One of the few good things social media has done is expose the malignant vacuousness of Silicon Valley types. Listening to Jason Calacanis on @timmiller.bsky.social ‘s podcast will awaken your inner Lenin, whether you think you have one or not. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Wow, Tim. Great expose of capitalist rot by the self-immolation of Jason Calacanis on your podcast. Good work.
This pod made me lose my mind. Couldn’t finish it. I am not an angry person but I just wanted to punch this smug asshole in the face so bad. What a depressing display of selfishness.
Spoiler alert: It never gets better.
Delululu. At best they’ll get theirs before they run this whole thing into the ground. No one is flying the plane.
1. This man would rather deal with an openly corrupt govt than a functioning democracy 2. He is also clearly unable to objectively observe & analyze events 3. If he is representative of the CEO/$$ class, we’re cooked cooked 4. We must regulate them, not count on their good will or good judgment
Re: #1 — 100% true and YET HE KEEPS CALLING HIMSELF A CAPITALIST. “Rigged markets are fine… provided of course that my friends and I can afford the bribe.” As my kids say, we’re cooked, chat.
I just turned it off. Unbearable. Blow Hard. Typical tech douche who thinks because he has success in A, he’s an expert in B-Z. Cherry picks and ignores facts. Why did Tim showcase this guy with very little pushback?
New York Times Pitchbot: Opinion | I’m a free market conservative who believes government should be small enough to drown in a bathtub. Here’s why I support Trump’s takeover of America’s microchip industry.
Sidebar: I Love Tim Miller to death so I kind of hope this episode was to awaken my inner pitchfork wielding peasant.
NYT is A$$ now (i cancelled sub & someone regifted) WAS useful to look up old historical articles (scanned cys all way back to 1800s) Since 1/2025, NYT had Ai program scrub(hide links) to ANY articles that made Dump look bad, articles about Trump ,Ghislaine,Epstein, Melania, Ivana late 80s-mid90s
The most “Burn It All Down” moment for me might be when he cheerfully excuses Trump making the tech industry bribe him because, essentially, tech oligarchs can afford to pay bribes. His whole position can be boiled down to “Unlike Biden, Trump lets us bribe him. Therefore, he is good.”
The mask always slips.
I know what you mean, but to me the fascinating thing about this interview is that Calacanis makes no attempt to mask anything. He just cheerfully mentions that Trump is doing well because the stock market hasn’t crashed and Lina Khan can’t be mean to his friends anymore.
Yeah..you’re right
It was hard to listen and in the end I had to stop. All I could think was that I wouldn’t want to be this man’s kid or this man’s friend or this man’s wife. Heck I wouldn’t want to sit next to him on a plane for an hour.
To Tim Miller, I pay monthly for Bulwark via Substack and yet I can never seem to access the podcasts. I don't wish to subscribe to apple for this. Is there some other way to access it?
I get the podcast for free on Spotify.
I've had occasional issues where I couldn't get the videos to play on the Firefox browser and had to switch to Google Chrome
I use Pocket Casts. Pretty easy to use and lets you access the subscriber episodes.
Ladies and gentlemen, the capitalism Jason Calacanis YEARNS for: @timmiller.bsky.social www.axios.com/2025/08/15/w...
JC: “Yeah, Tim, I don’t support this kind of thing at all.” Tim: “But you won’t say that to Trump’s face.” JC: (Laughs) Tim: “And you’re going to make business decisions to ensure your companies are on this list.” JC: “I’m just playing the game on the field!”
Just an aside but I just remembered how many times Calacanis said “yeah I’ve bought that domain name.” That’s weird. That’s a weird thing to do.
“When I run for president.” “I want over a billion more immigrants but don’t call them immigrants..” odd duck.
I made myself listen. i was shocked by the cruelty and callousness. Every time he said performative and abhorrent I felt like he was talking about himself. His believes all is well because the 0.001 percent of billionaires are happy. Not a dollop of compassion for the 90 percent who are fucked.
He was so breezily stoked about the imminent arrival of human-free Amazon delivery. Once the government helps us use AI to eliminate both entry- and mid-level jobs, Tim, just think of how marginally cheaper goods will become!
