Taylor Lorenz

reactionary VCs that constantly want to engage in marketing, but because they're so out of step with culture, they haven't made anything that average people outside Silicon Valley hype circles consume.

And yeah, they're all excited about mafia.

They all were very excited saying the same, like,

you know, glazing around Marc Andreessen's Clubhouse show, which ultimately made no impact.

And maybe, as Natasha said, it's fine because it's just about deal flow, but they haven't made a show that's really broken through.

I think Dwarkesh, the outside people have.

Oh, no, no, no.

On X. On X. No, sure.

They've bought the... I think X has been the most successful way that they've... Ownership of the platforms and the way that they've been able to seize control of our algorithms has been far more influential than all of their little dumb high production marketing stunts, which I think

I just don't see the evidence that those have really gone far to change opinion, whereas controlling a social media platform, putting these ideas and aligning themselves with the MAGA movement and hopping on these broader cultural shifts, I think that's been far more successful for them.

I just want to say one thing, which is that like, I think that they have also like grifted onto these like broader trends.

Like I just think like if you, cause you can look at any industry and they're a lot less like quote unquote woke than, than in 2020 or 2021.

And so I think that, like, they just, again, it's not so much that they're good at producing content, but I do think they're good at reading the tea leaves and amassing power and amassing internet power and, like, recognizing that MAGA was amassing power.

I mean, there was that viral clip of Marc Andreessen also on some podcast where he, was it Joe Rogan, where he was talking about how he had a meeting with Biden and Biden said that he was going to outlaw AI or some ridiculous story that's probably not true.

It's not.

But, yeah.

But the point is, is like they recognize that Trump would be advantageous to them very early.

They used platforms like the All In podcast, which we haven't mentioned here, and like these other sort of like network to amass a lot of power.

And I think that that has been successful.

And maybe the mafia game is sort of just a continuation of that broader like network economy of pushing these ideas.