Trump-Tech Bro. Collusion Is The New Russia Hoax | Bobby Burack

When Donald Trump took office in 2017, the legacy media scriptwriters presented the storyline that Trump colluded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to rig the 2016 election. 

Despite the lack of ample evidence to support such a scandal, networks like CNN and MSNBC mentioned the talking point night after night. Notably, the Russia Hoax turned queen Rachel Maddow into a household name, eventually landing her a $30 million annual salary.

As of January 20, Trump has officially begun his second term. And the media has already agreed on a new plot for the sequel. As this story goes, Trump plans to collude with the tech bros. to form an oligarchy in America. 

That was the talk of the land during his inauguration on Monday.

Jake Tapper interrupted a live cut-in during CNN's coverage of the inauguration to lament the setting of four tech CEOs behind Donald Trump, as in Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Tim Cook (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Sundar Pichai (Google). 

"Between those four people, plus Elon Musk from Twitter or X, those five people that I just mentioned before in the photograph, and also Elon Musk, control so much of the information that we receive so much is in their hands when it comes to ascertaining monitoring or refusing to monitor, monitor what is real what is not real," warned Tapper. "And we're about to enter an era of deepfakes and all sorts of misinformation."

The cast of MSNBC feigned similar outrage, implying that the tech leaders were cozying up with politicians and their families for the "very reason you think they are up there." 

Rachel Maddow: Kristi Noem, the nominee for homeland security, next to Apple CEO Tim Cook. How is this happening in America? How is this happening? Why are people with tons of money up on the dais with Cabinet nominees and family members?

Alex Wagner: It is a message.

Joy Reid: It is a message. And I think it and I think they are up there for the very reason that you probably think they’re up there.

Maddow: It’s – it is a pivotal moment here. Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of The Washington Post and Amazon and that space company standing in front of RFK Jr., the wildly controversial nominee to be Health and Human Services secretary, one who, interestingly, has not yet had his confirmation hearing scheduled

"The scene at the Capitol is shaping up to be a gross epitome of the Big Tech oligarchy [we] warned about after the election — and which President Joe Biden warned about Wednesday in his farewell address from the Oval Office," an article atop the MSNBC home page wailed.

The reference to Biden refers to his farewell speech last Wednesday during which he declared, "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."

Similar statements and tones can be found at the New York Times, the AP, PBC, and ABC News.

While the Russia Hoax was a media and DNC-wide conspiracy to undermine the credibility of Trump's presidency, the oligarchy talk is pure and blatant hypocrisy. The likes of Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos are oligarch-ish. They wield unprecedented power through their platforms, reach, and wealth. We understand the concerns about these billionaires snuggling up with politicians and their families.

But as we explained last week, oligarchy in America is nothing new.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: Priscilla Chan (L), Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R) attend the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Zuckerberg has admitted on several occasions that high-ranking members of the Biden administration pressured Meta to help the government skirt the First Amendment by censoring ordinary Americans on its behalf.

Leaked internal documents (#TwitterFiles) from previous Twitter ownership confirmed the same type of communication between former Twitter executives and the Biden-Harris administration.

The First Amendment prevented the Biden White House from suppressing the speech of his critics. So the tech bros. did it for him. Put simply, the tech billionaires censored Americans in exchange for preserving Section 230 of the Communications Act.

Yet, now, CNN and MSNBC say they worry those very tech leaders could influence lawmaking during the Trump administration. They probably will. However, how is that any different from Washington ignoring the threat that artificial intelligence poses to our power grid because lobbying on behalf of AI continues to set records?

As we reported in June, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta each spent more than $10 million on AI lobbying last year. However, as policy specialist Hamza Chaudhry explained to Time – because the definition of lobbying only includes speaking with staffers about specific laws – those figures likely drastically underestimate the amounts of money that tech companies spend on influencing lawmakers in regard to artificial intelligence.

Energy be damned. AI is crucial to the future of the oligarchy.

Last month, Biden awarded philanthropist George Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom. During Biden's term, Soros, a fundamentally rotten person, helped fund several local democratic campaigns in exchange for political influence.

America is not a true democracy. Politicians don't act in the best interest of the people. They act in the best interest of themselves and the people who've amassed the most wealth.

Power in America is just as much purchased as it is elected. The most powerful Americans are not elected but enriched. Collusion between politicians and the wealthy is found in every chapter of American history.

An oligarchy had taken shape in America long ago. The difference now is that some of the most powerful oligarchs in America are no longer exclusively in lockstep with the Democratic Party.

The pendulum, not the dynamics, has swung.

Therefore, the Democrats and legacy media now present themselves as courageous dissenters of the oligarchy. It's a myth. In reality, Trump is only disrupting the oligarchy in place.

But the script of him forming one appears to be the opposition's preferred narrative to combat his second term. Consider it the new Russia Hoax.