We’re putting millions out of work. No biggie. They can invest their lucrative severance packages from ethical companies like Amazon into Bitcoin and the stock market and making a killing. The hubris. FFS. I’m all for creating 5 high tech cities on Mars for billionaires. They all have to go.
The best thing was at the end when Tim asked Calacanis if he thought trump was a good man. Calacanis was stunned into silence for practically forever. I loved it and can’t even remember what he came up with once the cat gave him his tongue back.
Best question - he had no idea it was approaching. Brilliant interview skills by TM.
(Long pause) “I can’t see into the man’s heart…” So good. Especially b/c earlier he “casually” mentioned that as an “angel investor” (wanking motion) he “invests in founders, in people” or whatever. Sounds like you’re in the business of “reading hearts” dickweed. Why can’t you do it w/ Trump?
Oh, yeah! More nitwittery.
Jason seemed like a nice guy. But is completely full of shit.
The word that comes to mind is grifter.
I actually don’t think Calacanis is a grifter. I believe Tim when he said at the beginning that he believes JC argues his positions in good faith. That’s why JC doesn’t bother hide anything. He *really believes* that America is fine as long as tech oligarchs are doing well and he just… says it.
His tone is “I’m a reasonable guy!” but he doesn’t even try to hide that he only thinks Trump is doing a good job because Trump is good for him and his tech oligarch pals. “Tim, Trump is good *for me and my billionaire friends*. What about that don’t you understand?”
Listening to him excuse Trump’s excesses as performative while ignoring the people affected was infuriating. We are living in a make belief authoritarian government.
That was fucking maddening. Tim had just mentioned at the beginning of the podcast that he’d interviewed one of the men who was locked up in CECOT and then he let this guy say it’s fucking PERFORMATIVE????? So disappointed.
It was constant excuse after excuse for Trump. Even the things JC didn't like were couched in an equivocation. "Trump just wants to be liked"
“Wellllll, Tim Cook is just ‘playing the game on the field’ when he publicly bribes Trump. And remember, Tim, Biden wouldn’t even LET any of us bribe him — not even in private!”
It’s that level of disrespect, failing to allow them to bribe him, that is why Biden was so bad. And there was no way Harris was going to let them bribe her. So of course Trump has been “solid”. He is such a clown.
Tim is 100% spot on that these guys were butt-hurt that they weren't "invited to the party". It's all about ego. Jason even confirmed it by constantly trying to shift blame to Lina Khan. Within 5 minutes of listening to him you could tell what a petulant child he was.
There are too many Tim Robinson Focus Group sketch “He admits it!” moments to count. Crying that Lina Khan made it marginally more difficult for him and his tech oligarch buddies to run their galaxy-sized Ponzi schemes was one of them.
Didn't he say something about the Rule of Khan or something like that? What a trashy thing to say. I'm sure him and his tech bros thought that was sooo funny. /rollseyes
Wow. How can a person be so devoid of a moral compass? Everything is “just business.” F*** the oligarchs.
I would rather actual tech radicals talk about being okay with humanity going instinct while they live in their bunker than someone taking all the spoils, ignoring the much greater problems being inflicted on others (certainly much more of an infliction than antitrust regulation was on this dude)
And then to try to claim some moral high ground for being more open minded on some issues relative to your pals- just read the room, dude.
“Hey, could you guys just go back to being the Unabomber?”
I listen to most Bulwark podcasts even when I disagree- but I cannot finish this one. The dripping disdain for any attempt to rein in the tech industry, the shortsightedness of the right now v the future, the incessant insistence that he isn’t part of the problem- it is grotesque.
Tim took him down at the end with the simplest question anyone could have possibly come up with.
Same! I l lasted about five minutes. Did Tim push back?
Tim was great as always. I just tried another 5 minutes and had to shut it off again- discussions of how Biden admin gave the "perception" (but perhaps not the reality???) that it was "anti-business." Then namechecking such power brokers as Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, etc.- like wait, what??
Also the example of the perception of anti-business was, wait for it, Biden not inviting Elon that one time to the White House. He also gave away the game saying that "no amount of lobbying" was enough. Yes, dude, we all feel terrible that perhaps you made *slightly less* money than you could have.
