This special episode of Terms of Engagement featuring a conversation with political commentator and former Obama administration advisor Van Jones. explores what drove that change and what it means for the future of democracy, political power, and the influence of technology elites. The relationship between Silicon Valley and the Democratic Party has undergone a dramatic shift over the past decade, with many tech leaders moving away from their once-strong political alignment. In 2011, President Obama asked how government could help Silicon Valley and nearly all of them seemed to back Democrats. But by the beginning of Trump’s second term, many powerful Silicon Valley elites — such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — had moved away from the Democratic Party, while others such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen strongly support President Trump and the MAGA movement. With their backing came not only massive funding for political causes, but also greater control over both traditional and digital media platforms. Can the Democratic Party succeed with some of the largest companies on earth opposed to it? Could the Democrats have preserved their alliance with Silicon Valley by, for example, adopting an “abundance” agenda and moderating its regulatory and anti-monopolist ambitions? Or, are “accelerationist” and other ideological commitments of these Silicon Valley elites incompatible with core Democratic Party principles? In this discussion, Archon Fung and Van Jones talk about the past and future relationship of democracy to US technology elites.
About our Guest:
Van Jones is a political commentator, author, and social entrepreneur known for his work at the intersection of social justice, economic reform, and environmental policy. A CNN contributor and former advisor in the Obama administration, he has founded several nonprofit organizations and is a prominent voice on issues ranging from criminal justice reform to political polarization. He is also the founder of RAPPORT.com and DreamMachine.org.
The views expressed on this show are those of the hosts alone and do not necessarily represent the positions of the Ash Center or its affiliates.