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Tech bros are facing the end of the ‘technipolar moment’
US tech industry’s political influence is weak despite its support for Trump
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The Trump presidency owes far more to populism than to tech power, says the writer.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Adrian Wooldridge
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For intellectuals of a certain bent, no game is more absorbing than discovering the “real” power behind the throne. Who is pulling the strings? What class interests does the regime serve? Who is “really” in charge? Such questions inspire learned disquisitions as well as conspiracy theories.
So far, the favourite target when it comes to the Trump administration is the tech industry. Mr Ian Bremmer, the head of the Eurasia Group, a political consultancy, talks about the “technipolar moment” and the “frightening fusion of tech power and state power”. Mr Steve Bannon, US President Donald Trump’s former adviser, laments the influence of “technofeudal globalists bent on turning Americans into digital serfs”.
