrypted communication; cited as a model of principled tech leadership.
• Bluesky: Jay Graber’s decentralized social network offers an alternative to data-exploitative platforms, empowering users and allowing portability of followers.
• New social web possibilities: There is hope in decentralized models and new forms of user-centered platforms.

“If you aren't on Signal and you live in Trump’s America, I would get there.”
— Katie Drummond [30:32]

“What Blue sky is doing... from a technological point of view and a human betterment point of view, that is a better way to run a social media company. It just is.”
— Katie Drummond [32:14]

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Silicon Valley’s new pragmatism:
  "It's much more craven and cynical and opportunistic than that." — Katie Drummond [06:49]
• On the lessons from Musk’s political failure:
  “You don't need to, like, be in President Trump's meetings with his cabinet with your son. Like, don't be weird.” — Katie Drummond [12:55]
• On Signal in Trump’s America:
  “If you aren't on Signal and you live in Trump’s America, I would get there.” — Katie Drummond [30:32]
• On the evolution of social media:
  “Everybody is mean to me on here anyway, like, that was basically what social media was.” — Katie Drummond [31:25]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:12-04:29] — Wired’s reporting, tech/politics convergence, and Doge investigations
• [05:09] — Tech disruptors vs. civil service: culture clash
• [06:25-08:16] — Silicon Valley’s shifting ideological stance
• [08:55-11:56] — Tech optimism turns to backlash and impunity
• [11:56-13:49] — Musk’s White House exit and lessons for tech influence
• [15:34-20:48] — AI’s rise, PR tactics, hype, and public understanding
• [20:48-24:32] — White collar work impact, AI layoffs
• [24:32-26:37] — Education adapting to AI in schools
• [26:37-29:05] — Monopoly dynamics in AI and Big Tech
• [30:01-32:42] — Optimism: Signal, Bluesky, and decentralized tech

Conclusion

This episode underscores how the U.S. now finds tech and politics almost indivisible, with Silicon Valley’s influence reshaping government, work, ethics, and society at large. While concerns about misaligned incentives, monopoly, and the social consequences of tech loom large, there are glimmers of hope in independent, user-centered projects and new social web paradigms. For anyone seeking to understand the real power dynamics of 2025, Wired’s rigorous reporting—and this frank, insightful conversation—are essential listening.