Is J.D. Vance The Best Politician A Billionaire Can Buy? TikTok vs Streamers. And the US Is Losing The Battle For Electric Power. Plus more! #216
Grüezi! I’m Adrian Monck – welcome!
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1️⃣ Vance Stance
From Republican writer to Trumpster fire (brand) 🥁
Politicians are opportunists when we don’t like them, pragmatists when we do.
Latest example? J. D. Vance, Donald Trump’s VP pick. Who is he? A US Senator who grew up in suburban Ohio, went to Yale Law School, and wrote a bestseller valorising his childhood – 2016’s Hillbilly Elegy.
After Hillbilly Elegy, Vance was briefly the acceptable face of conservatism for liberals, e.g. this from the opinion pages of the NYT. Vance rationalised the appeal of Donald Trump for “left behind” voters, whilst calling his platform “cultural heroin.”
And then in 2021, he ran for the US Senate. In a field of pro-Trump candidates, Vance adopted every MAGA position imaginable.
Veteran old school Republican Mitt Romney was disgusted: “I do wonder, how do you make that decision? How can you go over a line so stark as that—and for what?”
Romney ended with a classic elite condemnation:
“How do you sit next to him at lunch?”
To really stand out in his Senate run, Vance didn’t need Romney’s nod in the dining room, he needed Trump’s personal endorsement.
He got it. How?
That’s the second part of Vance’s story. If you read some of the links above you’ll see that Vance’s critique of Trump was that he was long on promises short on delivery. That he was lazy.
⏭ “Intergenerational poverty is inherited.” Meet 2016’s Vance.
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2️⃣ Man of Thiel!
The buying and selling of American politicians.
How did Vance get Trump’s endorsement? For that, he has billionaire ideologue Peter Thiel to thank.
Vance first met Thiel in 2011, at a talk he called “the most significant moment of my time at Yale.”
For Thiel, Vance was one of a number of political bets that very rich people get to place in America’s political system.
Thiel had blurbed Hillbilly Elegy and then hired Vance for his venture capital fund. He helped broker the Trump meeting that swung endorsement for Vance, then funded Vance into the Senate. As Paul Bradley Carr writes:
Whereas last time he simply donated money to Trump’s White House bid, this time he has donated an entire candidate.
But let’s stop for a moment.
Vance is not the only politician to be backed by Thiel. Nor is Thiel the biggest billionaire political donor – he lags behind other deep-pocketed billionaires.
Campaign donations are not contracts. Candidates may or may not be elected. In office, they are not obliged to deliver on campaign promises. And sometimes, they simply cannot deliver.
Democratic elections introduce an element of uncertainty into political decision-making.
⏭ Want to follow the money in US politics? Here’s a good place to start.
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3️⃣ Can Billions Really Buy Influence?
Hmmm. Let’s see...
Vance’s big opponent in his GOP primary was Josh Mandel. Mandel’s big financial backing came from a different billionaire bucket – the Club for Growth.
One of the Club’s big funders is also a big donor to Donald Trump – that’s Jeffrey Yass and his hedge fund Susquehanna International Group.
According to the WSJ, Susquehanna:
“owns around 15% of TikTok owner ByteDance... This makes Susquehanna the largest outside investor in the Beijing-based social-media company... sitting on a stake that could be worth more than $15 billion on paper...”
In a major interview aimed at business, former President Trump announced this week “I’m for TikTok.”
The same interview carried the disclaimer:
“Trump (who has a proclivity to lie)...”
Did Yass’s money swing Trump’s comment? Beware of building billionaire conspiracies...
⏭ The Republican TikTok flip-flop.
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4️⃣ Tiktok vs Traditional Media
People are voting with their eyeballs.
TikTok is killing streaming TV, according to Variety:
“TikTok now outstrips all other social platforms in watch time, with users spending an average 2.48 hours per day on the app.”
YouTube and Instagram too. YouTube’s culture and trends report came out this week.
Here’s what it means for public life:
Influence on Public Opinion: Reduced control over narratives due to fan-driven content.
Echo Chambers: Algorithm-driven fandom can increase political polarisation.
Misinformation: Higher risk of spreading false information.
Regulatory Challenges: Harder to regulate decentralised content per se. More of a case for regulating platforms themselves.
Engagement: Traditional campaigns may not resonate with digital-first audiences. Gen Z prefers digital “creators” over traditional figures.
⏭ A German report claims TikTok pushed young people to the far right.
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5️⃣ Battery-Powered Geopolitics
The company changing the balance of electric power.
The world’s biggest supplier of EV batteries is Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL). Based in Ningde, about halfway between Shanghai and Shenzhen, it was founded by physicist Robin Zeng.
Today it makes over a third of the world’s EV batteries, and 40% of the batteries used for energy storage.
In case you thought they might be stopping there. Coming soon:
An EV battery capable of powering cars for 1.5 million kms (930,000+ miles) with zero degradation (see video above).
Testing an 8-ton electric aircraft with 2-3,000 km range. (About the size of a Learjet 75.)
LFP batteries that charge from zero to 100% in 10 minutes.
The consequences will be as profound as the shift from coal to oil...
⏭ CATL is looking to raise money to expand its global supply chain.
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6️⃣ Why America Is Losing The Battery Wars
China is the refining champion of the minerals powering the 21C.
⏭ Want to compete? It will cost the US $920 billion by 2035 to catch up...
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7️⃣ Proving That TikTok Point Above...
Andrew Rousso is one of the funniest follows on TikTok/YouTube
⏭ Here’s Rousso’s TikTok.
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If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!
Best,
Adrian