It’s all vibes with these thin-skinned motherfuckers. The only acceptable political conditions are complete deference to their egos and whims.
Yes, vibes and also justification. Like- okay so you probably made a bit less money. But you weren't disappeared to CECOT, correct? Seems like his priorities are a bit off.
He’s mad the Biden admin wouldn’t let him and his buddies bribe them! And he just says it! Out loud!
He's regurgitating the same drivel Marc Andreesen has been pushing for years, via their personal chat groups and on public podcasts.
OMG, I listened to Andreessen’s appearance on the Rogan podcast at the behest of a Trump-y relative. The full 2.5 hours or whatever. You’re correct. It’s the same nonsense right down to openly complaining that the Biden administration wouldn’t let tech oligarchs bribe them.
I'm an ocean away, in Holland, but when i saw Big Tech enter the White House late last year, it was quite easy to dig up who's who. Thiel thinks himself a puppet master, Andreesen dominates every talk with a tsunami of factoids so has zero corrective feedback, Musk the braggadocious scapegoat...
Wow yeah... The most original thinkers in their little ingroup sounding board of 'in the know' pseudo-contrarians are Andreessen and Thiel. I've chose to endure listening to their talks, how they mix up rhetoric, rationality and reasonability, seemingly without much self-reflection... Flabbergasting
JC: “… I actually hate politics.” Tim, giggling, “You sure spend a lot of time talking about it.” JC, “Uhhhhhhh, uhhh, I have to. Because (something something both sides bad).”
lol- that was the best part.
And don't worry, AI will solve all of this. Sigh....it's just so exhausting
The AI portion was a tell. He admits there would be massive job losses but there would be a lot of money made by these corporations. These people see us as collateral damage.
He says if we are under 60 today we will be skiing at 100. Easily. Easily. Seems to genuinely believe it which weirded me out.
Somehow, Zuckerberg and the rest of these fucking tools had convinced both the left and the right in DC that the future of America required them to control social media, internet commerce, etc. across the globe. That America would falter without this concentrated control.
One, an LLM is just a rolodex operated by a Tamagotchi, and don't spawn superintelligence. Two, superintelligence may take two generations to roll out through all industries. Three, mixing unregulated AI with unregulated social media is monstrous. Four, the crypto Clarity Act will break the dollar
Moral vacuity. Lack of apology or even minimal recognition of the imbalance between what is being taken away, lost or abused, and what is being delivered. Someone asked if Tim Miller pushed back. I’d say only minimally. He seemed very much a babe in the woods on this one.
Did you watch the video? I just listened to the audio version and I had a similar reaction to yours at first. But if you watch some of the video clips I think it’s more clear that JC is reeeeeeeally uncomfortable and Tim is laughing at him the whole time.
Interesting, because no. I listened to the podcast while driving.
I don’t disagree with your take on Tim’s level of pushback. In the moment I was like “START YELLING AT HIM, DAMNIT.” But Tim sorta ended up giving JC enough rope to hang himself. Over and over and over again. To the point that JC cheerfully admits to being a lefty fever dream version of himself.
I see your point on “giving him enough rope”. I think he even declared his, and his fellows, profit before people ideology. (I’m paraphrasing) But he hid behind that “just business” argument throughout.
1. I have been teaching my students about the lunacy of it for a decade. It doesn’t take them long to figure out how much evil would emanate from it. How it is antithetical to democracy and community, and how quickly it would devolve into chaos. Lefty anarchism is childish, rightwing is evil.
2. Leftwing anarchists do/did not believe in the state, and was created in the mid to late 1800s when the state wasn’t doing more than protecting oppressive mine and factory owners, war fighting and imperialism. It was just beginning to build infrastructure, universities and research institutes.
3. Right wing anarchism is a rejection of the current state, whatever that maybe. Anarcho capitalism is a rejection of democracy and economic regulation. It favors a state, but only for the protection of the oligarchy. It resembles fascism.
Id suggest ancaps are neofeudal.
