James Pogue

There's just a kind of, I don't want to say centrist, but there's a kind of normie Republican wing of all of this that is frankly just larger. They already live here. You don't need to vet them in the same ways. They're just around. They're on Fox News. They're in... one might even say the establishment.

There's just a kind of, I don't want to say centrist, but there's a kind of normie Republican wing of all of this that is frankly just larger. They already live here. You don't need to vet them in the same ways. They're just around. They're on Fox News. They're in... one might even say the establishment.

And so like, I think it's okay for me to say this in public, but so I attended the passage ball that I wrote about in my last New York Times piece, which was sort of billed as the outsider ascendancy ball.

And so like, I think it's okay for me to say this in public, but so I attended the passage ball that I wrote about in my last New York Times piece, which was sort of billed as the outsider ascendancy ball.

And I talk about it in there because it was explicitly set up as like, last time the outsider ascendancy ball was the deplorable and it was like goofy and it was like insane and had all these like white nationalists and all this blah, blah, blah. The passage ball was black tie. Steve Bannon spoke. There were tech people there. Curtis Yarvin's there. The Red Scare Girls are there.

And I talk about it in there because it was explicitly set up as like, last time the outsider ascendancy ball was the deplorable and it was like goofy and it was like insane and had all these like white nationalists and all this blah, blah, blah. The passage ball was black tie. Steve Bannon spoke. There were tech people there. Curtis Yarvin's there. The Red Scare Girls are there.

This is the cool kid thing. And Bannon gave a speech where... to the quote tech bros in the audience, he offered an outstretched hand. He did not go to war there. He said, we all need to be together because if we're not all together on this, this is all going to get lost in another failed charge up the hill to conquer the deep state. And so ironically in all of this,

This is the cool kid thing. And Bannon gave a speech where... to the quote tech bros in the audience, he offered an outstretched hand. He did not go to war there. He said, we all need to be together because if we're not all together on this, this is all going to get lost in another failed charge up the hill to conquer the deep state. And so ironically in all of this,

My guess would be that actually if the tech right and this sort of new right, or however you want to put it, the MAGA core, can actually stay together and get their people in and form a coalition that feels powerful to Donald Trump, then we really are going to have a pretty intense change in how American government works. And we're going to see a lot of pretty intense stuff that they do.

My guess would be that actually if the tech right and this sort of new right, or however you want to put it, the MAGA core, can actually stay together and get their people in and form a coalition that feels powerful to Donald Trump, then we really are going to have a pretty intense change in how American government works. And we're going to see a lot of pretty intense stuff that they do.

There is a possibility that they dissolve into nonsense and that we get something that looks a little closer to 2016.

There is a possibility that they dissolve into nonsense and that we get something that looks a little closer to 2016.

And I would just add to this, as much as people might talk and think about the ideological differences between these people, in terms of the social worlds, when you go to a party at a tech billionaire's house in the Bay, when you go to a party hosted by Palladium Magazine, when you go

And I would just add to this, as much as people might talk and think about the ideological differences between these people, in terms of the social worlds, when you go to a party at a tech billionaire's house in the Bay, when you go to a party hosted by Palladium Magazine, when you go

to the social spaces where this kind of new aspiring counter-establishment socializes and meets people and that sort of thing. You're having people from both wings. They know each other better than the more normie Republicans.

to the social spaces where this kind of new aspiring counter-establishment socializes and meets people and that sort of thing. You're having people from both wings. They know each other better than the more normie Republicans.

Yeah. The interesting test case would have been if Matt Gaetz had gotten confirmed. Because, you know, sort of behind the scenes—and I'm sure you probably are exposed to this, too. Like, I have leftist anti-monopoly lobbyists and activists texting me going, "'Wow.'" whatever you think of Gates, like if he gets confirmed, he's going to go hard on like anti-big tech, anti-monopoly, things like that.

Yeah. The interesting test case would have been if Matt Gaetz had gotten confirmed. Because, you know, sort of behind the scenes—and I'm sure you probably are exposed to this, too. Like, I have leftist anti-monopoly lobbyists and activists texting me going, "'Wow.'" whatever you think of Gates, like if he gets confirmed, he's going to go hard on like anti-big tech, anti-monopoly, things like that.

And so there are some people who are exposed to these worlds who are in the inner circle and in the potentially cabinet level echelon. There are people, you know, I actually don't know at this time what position, if any, Blake Masters will get, but he probably will get something.

And so there are some people who are exposed to these worlds who are in the inner circle and in the potentially cabinet level echelon. There are people, you know, I actually don't know at this time what position, if any, Blake Masters will get, but he probably will get something.