The Group Chat from Hell Has Been Exposed

36 johnshades 7 4/30/2025, 10:11:44 PM thenation.com ↗

Comments (7)

fnordpiglet · 5h ago
I was an early Netscape guy and got to know Marc. He was always a bit of a putz. Especially compared to Jim Barksdale, which would be an inescapable comparison as Marc would often follow or precede Jim at all hands and stuff. Marc also had a weird life style where he bought this really nice Palo Alto mansion where he kept untrained dogs that ruined the place by pooping and peeing and tearing the entire place up. It was sort of a metaphor for his general responsibility in life and effectiveness as a leader.

We went different ways in life and I’m sure he wouldn’t remember me - I went to Wall Street and then PNW and stayed close to real technology with computers. He did what he’s doing now. I’ve always been glad I am not Marc. That’s been sort of a core theme in my life. Whenever I feel down, I just look up what he’s up to now.

alabastervlog · 5h ago
How common in history has it been for this much of the supposed Ruling Class to be so foolish that they're practically untouchable by parody? Is this a remarkable feature of this last decade or so, or is it more typical than I think?
ryandvm · 3h ago
I kind of wonder this too. Were the despots and magnates of antiquity always such rizzless losers as this crop or do we have the distinct indignity of having our faces smushed into the dirt by absolutely classless goons?

Where are the Bond villains and the Hans Grubers?

ivape · 5h ago
Chamath is one of the All-in podcast members, and that entire group has an outsized role in American politics at the moment. There is a podcast that is targeted toward the youth, and Chamath was basically there regurgitating and promoting the current Administration's tariff policies (David Saks is part of the Admin too).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmDt_zAlL8E

You have to follow their whole entire game, it's multi-faceted. They are not just sitting around in a group chat, they are out there doing the leg work. What's a Silicon Valley VC doing on a youth-oriented podcast promoting the Administration's policies like this?

Edit:

I was actually fooled by the All-In podcast because I actually believed it was just business oriented podcast, but man these guys are totally knee deep in politics, they've leveled up. They have an agenda.

alabastervlog · 5h ago
TFA alludes to the chats' real significance being that they act as vehicles for aligning views and priorities for exactly that sort of outside-the-chats public messaging.
chasing · 4h ago
> They are not just sitting around in a group chat, they are out there doing the leg work.

They’re doing the propaganda leg work, I guess.

But it remains shocking to me just how lazy and un-thought-through so many of these dudes’ actual ideas are. Just hollow to the point of collapsing at the slightest interrogation.

walterbell · 5h ago
> Silicon Valley VC .. the Administration

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?