In a revealing interview on Roseanne Barr’s podcast, Nicole Shanahan, Silicon Valley attorney and former running mate to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., offered an inside perspective on how tech giants and the Democratic Party have become inextricably linked.
Shanahan shared that the tech industry’s political shift was largely catalyzed by the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Shanahan argued that this election exposed vulnerabilities in the political landscape and spurred an unprecedented mobilization within Silicon Valley.
Shanahan discussed how Silicon Valley shifted its political engagement after the election, where tech leaders, notably Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, faced blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump.
“Mark Zuckerberg was blamed for the loss of Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump,” Shanahan said, pointing to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Russia’s alleged interference in the election.
Facebook’s role in the dissemination of disinformation, paired with its failure to curtail Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of data, put Zuckerberg at the center of a political firestorm.
Shanahan underscored the significance of the fallout within Silicon Valley, stating that the scandal permanently altered the relationship between tech and politics.
“This was made a massive deal in Silicon Valley. It changed everything,” she remarked, adding that the incident reshaped the political landscape of the tech industry.
“It made everyone realize in the valley that this little motley crew of wealthy millennial a**h*les were changing the entire landscape of geopolitics.”
Shanahan suggested that after 2016, the focus of political fundraising shifted dramatically in Silicon Valley, where tech leaders began developing highly organized, politically driven networks.
“There’s all these different strategic arms using tech to figure out how to win elections,” she explained.
Tech companies became deeply involved in political strategies, seeking to influence electoral outcomes and align themselves with favorable political agendas.
Zuckerberg, in particular, was reportedly used as an example of what not to do when navigating the intersection of tech and politics.
Shanahan’s comments highlighted how the 2016 election turned Silicon Valley into a more politically charged environment.
Tech entrepreneurs, who were once seen as disruptors, found themselves being held accountable for the outcomes of their platforms.
“Mark Zuckerberg was made an example of for what never to do and he then became the poster boy for if your system is used to take down a Democrat candidate, you will be held accountable for it,” she said.
Reflecting on the broader implications, Shanahan commented, “The way that it was looked at in 2016 was that tech broke politics…Tech broke politics and Silicon Valley was whipped into shape.”
This sentiment echoed concerns that the integration of tech into political campaigns had eroded traditional political structures, leaving voters more vulnerable to manipulation by sophisticated data analytics and algorithm-driven strategies.
The intersection of Silicon Valley and Washington D.C. deepened following the election, per Shanahan.
As tech leaders faced greater scrutiny, political bundlers from the Democratic Party sought to establish relationships with them.
“There was no coincidence that all of these big Democratic party bundlers and tech people popped up at the same time that all of these new requirements, social requirements, around tech popped up. It came hand in hand,” Shanahan said.
In an era where tech regulation and political fundraising converged, Shanahan noted that Silicon Valley executives were increasingly recruited into government roles.
She cited former employees of major tech firms who later joined the Obama and Biden administrations, emphasizing that this trend was part of a broader strategy to align Silicon Valley with Democratic policies.
“It started this whole new trend of… ‘we need Silicon Valley to shape up and participate and represent the Democratic Party,’” Shanahan asserted.
Shanahan’s comments come amid speculation about Mark Zuckerberg’s current political stance.
While Zuckerberg refrained from endorsing any candidates in the ongoing election, he has distanced himself from his previous political involvement.
Resist the Mainstream reported that last month, Zuckerberg informed Congress that he would not donate funds to local election efforts as he did in 2020, when he contributed $400 million to assist with election administration.
Despite attempts to reduce his political footprint, Zuckerberg has faced ongoing criticism from conservative groups, accusing him of ceding to Democratic demands in prior elections.
Interestingly, Zuckerberg has recently portrayed himself as a Libertarian in an apparent effort to distance his personal politics from the tech company’s past political entanglements.
His actions suggest a clear pivot away from partisan involvement, a move that Shanahan’s interview indirectly addresses as part of a larger reckoning in Silicon Valley.
The post RFK Jr’s Ex-Running Mate Nicole Shanahan Details Exact Moment ‘Tech Broke Politics’ appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: Jordyn M.
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