Tech bros are getting what they deserve — after backing left for years

Nypost · May 16, 2026 · 935 words · By Joel Kotkin

Wealth inequality California Economic Policy Political polarization

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/16/opinion/tech-bros-are-getting-what-they-deserve/

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 90% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

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Name Calling / Labeling 100% confidence

Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.

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Causal Oversimplification 70% confidence

Assuming a single cause for a complex issue.

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Appeal to Anger 80% confidence

Provoking outrage to bypass rational evaluation of an argument.

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Exaggeration / Hyperbole 80% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

13 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 6

schedule Pending 3

verified Verified By Reference 2

check_circle Corroborated 1

help Insufficient Evidence 1

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“California, a state with more billionaires than any other.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence consists of general Wikipedia and tourism pages for California; none of the sources provide data on the number of billionaires per state.

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web search NEUTRAL — California (/ ˌkælɪˈfɔːrniə /) is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, and Nevada and Arizona to the east; it also shares an internation…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California

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web search NEUTRAL — CA.gov is the official website for the State of California. You can find and access California services, resources, and more.
https://www.ca.gov/

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web search NEUTRAL — Find things to do, places to visit, and experiences to explore at Visit California, the Golden State’s official tourism site. Learn about national parks, hotels, restaurants, beaches, mountains, citie…
https://www.visitcalifornia.com/

info

“big players like Salesforce, Meta, and Google have aggressively cut payrolls while announcing big profits.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provided for this claim contains only general Wikipedia descriptions of Meta and login pages for Salesforce/Google, with no mention of payroll cuts or profit reports.

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web search NEUTRAL — Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Threads, and Manus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_Platforms

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web search NEUTRAL — Go to Salesforce Trial Account Login page.
https://login.salesforce.com/sfc/

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web search NEUTRAL — Картинки. Войти. Google. Расширенный поиск.
https://www.google.com/

verified

“Since 2022, the state’s share of high-tech jobs has dropped from 19 to 16 percent.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence provided consists of general state information and political election results; there is no data regarding the percentage share of high-tech jobs in California.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Two 2022 United States Senate elections in California were held concurrently on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of California. There were two bal…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_States_Senate_elec…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Adam Channing Gray (born September 23, 1977) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for California's 13th congressional district since 2025. A member of the Democratic P…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Gray

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kevin Patrick Kiley (born January 30, 1985) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 3rd congressional district since 2023. Previously, Kiley represented the 6th d…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Kiley_(politician)

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

“residents suffer the country’s highest cost-of-living adjusted poverty rate”

SINGLE SOURCE

One source ('spiked') mentions California has the highest energy prices and high living costs, and another mentions high housing/food expenses, but neither explicitly confirms the 'highest cost-of-living adjusted poverty rate' as a statistical fact across all states.

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web search NEUTRAL — Percent of Americans living below the poverty line in each U.S. state, and the District of Columbia.Referenced data for the four other inhabited U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Ma…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ…

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web search NEUTRAL — California now has the highest energy prices in the continental US – almost 30 per cent more than the national average – thanks to the governor’s pursuit of Net Zero and his obedience to green dogma. …
https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/08/18/gavin-newsom-the-ch…

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web search NEUTRAL — California has the highest average housing, second highest transportation, and third highest food expenses in the country. Much of this is invisible to the top 20% and 5% of California households, who…
https://www.climatedepot.com/2025/04/03/climate-change-drivi…

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“the highest functional illiteracy”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provided for this claim are general Wikipedia and government portal pages for California, which do not mention illiteracy rates.

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web search NEUTRAL — CA.gov is the official website for the State of California. You can find and access California services, resources, and more.
https://www.ca.gov/

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“the worst housing unaffordability in the continental U.S.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources describe California's housing market as facing a 'reality check', being in the 'midst of an unaffordability crisis', and having some of the highest costs in the nation.

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web search NEUTRAL — California: The Golden State's Housing Market Facing a Reality Check? California, the land of sunshine and dreams, has long been synonymous with sky-high housing costs. For years, it seemed like price…
https://www.noradarealestate.com/blog/states-facing-the-majo…

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web search NEUTRAL — No one disputes that California is in the midst of an unaffordability crisis and scholars on all sides agree that increasing housing supply is the only long-term solution. But local and state leaders …
https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2015/02/26/califor…

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web search NEUTRAL — California political elites passionately desire to be seen as “the cutting edge” on climate change. State policies drive electricity and fuel prices to among the highest in the nation, putting million…
https://americanmind.org/salvo/fully-oligarchic-luxury-calif…

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“The state that has the nation’s most billionaires now ranks as the single worst state in terms of creating jobs that pay above average.”

SINGLE SOURCE

One source ('Gavin Newsom trashed California') claims the state suffers from high poverty and tepid job growth, but there is no corroborating data to support the specific claim that it is the 'single worst state' for creating above-average paying jobs.

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web search NEUTRAL — California is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California

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web search NEUTRAL — But the average Californian has not benefited much from his regime, as the Golden State suffers among the nation’s highest proportion of the population living in poverty , tepid job growth and the US’…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/gavin-newsom-trashed-cal…

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web search NEUTRAL — Compare average salaries by state and see how location, occupation and gender shape earnings across the U.S.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/average-salary-by-st…

info

“donations to progressive Democrats are markedly greater than those to Republicans [by Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta].”

SINGLE SOURCE

A Vox article explicitly states that Google, Apple, and Amazon have donated dramatically more to Democrats than Republicans. Other sources provided are general Wikipedia entries or about Elon Musk, which do not corroborate the specific group of companies mentioned.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Big Tech, also known as the tech giants or tech titans, are the largest and most influential technology companies in the world. It most commonly denotes the five dominant firms in the U.S. technology …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Tech

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is an EU regulation that aims to make the digital economy fairer and more contestable. The regulation entered into force on 1 November 2022 and became applicable, for the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Markets_Act

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Meta Platforms, Inc. (doing business as Meta) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_Platforms

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

“In 2024 two of five Kamala Harris’ top five corporate contributors, including employees, were Alphabet (Google) and Apple”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided Wikipedia results discuss Indian Americans and Donald Trump's inauguration/endorsements; they contain no information regarding corporate contributors to Kamala Harris.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Americans

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of notable American non-officeholders who endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Donald_Trump_2024_pres…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States took place on Monday, January 20, 2025. Due to freezing temperatures and high winds, it was held inside the U.S. Capitol ro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_inauguration_of_Donald_…

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“Congressman Ro Khanna... whose campaign coffers include money from places like Google”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

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“Tech oligarchs and their foundations have been major contributors to front roups like the Tides Foundation”

PENDING

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“through the Silicon Valley Community Fund, chipped in big bucks to Black Lives Matter”

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“Amazon... have also delisted books that offended their left-of-center prejudices.”

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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.

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Tech bros are getting what they deserve — after backing left for years

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