Aug 24, 2026 · 1h 19m
Listen from 23:59
Listen at 23:59
Bolivia plot exposes MAGA’s reach as Silicon Valley debates wealth taxes
8/24/26: Insane MAGA Linked Plot In Bolivia, Silicon Valley Panics Over Wealth Tax
The episode connects alleged political influence operations with a broader argument over billionaire power, taxation, and the changing ideology of Silicon Valley.
- 1An alleged assassination plot in Bolivia raises questions about MAGA-linked networks, Latin American influence operations, and political consulting.
- 2James O’Keefe’s legal victory and an FBI informant case sharpen competing claims about undercover journalism, terrorism investigations, and press freedom.
- 3Gabriel Zucman argues that taxing billionaire wealth is feasible, while hosts debate enforcement, redistribution, and government spending.
Don't miss
Gabriel Zucman explains why objections to wealth taxation resemble earlier resistance to progressive income taxes, then addresses valuation and avoidance.
The brief
An alleged assassination attempt involving the pregnant partner of political operative Fernando Cerimedo opens a wider examination of MAGA-linked networks across Latin America.
José Luis Granados Ceja connects Cerimedo to right-wing media, Brad Parscale, Israel, bot farms, and influence operations, while the hosts consider what those links establish.
The discussion turns to James O’Keefe’s legal victory and an alleged ISIS-inspired plot involving FBI informants, testing the boundaries of undercover reporting and investigative framing.
A clip from Chamath Palihapitiya frames Silicon Valley as less idealistic and more credential-driven, setting up the episode’s central debate over billionaire power.
Economist Gabriel Zucman argues that a wealth tax on the ultra-rich can be administered and defended, while Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky debate avoidance, spending, and political feasibility.
What was said on this episode
26 statements · 16 positive · 6 negative · 4 neutral
Cerimedo and Negre’s campaigns polarize Latin American electorates and successfully benefit right-wing candidates.
“these two gentlemen... joined forces to really kind of drive these kind of new campaigns in Latin America we're seeing, where they polarize the electorate, but really kind of run very negative kind of advertising, really negative kind of messaging to make it seem like not so much voting for the right wing candidate, but voting against his opponent. And that has been incredibly successful throughout the region.”
Listen at 6:51
Cerimedo’s political machine used bot farms and attacks to help Rodrigo Paz win Bolivia’s presidency.
“using bot farms, using kind of really aggressive, misogynist language, going after the mask, going after the left in Bolivia, and essentially handing the presidency to Rodrigo Paz”
Listen at 7:49
Brad Parscale and Fernando Cerimedo jointly operate a political consultancy firm.
“Pascal and Cerimedo are business partners. They have a consultancy firm together.”
Listen at 10:20
Bolivian authorities arrested Fernando Cerimedo in connection with the assassination attempt.
“the justice system in Bolivia is so confident about the situation that they have gone ahead and arrested him”
Listen at 11:05
Social and ethical concerns contributed to the rise of right-wing governments in Latin America.
“the rise of these right-wing governments in the region has been precisely around kind of, not socially conservative, but kind of social questions”
Listen at 16:39
Scandals portraying right-wing political operators as con men will reduce their effectiveness.
“these are now being shown to be con men, then they're not going to be as effective”
Listen at 18:30
WhatsApp disinformation was necessary to Bolsonaro’s presidential victory.
“Without these WhatsApp channels that were distributing this false information, this disinformation, I don't think he wins that presidency.”
Listen at 20:25
Online disinformation is especially effective in polarized Latin American electorates.
“It is extraordinarily effective. And I think it's particularly effective in Latin America because there's already an existing polarization.”
Listen at 22:25
Mexico is considering allowing foreign interference as grounds for annulling an election.
“foreign influence campaigns, I think, have become such an issue that here in Mexico, they're actually discussing right now the possibility of actually making foreign interference one of the reasons why an election can be annulled.”
Listen at 22:59
All three appeals-court judges largely sided with James O’Keefe in the Democracy Partners case.
“the appeals court, which is the three judges were two Democrats and one Republican. All three of them basically sided with O'Keefe.”
The appeals court protected deceptive public-bar recordings and their publication under the First Amendment.
“what they effectively said is that you can lie to somebody in a bar say that you're a democratic operative say you can say whatever you want in a bar like your first amendment allows you to lie and if you then trick that person into saying incriminating things in public then that's fair game and You can publish that. And that's First Amendment protected activity.”
Listen at 31:58
FBI informants supplied bomb-making ingredients and instructions to Jessica Bowie.
“They literally gave the full list of necessary ingredients to create a bomb. and started explaining how to do it,”
Listen at 40:16
Silicon Valley billionaires are spending hundreds of millions opposing California’s proposed 5% wealth tax.
“they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try to defeat what would be a very modest one-time tax of 5% on the wealth of California billionaires.”
Listen at 56:21
Silicon Valley billionaires’ wealth grew more than 200% over the last few years.
“their wealth, which has... grown by more than 200% just over the last couple of years.”
Listen at 56:36
Academic evidence finds wealthy people’s relocation responses to taxes are small.
“the academic literature is very clear in finding that those relocation responses are quite small.”
Listen at 57:38
California billionaires could not avoid the proposed tax by moving after January 1, 2026.
“you cannot avoid the billionaire tax if it passes in November by relocating to another state.”
Listen at 58:33
Progressive income taxation has worked successfully overall.
“We created the income tax. It's a big success overall.”
Listen at 1:01:57
Insurance values can provide a practical basis for taxing valuable paintings.
“If you have a very valuable painting, if you have a Picasso, it has an insurance value. And so you can use those insurance values.”
Listen at 1:02:44
Wealth better measures the super-rich’s tax capacity than income.
“for the super rich, wealth is a much better indicator of their ability to pay taxes than income, which is very easy to manipulate.”
Listen at 1:05:31
California’s proposed tax would be the first enacted tax on billionaire wealth worldwide.
“it would be the first ever tax on billionaire wealth enacted anywhere in the world.”
Listen at 1:06:02
Ninety percent of California wealth-tax revenue would fund health care.
“90% of the revenue would go to health care”
Listen at 1:07:46
Public investment in education, health, and infrastructure drives modern economic growth.
“these investments, public investments in those things, education, health, infrastructure, that have been the core and drain of modern economic growth”
Listen at 1:09:22
A wealth tax on shareholders should not affect underlying companies’ stock-market values.
“because the tax itself doesn't affect the profitability perspectives of the underlying company, it has no reason to affect its stock market value.”
Listen at 1:10:43
France’s proposed minimum wealth tax will eventually pass.
“I think it will end up passing.”
Listen at 1:13:27
California’s billionaire tax could initiate a process leading to a federal wealth tax.
“it's our best shot at starting the process, at launching the process that eventually will deliver this federal wealth tax.”
Listen at 1:15:16
Emily Jashinsky favors a flat tax and opposes progressive income taxation.
“That's why I like flat tax. I'm genuinely not in favor of progressive income taxation.”
Listen at 1:16:12
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.