Big Technology Podcast
00:07:12 · Alex Kantrowitz
[00:07:12] S0: Now, you're the world's preeminent reporter on how tech money influences politics. And Thank you. It's true. Advertorial. It's true. Yeah. Okay. Folks, for those listening, Teddy and I are friends in case you can't figure it out, but it's it's really true. No one does it like you, Teddy. And I just wanna hear your perspective on what your sources are telling you about what the implications are gonna be if you can share. Because I would imagine they are likely, like the people who are politically active in tech, spending money to get their agenda, they were very pleased in 2024. I imagine they're equally terrified now.
00:07:53 · Teddy Schleifer
[00:07:53] S1: Yeah. I mean, look. The the the comeuppance here for for the tech industry, I think, is still TBD. But clearly, like, I don't think we're appreciating just how good they had it. You know, on on on AI in particular, I mean, this was an administration that was very pliant to the industry. The the... You know, Trump is still gonna be the white... In the White House. It's not as if there's gonna be, like, massive, you know, democratic reforms that are gonna be passed from both chambers and and signed by president Trump. I think I think it's probably unlikely. But there's gonna be guardrails now in a way that there wasn't at least in terms of legislation. And there's gonna be investigations too. Right? I mean, you know, take Elon Musk who, you know, is is suddenly gonna be in in the barrel in a way that he was not two days ago. So whiplash was coming. Right? I mean, you went from being, you know, a co president or for or while effectively kind of helping lead the US government to suddenly being, like, testifying on the hill, and there's gonna be this whole whole effort by Democrats, I think, to atone for the last two years of what Democrats see as as industry run amok. So I expect it to be pretty brutal. I think that the political calculus is changing rapidly for all these companies too. Like, I think there's gonna be... There's been all there have been all these jokes I've seen on Twitter or about, like, these efforts by Democratic or tech companies to, like, re embrace their DEI policies, and then, you know, re embrace kind of their their Democratic bona fides. Like, it's a joke, it's funny because there's an element of truth to it. I think there's gonna be, you know, tech companies that are hiring or promoting, you know, government relations heads who are tied to the Democratic Party and making sure that they know that they have a Democratic mega donor in leadership, stuff like that. Part of this is perception. And I think the companies wanted to fulfill a certain perception from 2025, 2026, and they'll fulfill a different perception in the next two years.
00:10:09 · Alex Kantrowitz, Teddy Schleifer
[00:10:09] S0: Okay. And as much as you can say, is the vibe around the people that you speak with, like, this is not gonna be a big deal or or, oh, goodness, we're in trouble. Like, what is their, basically, emotional state today? [00:10:20] S1: I think it's the latter. I think it'll be a big deal for the tech industry, and it'll be it'll be painful. [00:10:28] S0: And they realize that? [00:10:30] S1: I don't know. I don't know if they realize that yet, but the the the... I think there's there's... They're beginning to realize that. These things are... I think there's there's still... The the the election last time was very shocking in a way that people are not totally grappling with the results yet. Also, this is... I'm saying this is only two years. Like like, you know, a lot of these US senators were obviously just elected for six years. So, you know, there's gonna be a lot of Democrats who ran for the Senate on a agenda, at least when they ran on, like, taking on the billionaire class, taking on the AI industry, taking on data centers, and these people are gonna be in office for the next six years. So it is not as if these things will be easily reversed. So they have six years to grapple with it. And then in a lot of ways that shows kind of the generational impact of this election is that there's all these accidental senators or accidental congressmen who are gonna be here for... At least some of them will be here for a while, and and that's gonna reshape kind of the political political context of tech.
00:11:34 · Alex Kantrowitz, Teddy Schleifer
[00:11:34] S0: Mhmm. You know, it is interesting because the tech leadership did embrace Trump and the Republican Party pretty intensely. Now there's nuance there. Right? It's like, of course, like David Sacks, the All In Podcast, and Jensen Huang have been, like, very big, you know, supporters of... Supporters of Trump. They've praised him. So, you know, Sax works in the administration. But to Democrats, that's also... You know, that there are... And and not everybody has been on that level. But I think what really matters is what it looks like to Democrats. And to Democrats, you know, they're gonna look back at those pictures of all the tech CEOs at the inauguration. They're gonna look at the vibe that they're getting from Silicon Valley. They're gonna look at the polling numbers for AI, which are miserable, right, in in the toilet. And I'm curious what you think... Whether you think that will embolden them to, you know, take more aggressive action or make this one of their bigger issues. [00:12:38] S1: Yeah. I I I think that's true. I mean, I mean, tell me what you think is gonna be... What do you... What what what... What's striking you with that question?
00:12:47 · Alex Kantrowitz
[00:12:47] S0: Well, I I I think so. I mean, I... It's one of... It's almost a perfect storm. Like, we're we're about... Just think about this. The elections swayed on, you know, depending on who you ask, swayed on a couple of things. I would say number one is cost of living. And and maybe one a is the war in Iran, which comes back to cost of living because of, you know, the... Because of the... What... Its impact on fuel prices and hence goods. And you have... So you have a nation upset about cost of living and ready to, like, legitimately vote out any party that they think is making it worse. On the other hand, you're... Or on... In column b, you're gonna see these AI IPOs come out. And we talked about it on the show on Friday. How many multimillionaires the Anthropic IPO is gonna is gonna mint? How many multimillionaires the OpenAI IPO is gonna mint? The fact that NVIDIA is a $5,000,000,000,000 company, etcetera, etcetera. It goes down the line. And so if you're if you're... It's interesting because regulating tech has never been a winning political issue. Like, think about Elizabeth Warren's campaign. She went big into regulating tech. You know how she placed, you know, as a nonfactor? That was one of her bigger issues. So the political calculation is not straightforward. But if you look around and you see what's going on in the country, somebody's gonna make that a big issue. And if they start to get traction, you know, you could see a pile on effect. That's my perspective here.
00:14:25 · Teddy Schleifer, Alex Kantrowitz
[00:14:25] S1: Yeah. I I I see that for sure. I mean, clearly, there's gonna be... These elections are are are in addition to being meaningful for policy for... Criteria. I mean, like, these politicians read these election results and act in ways that responds to them. Right? I mean, the twenty twenty eight campaign is is shaped by the twenty twenty six campaign, and 2024 was shaped by 2022, etcetera. And and if you're a Democratic politician right now, you're you're sort of observing what types of messages are getting through, what types of things are working. And Republicans as well. Right? I mean, I think, you know, JD Vance is, you know, put out a statement today that was laced with twenty twenty eight presidential campaign intrigue because it's like a response to what he sees the electorate is saying in 2026. And that sort of politics is is responding to elections and responding to what the perceived narrative or or mandate is that that arises out of those. [00:15:30] S0: Senator Ed Markey, Democrat, responded to a post on x live televised trials of big tech executive... Executives when. And he wrote, they are gonna need to plant new forests for all the subpoenas we'll be printing. Yeah. Is that bluster, or you think we could see a march of AI CEOs and big tech [00:15:50] S1: CEOs Sure. Sure. [00:15:51] S0: Turn down to Washington? [00:15:52] S1: Yeah. Def... Definitely. I don't think I don't think it's bluster. That's that's that's that's I mean, you know, some Republicans will probably join them in that. Right.