#1792 Capitalist Class Warfare: AI, Billionaire Capture, and the How to Fight Back
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 16 May 2026
⏱️ 198 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date: 5/15/2026
Today we examine what it would actually take to claw back democracy from billionaire capture — and why some people think it's more possible than it looks. We'll hear about California's proposed billionaire wealth tax, AOC's vision for change that doesn't depend on positional power, and why Peter Thiel's new "AI Tribunal of Truth" may have accidentally revealed exactly what the ruling class fears most.
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TOP TAKES
KP 1: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Possible 2028 White House Run - C-SPAN - Air Date 5-8-26
KP 3: Tech Billionaires Want Us Dead - Taylor Lorenz - Air Date 1-19-26
KP 6: The Case Against Billionaires | Chuck Collins - Washington Monthly - Air Date 1-5-26
(00:47:44) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Who Owns the Upside?
DEEPER DIVES
(00:59:03) SECTION A: TECH POWER, SURVEILLANCE, AND THE END OF TRUTH
A2: The End of Work: Why Your Kids Won't Have Careers in 15 Years - Trevor Noah - Air Date 4-19-26
A3: This Is Actually Terrifying - Struthless - Air Date 4-16-26
(01:23:24) SECTION B: BEZOS, AMAZON, AND THE HUMAN COST
B1: "Tax the Rich" Is Hate Speech!? - PissedMagistus - Air Date 5-11-26
(01:32:00) SECTION C: HOW THE TAX CODE BUILT THE ARISTOCRACY
(02:08:11) SECTION D: IDEOLOGY OF CAPITAL
D1: Why Liberals Always Side with Fascists - Michael Burns - Air Date 4-15-26
D2: How Capitalist Propaganda Sneaks Into TV Shows - Marcus Werner - Air Date 4-17-26
D3: The Capitalist Mindset - The Market Exit - Air Date 9-9-25
(02:34:00) SECTION E: MARKETS IN THE MIND
E1: Clavicular Is What Marx Warned Us About - Harper O'Connor - Air Date 5-10-26
E2: How Oligarchs Hijacked America in Just 16 Year - Benaminute - Air Date 4-30-26
(02:55:22) SECTION F: BUBBLE, BACKLASH, AND THE WAY FORWARD
F1: It Will Be 17 Times Worse Than the .com Crash - Upper Echelon - Air Date 5-7-26
F2: How to Live a Life That (actually) Matters - The Market Exit and Rutger Bregman - Air Date 9-19-26
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast. Today we examine what it would |
| 0:08.0 | actually take to clawback democracy from billionaire capture and why some people think it's more |
| 0:13.3 | possible than it looks. We'll hear about California's proposed billionaire wealth tax, |
| 0:18.5 | AOC's vision for change that doesn't depend on positional power, |
| 0:22.3 | and why Peter Thiel's new AI Tribunal of Truth may have accidentally revealed exactly what |
| 0:28.2 | the ruling class fears most. For those looking for a quick overview, the sources providing |
| 0:32.4 | our top takes in about 45 minutes today include C-SPAN, more perfect union with inequality media civic |
| 0:39.3 | action and Robert Reich, Taylor Lorenz, Brittany Page, pitchwork economics, and Washington |
| 0:45.3 | Monplay. |
| 0:46.4 | Then, in the additional deeper dime staff of the show, there will be more in six sections. |
| 0:50.3 | Section A, tech power, surveillance, and the end of truth. |
| 0:54.2 | Section B, Bezos, Amazon, and the Human Cost. |
| 0:57.9 | Section C, how the tax code built the aristocracy. |
| 1:01.7 | Section D, ideology of capital. |
| 1:04.5 | Section E, markets in the mind, and section F, bubble, backlash, and the way forward. |
| 1:10.9 | And now, on to the show. |
| 1:18.4 | It's funny because in this op-ed that Jeff Bezos paid for in the Washington Post, |
| 1:24.6 | there was this line that you had mentioned earlier about what in the Washington Post. |
| 1:29.1 | There was this line that you had mentioned earlier |
| 1:30.5 | about, well, as a potential |
| 1:33.1 | 2028 contender, |
| 1:35.6 | XYZ. And in the context of that, |
... |
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