I have been eagerly anticipating this important new book from Gil Durán, a Bay Area journalist who has been blowing the whistle on the new religion emerging from Silicon Valley—a religion that has penetrated into the heart of the American government. Now his well-researched expose has appeared in all its drama and alarm.
Called The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, it does not disappoint. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Durán lays out the facts behind the headlines about AI and crypto and the philosophy behind them—a “decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.”
That should make one’s hair stand on end—and the book does that. This may be the most important book of our time, for it unveils the true purpose and personalities behind the billionaires and new trillionaire riding the waves in today’s American media and government. Chapter titles include “Peter Thiel and the Politics of Apocalypse”; “JD Vance and the Road to the White House”; “Tech Fascism Unveiled”; “Antichrist: Silicon Valley’s New Religion”; and the summary chapter, “The Future: Billionaires or Democracy.”
Durán assures us that we cannot have both billionaires and a democracy, and the decisions already made by certain fascist billionaires in very high places in government and the media (which they own) have already demonstrated that.
The book begins with a warning from President Biden as he exited the White House: Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. Durán compares it to President Eisenhower’s farewell address that warned of the rise of a “military-industrial complex” with “the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power.”
He recalls how, during a speech celebrating Trump’s inauguration, the world’s richest man twice performed a Nazi salute “while standing behind a lectern affixed with the official seal of the President of the United States.” Elon Musk then took charge of DOGE and the dismantling of key parts of the federal government. Having contributed $300 million to get Trump elected, he bought himself a “kind of co-presidency.” By dismantling USAID, he condemned a projected 14 million people to death by 2030, many of them children.
Musk is just one of the Silicon Valley oligarchs now running the American government. In 2025, the tech industry revealed its true face. Devoid of any moral scruples or loyalty to democratic principles, many of Silicon Valley’s most well-known figures chose to openly ally themselves with a president who would soon, with their help, check every box in the authoritarian playbook.
In Trump’s first presidency, these leaders stood up to him. Not so, his second time around. At the 2025 inauguration, many of America’s richest men were seated around Trump—and had paid to be there. Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichat and Musk.
Behind the scenes was Peter Thiel, whose influence “would prove more pronounced and durable than Musk’s.” Within two months of Trump’s administration’s swearing-in, sixteen men from Thiel’s companies held positions of power in the new administration. He also convinced Trump to name Vance, his protégé, vice president of the United States.*
Silicon Valley’s technological innovations generated “massive and unprecedented fortunes” which birthed “a new class of Silicon Valley super elites who chafe at laws, regulations, and taxes and view themselves as superior to the government that created them.” Their inventions in AI, crypto, and surveillance have established them in positions of immense government power.
Yet they are fearful, also—“of accountability, law, mortality, reality” and are pursuing their goals “with a fervor so relentless it has become religious.”**
To be continued.
* Gil Durán, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, pp. 1-5.
** Ibid., pp. 251f.
For Matthew’s past DMs on Peter Thiel, click HERE.
Banner Image: Windows in the Church of Silicon Valley? Wikimedia images of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel, manipulated on Canva.
Queries for Contemplation
How do you feel about entrusting a government to oligarchs with no “moral scruples or loyalty to democratic principles”?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ
Sins of the Spirit, Blessing of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation
Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson and Jen Listug: Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
