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Gil Durán

@gilduran.com
52K followers 2.4K following 4.9K posts

California writer. Ida Tarbell stan. Author: NYT Bestselling “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.” www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-… Newsletter: www.thenerdreich.com

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Reposted by Gil Durán
Sara Gaiser @akrazia.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This seems potentially bad
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Reposted by Gil Durán
Gazetteer SF @sf.gazetteer.co · 29/09/2026
Tonight, 300+ people will gather at Club Fugazi to hear from journalist @gilduran.com, whose bestselling book “The Nerd Reich” has everyone talking about Silicon Valley’s rightward lurch — and what might happen next. We chatted with Gil about the book, his readers’ top FAQ, and his next project.
sf.gazetteer.co
The rise (and rise) of the nerd reich
‘The Nerd Reich’ author Gil Durán connected the dots from Silicon Valley to the White House to the possible end of the world. He may take on Gavin Newsom next
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 29/09/2026
The rise (and rise) of the nerd reich, via @sf.gazetteer.co: ‘The Nerd Reich’ author Gil Durán connected the dots from Silicon Valley to the White House to the possible end of the world. He may take on Gavin Newsom next 😈 sf.gazetteer.co/the-rise-and...
sf.gazetteer.co
The rise (and rise) of the nerd reich
‘The Nerd Reich’ author Gil Durán connected the dots from Silicon Valley to the White House to the possible end of the world. He may take on Gavin Newsom next
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Reposted by Gil Durán
The Onion @theonion.com · 29/09/2026
Creatively Tapped-Out Peter Thiel Launches Startup Called ‘Frodo, But Evil’ theonion.com/creatively-tapped-out-…
Creatively Tapped-Out Peter Thiel Launches Startup Called ‘Frodo, But Evil’
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 29/09/2026
The 1st installment of Thiel's Nashville Antichrist lecture mirrored his previous lectures. But he launched aggressive attacks on Pope Leo, AI critics, & the Effective Altruist movement (that he funded). From 2025: What's up with Peter Thiel's Antichrist Obsession? newrepublic.com/article/2004...
newrepublic.com
What’s Up With Peter Thiel’s Obsession With the Antichrist?
The tech mogul is amping up his apocalyptic rhetoric—and adding a dangerous dose of extremism into the already-fraught culture war.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 29/09/2026
I obtained a recording of Peter Thiel's Nashville Antichrist lecture. He was asked to respond to something I wrote in @newrepublic.com epublic (below). He evaded the question, but responded: "I don't think I'm the Antichrist, [maybe I'm] lacking in self-awareness...You shouldn't trust me."
quote from Gil Duran story on Thiel and the Antichrist: Thiel co-founded Palantir, a software company literally named after an all-seeing orb controlled by an evil wizard in The Lord of the Rings. Palantir is partnering with the Trump administration to supercharge government surveillance at a moment when the president openly embraces authoritarianism. The irony is so striking it almost seems like a confession.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 29/09/2026
Lots of AI fakes
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Reposted by Gil Durán
Lexington Herald-Leader @kentucky.com · 29/09/2026
Lexington police say officers used their Flock camera database to try to find a car tied to a road rage case. It led them to the home of Samuel Penn, who had nothing to do with the incident.
bit.ly
Lexington police used Flock cams to find road rage suspect. It led them to an innocent man
Lexington police say officers used their Flock camera database to try to find a car tied to a road rage case. It led them to the home of Samuel Penn, who had nothing to do with the incident.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Karl Rove warns that the Texas GOP is being taken over by Nazis. “In the last 48 hours, Ted Cruz has reached out to me and says, ‘We’re losing,’ Ken Paxton has sent me several emails saying, ‘I’m losing, I need your help. Even the Republicans are admitting that they’re behind.”
sacurrent.com
Karl Rove says Republican Party is being taken over by 'Nazis'
The Bush-era GOP political operative also said Republicans would be winning the battle for Texas' U.S. Senate seat if John Cornyn was the nominee.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 29/09/2026
thank you! I appreciate it.
