Bradley Tusk really wants people to be able to vote on their phones. For the past few years, Tusk, a venture capitalist, political strategist, and philanthropist, has been building new software to revolutionize the way people vote in the United States. In his new book, Vote With Your Phone: Why …
Read More »Trae Stephens Has Built AI Weapons and Worked for Donald Trump. As He Sees It, Jesus Would Approve
Trae Stephens’ origin story begins like the first volume of a spy thriller series. Galvanized by 9/11, he vowed as a high schooler to find a career that would let him defend his country. He applied to colleges with programs that could prep him for that heroic role. None were …
Read More »Teens Say Trump’s Former Personal Aide and Project 2025 Higher-Up Made Them Uncomfortable in Chats
In October of 2023, when Grace Carter was an 18-year-old freshman at North Carolina State University, she received a message on Instagram from the business account of the conservative dating app The Right Stuff. It was reaching out to ask if she wanted some merchandise. Carter didn’t know much about …
Read More »Russia-Backed Media Outlets Are Under Fire in the US—but Still Trusted Worldwide
In the lead-up to the 2024 elections, the Biden administration has taken aim at several Russian information operations. Earlier in September, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against two employees of RT, a Russian state-backed news network formerly known as Russia Today. At the heart of the indictment was …
Read More »A Mysterious School for the Network State Crowd Is Now in Session
Last month, venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan announced the Network School, a three-month learning retreat marketed to people interested in “network nations,” a kind of utopia for the anarchocapitalist set. The inaugural class is 150 people. It starts today. Details about the school have been shrouded in secrecy, even for the …
Read More »Anti-Immigrant Election Deniers Have Turned Their Online Following Into an Army of Activists
On Tuesday morning, celebrities like Stephen Curry, Olivia Rodrigo, and Kerry Washington used their social media platforms to mark National Voter Registration Day, a nonpartisan effort to get Americans to sign up to vote in November’s election. But at the same time, a group of MAGA influencers were rolling out …
Read More »Barron Trump Is Finally Taking the Stage
Donald Trump’s youngest son, and his only child shared with Melania Trump, has largely remained out of the public eye to the degree any former president’s child could. Well, until recently. Newly 18, Barron Trump is now a freshman at NYU and a burgeoning political adviser to his father. For …
Read More »Laura Loomer: The ‘Free Spirit’ Whispering in Trump’s Ear
From political fundraisers to the presidential debate to a September 11 commemoration, far-right influencer Laura Loomer has become a staple in former president Donald Trump’s political entourage. WIRED’s David Gilbert and Tim Marchman join Leah to discuss Loomer’s history of conspiracies and Islamophobia, and how she ended up in Trump’s …
Read More »US Senate Warns Big Tech to Act Fast Against Election Meddling
Top officials from Google, Apple, and Meta testified Wednesday before the United States Senate Intelligence Committee about each of their company’s ongoing efforts to identify and disrupt foreign influence campaigns ahead of the country’s November elections. The hearing, chaired by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, served largely to impress upon …
Read More »Project 2025 Would Drastically Cut Support for Carbon Removal
Over the past few years, the United States has become the go-to location for companies seeking to suck carbon dioxide out of the sky. There are a handful of demonstration-scale direct air capture (DAC) plants dotted across the globe, but the facilities planned in Louisiana and Texas are of a …
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