There are hybrid forms, like anarcho-syndicalism, libertarian socialism, mutualism or the mix between corporatist social-democracy and monarchy like here in Holland. The problem is extremism. They're like a Penrose triangle, it works at a distance, in moderation.
There is no such thing as “right-wing anarchism”. Anarchism is created by the working-class not academia.
"Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism" "Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy" "Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ and the Capitalism of the Far Right"
There's anarcho-capitalism, but it's more a sort of exitarian imperialism. Escape from democracy and set up one's own kingdom, maybe get one's own cryo chamber and wake up again in the year 2525...
I listened to the podcast on my way home from work in the car and I don’t think I’ve ever screamed “OH MY GOD” out loud by myself so many times before. That interview was stunning.
Same! I listened while I was going for a run and I must have looked like an insane person. Randomly throwing up my hands in exasperation and yelling “Oh come ON!” every five minutes while normal people just out for a walk sliiiiiide away from me.
“Mergers and acquisitions lead to better options for consumers and create job growth.” Like…in what fucking universe?
Holy shit, this. I’m not going to pretend like I’m an expert on economics, but man that claim just does not pass the smell test for me. Later on, Calacanis even claims that more M&A’s will somehow “produce the next Apple.” WTAF?
We are dealing with an Economic Power Game. Accounting/finance should have been mandatory in high schools since 1950. Where is the data on the annual depreciation of automobiles since 1950. Economists are mostly just rationalizing the Power Game. Who hires and pays them?
In 2029, President Pritzker should invite all these guys to the Oval Office and then just make fun of them to their faces in front of a gaggle of reporters.
That guy had me screeching The Internationale at an 11. @timmiller.bsky.social you’re a better man than I!
Glad to see that I’m not the only one. I’m not super familiar with this guy, or his podcast, so with Tim’s intro I was like ok he’s not against giving Trump credit where credit is due, but good lord. Guy lives on another planet.
I used to listen to their podcast but couldn’t any more after the election. These guys would watch the country burn to the ground and celebrate it as long as it improves their stock portfolio.
I was so disgusted by the rank selfishness and self-importance I had to listen to it in 3 parts and was still so enraged I couldn't fall asleep until 2am.
Spent my morning in a meeting trying to figure out how to keep a nonprofit healthcare provider solvent given looming Medicaid cuts. I switched on my favorite podcast to calm down ….
Ahhhhh-hahaha… yeah, this one was not super zen.
I do need to 👍 to Tim Miller for not pushing back too hard on Calacanis so to pull out more of what he thinks he can say. People like this, or Mark Cuban, it's sad that they are to be taken serious.
I couldn’t handle the not pushing back. These people are in such a bubble, they can’t think outside that bubble.
In a bubble, on a hill, behind a fence and a moat... and in another timeline. Their conceptualization is just so different from what can be considered normal. It's a bit like the Truman Show, if rewritten by Stephen King. "Trump just wants to be liked"... so did Jeffrey Dahmer i guess...
“Dahmer was desperate for human connection, Tim. All the cannibalism stuff was just performative.”
...
Yes! At first I was like “Yell more, Tim!” But I think the reaction to JC happily confirming every possible criticism of tech oligarchs is more revealing.
Yeah, i do like it when Tim throws right-wing podcasters into the meat grinder. Yet, most are merely lying, and they're not delusional. It's more revealing, especially with people with such influence, to make themselves expose themselves when they feel at ease. Worse aftertaste but better lesson.
The smug ignorance. The hubris. The shortsightedness. The sneering contempt for any previous attempt to level the playing field. The breezy excuses for Techno-State Capitalism. All while telling himself that he’s a “moderate.”
Listening to him on the drive home was so infuriating. And everything was vibes. He came with 0 data. Makes me wish Tim would have had Grok fact check him live. Maybe when they do it again in 6 months.
I’m telling you, there is something about this episode and the things Jason Calacanis says in it that are an accelerant for a Popular Reconstructionist movement. @jamellebouie.net , @aoc.bsky.social , take note. There’s something here.
Will have to second that, just look up Quinn Slobodian on how neoliberalism turned into anarcho-capitalism, but it is actually imperial throwback to establish little empires.