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Crystal Fleming クリスタル @alwaystheself.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Finally got my copy of THE NERD REICH! Excited, daunted, but also grateful to @gilduran.com for his important work 🙏🏽
Me holding a copy of THE NERD REICH
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Nashville Scene @nashvillescene.com · 28/09/2026
Scene staff reporter Eli Motycka was removed from the guest list for Peter Thiel's Nashville Antichrist lectures — and he's not the only journalist who was. 🧵
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 28/09/2026
“We have a cult of radicalized billionaires who believe it is their destiny to rule the 21st century…They know our system is for sale…not only in San Francisco but in Washington.” Read @esksf.bsky.social on how tech oligarchs bought San Francisco. missionlocal.org/2026/09/san-...
missionlocal.org
San Francisco's wealthiest have unprecedented control of city politics
Our city fathers (if you like them) or oligarchs (if you don’t) have never been richer, more brazen or faced weaker opposition
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Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For a live, sold-out recording of the @techpolicypress.bsky.social podcast, "The Nerd Reich" author @gilduran.com and D&S Director of Research @alicetiara.bsky.social talk about technology, ideology, and power. Listen now! www.techpolicy.press/gil-durn-map...
techpolicy.press
Gil Durán Maps the Rise of the 'Nerd Reich'
Justin Hendrix and Alice Marwick in conversation with Gil Durán, author of the new book The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Gil Durán says his book "The Nerd Reich" is about "a cult of apocalyptic billionaires who believe it is their destiny to end democracy." He joined Data & Society research director Alice Marwick and me to discuss the book last week at Betaworks. Listen: www.techpolicy.press/gil-durn-map...
techpolicy.press
Gil Durán Maps the Rise of the 'Nerd Reich'
Justin Hendrix and Alice Marwick in conversation with Gil Durán, author of the new book The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 28/09/2026
$100 for four four-hour sessions.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 28/09/2026
About what? His bromance with the very creeps about whom I write?
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 28/09/2026
What a shock…I have been barred from Peter Thiel’s Nashville Antichrist lectures despite buying a ticket. Was it something I said? As the world’s foremost expert on Thiel’s Antichrist obsession, I take great umbrage. This aggression will be answered.
The Nashville Antichrist
Lectures
Marked as Not Going
The host of the event marked you as not going. We hope you can join next time.
Your ticket has been refunded, and you have been removed from the guest list. Thank you.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 27/09/2026
Yep!
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 27/09/2026
cringe
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 27/09/2026
It's so important to give credit where credit is due, and we are strengthened when we acknowledge the crucial work of others. So, our joint event in San Francisco is a real full-circle moment. Already 200 RSVPs! Grab tix while you still can.
text from nerd reich book: Outside the strangest circles of the tech world, few people paid attention to the 2023 Network State Conference, which was livestreamed on social media. In San Francisco, however, a local activist named Emily Mills watched the entire conference and raised the alarm on Tan’s affiliation with e/acc and Network State. “Garry Tan is an Effective Accelerationist who wants to take over the nation and the world with that ideology utilizing Network State style strategies,” wrote Mills in November 2023. “This needs more reporting.” Where others might have seen Silicon Valley eccentricity, Mills saw proof of an ideological infrastructure being built in real time, complete with real estate projects and political strategies
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 27/09/2026
Emily did a lot of work but doesn't seek any credit. But my work would not have existed with hers. And it led me to the important work of many others. My book has 48 pages of citations, but it all started with her. "This needs more reporting," she wrote in 2023. I listened.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 27/09/2026
This stuff all sounded very kooky at first. I knew it was factual, but I didn't fully grasp its relevance at first. But Emily's long social media threads led me to other writers and researchers, and I realized it needed to be taken seriously. I credit Emily in my book and in interviews.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 27/09/2026
Some of us in San Francisco first heard of the Network State and related tech cults from Emily Mills. She documented how these ideas had infused our local politics. It sounded odd at first, but her work sparked mine. On Tuesday, we're onstage together in SF. Tix here: semaphore.thd.org/954-2/
semaphore.thd.org
THE TELEGRAPH HILL DWELLERS PRESENTS: GIL DURAN with Emily Mills
Join Telegraph Hill Dwellers for an evening with journalist and author Gil Duran, in conversation with Emily Mills, discussing his new book, The
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Dan O’Sullivan @osullyville.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Today I saw the new 4 hour documentary Musk, directed by Alex Gibney. There were too many times to count that a sold out theater burst out laughing at Elon Musk, something he said or did, even sometimes just how he looked. I believe that is his worst nightmare come to life.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 27/09/2026
He clearly wishes for the question to be raised
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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Journalism gets the goods: Tim Tebow "pauses" his partnership with this wealth seminar company after @kieraevebutler.bsky.social's investigation. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Tim Tebow “pausing” Christian seminar promotion after our investigation
“I think the allegations are extremely serious."
