Welcome to the political scene, a weekly discussion about the big questions in American

politics. I'm Evan Osnose, and I'm joined, as ever, by my colleagues Jane Mayer and Susan

Glasser. Good morning, Jane. Hi, Evan. And good morning, Susan. Hey, there. Great to be with you.

Folks, we have a pretty fascinating topic for you this week. In the weeks since Elon Musk came to Washington, we have felt a growing urgency to trace what's really going on beneath this new kind of chaos, less the personalities than the

ideology. By now, I think it's pretty clear we're witnessing more than just the DC version of

move fast and break things. This is something closer to a new political force. And it goes by

various names, including the tech right or the cognitive

elite. They want to remake government, or in many respects, unmake it in hopes of advancing

artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and more. So what is this political project? What does it

mean for society? What does it mean for business? What does it mean for regular people? And what do they really envision for Washington? Today we're going to hear from a journalist and critic who spent years writing about the political evolution of Silicon Valley. But first, Jane, Susan, this episode is one we've wanted to do for a while.

It covers some ideas that until recently, we're a very long way from Washington, D.C.

And I'd love your sense of when this started to crystallize for you.

Jane, what were the signs that some of these more exotic ideas from Silicon Valley were not just in town for a visit,

but we're really trying to reconceive of how Washington works.

Well, actually, I went back and looked, and on February 2nd, I got a panicked call from a source

who had been at the very top level of the Fed here in Washington,

and she said to me, you've got to do something, you've got to get reporters on this.

There were these young guys with hoodies who'd gotten into the top level of the Treasury Department,

and they were trying to get their hands on the information, the data and codes that had to do with very secret stuff that's totally protected inside the treasury that could affect the whole economy if they messed with it.

This was the payment system, I think, which then later became public. Fascinating.

Susan, what about you? When did this come into focus?

Look, this is probably the most dramatic upsell in the history of political fundraising, right? Elon Musk

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