Why Tech Billionaires Couldn't Buy the 2026 Election | Hard Fork

The episode argues that the midterm results were a broad rebuke to the tech right, with Elon Musk emerging as a political loser after spending hundreds of millions of dollars and getting little back. The host and Ezra Klein say anti-AI sentiment, fear of data centers, and general anti-billionaire backlash all fed Democratic gains, while Erin Griffith adds that Silicon Valley’s “build it and they will like it” attitude has badly misread public trust.

A major thread is that AI itself has become politically toxic. Klein says many voters see it as a technology whose leaders seem untrustworthy, while Griffith argues the industry’s reliance on usage numbers and inevitability arguments misses the point that people may be using AI without wanting the future being sold to them. The discussion also links local fights over data centers to larger statewide outcomes in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, and Arizona.

Later, Teddy Schleifer breaks down the donor scoreboard. He says Reed Hoffman and Sergey Brin appear to have gotten what they wanted, while crypto and AI megadonors had mixed or poor returns. The segment closes with the idea that money still matters in politics, but not enough to overcome a backlash against the people and the future that money is trying to buy.