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Alex Gibney @alexgibneyfilm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The trailer for my new film, "Musk," has just been released.
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Grady Booch @booch.com · 26/09/2026
I can’t decide if people who assert that contemporary AIs can think or are conscious do so out of fear or out of envy. But I can say that any such people do so either out of emotion or perhaps driven by some pecuniary interest in it being true, not from any fully informed or defensible position.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
"Mr. Vice President: Peter Thiel played a decisive role in your life. Recently, he suggested that evil is good and called the Pope a 'useful idiot.' How do you respond to these extreme statements from your benefactor? Do you agree with him?" —Question a DC reporter should ask (but likely won't)
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Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
So....there's a lot of tea spilled about a lot of media outlets' willingness to be tools of corporate propaganda in my book. In hindsight, I probably should NOT have been surprised that many of those same outlets declined to run op-eds pegged to the book. But I kinda was! What thin-skinned babies!
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
I could care less
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
Lots of translations coming soon! Italy and Poland already heading toward publication. And the book was published in the UK/Commonwealth in August.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
Yo...I just wrote a book on Peter Thiel....
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
She always finds a new idiot or two to fall for her tricks.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
great!
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Duncan Jones @manmademoon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Mild consideration & curiosity might lead one to think that putting Peter Thiel at the heart of 🇬🇧’s NHS and military logistics might not be prudent…
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
He bought a mansion there. But he didn't move there full time.
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James Graham @jamesgraham.theliberati.net · 26/09/2026
The man who brings new meaning to the phrase “every accusation is a confession”.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
Peter Thiel praises evil. Peter Thiel hates democracy. Peter Thiel founded Palantir. Peter Thiel owns JD Vance. Peter Thiel is the most powerful billionaire in the United States. Peter Thiel can’t stop talking about the “Antichrist.” Find out why. Read “The Nerd Reich”
Perfect with photos of teal and Judy Vance. Quote from Peter Teal if you’re evil, you’re actually kind of good because at least you’re getting something done.
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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Data Center Don: Trump’s AI Debacle is a Big Opportunity AI. Crypto. Trump. All three are the same con with different wigs. New from me in @gilduran.com and @george-lakoff.com’s FrameLab There needs to be one party that puts people over data. And it better be Democrats.
theframelab.org
Data Centers Isuse Hurts Trump—If Democrats Pounce
AI. Crypto. Trump. All three are the same con with different wigs.
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Read Books, Not AI Slop @ireadnewspapers.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Evil is good. Should be on the sequel to 1984.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
It'll be back soon!
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Ermengarde Gersberms 🏳️‍🌈♠️ @hydrogenandtime.com · 26/09/2026
@gilduran.com's new book is the most rapidly vindicated take in the history of takes
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
My book exposes Peter Thiel because he's a radical extremist with scary beliefs who has attained stunning political power. He created JD Vance...and is now roaming the Earth, preaching about the "Antichrist." Here is Thiel saying evil is "good"...while receiving an award from Politico's owner.
cover of Nerd REich book by gil duran
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
Thanks! Sorrry!
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JMFP @jmfpv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just received: The Nerd Reich by @gilduran.com and Cyberselfish by Paulina Borsook. Living in Portugal and watching Silicon Valley ideology reshape Europe — these are essential. The problem is well beyond the US. and Big Tech's political project knows no borders.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 25/09/2026
The conundrum: how to acknowledge what one failed to see without admitting incompetence. On the other hand: how does it look to ignore that which has become increasingly and undeniably obvious? (And will only intensify) Decisions, decisions
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 25/09/2026
all three?
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 25/09/2026
Now that both "The Nerd Reich" and "End Times Fascism" (by @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social) are New York Times best sellers ... it's getting weirder and weirder that certain prominent tech critics have nothing to say on the subject. Stupidity? Cowardice? Complicity? 🤔
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