United States | Lexington

How Donald Trump could win the future

The Democrats’ appeal to Silicon Valley is eroding

Illustration of Trump riding a mechanical robot horse, holding the reins confidently, while a cheering crowd watches in the background
Illustration: David Simonds

Their nickname may not have aged well, but their ideas proved powerful. In the early 1980s a group of rising Democratic congressmen started calling for the American government to promote a “high-tech revolution”, to stoke the economy, to counter competition from Japan, and to help their own party shuck its statist, retrograde image. They became known as the Atari Democrats, after the company that turned television sets into platforms for a breakthrough video game, Pong. One of those Democrats, Al Gore, succeeded in passing a law in 1991 that, as he put it, would “link your computer to millions of computers around the country, give you access to huge ‘digital libraries’ of information, and deliver services we cannot yet imagine”.

Explore more

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “TechnoMAGA”

From the November 23rd 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
Donald Trump arrives for his speech to a joint session of Congress as Melanie Stansbury holds a sign reading "This is not normal"

Donald Trump’s Washington reaches a new partisan peak

His address to Congress showed that Republicans will follow their leader anywhere, and that Democrats don’t have one

Election 2025 NYC Mayor Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo plots a comeback in New York City

The disgraced former governor announces a run for mayor of the Big Apple


US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for a press conference - US flags in the background and Hegseth's pocket square with US flag too.

Trump’s armed forces won’t look like Biden’s

America is set to spend more—and differently 


Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s savvy dealmaker

The novice diplomat embodies the president’s transactional worldview

America has never had state media like it does today

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are revolutionising presidential communication

America’s Gen Z has got religion

Because of them, a long decline in the number of Christians has levelled off