Rise Of The Oligarchy

Air Force One landed in darkness. The inauguration was hastily moved indoors. Something very different was happening - this was an inauguration taking place in the eye of a storm.

Hours earlier, President Biden delivered his final address from the Oval Office, speaking of the Statue of Liberty's ability to withstand fierce storms. "She sways a few inches," he warned, "but she never falls into the current below." As he spoke of an emerging oligarchy threatening democracy, few knew that a different kind of storm - codenamed "Salt Typhoon" - had already reshaped America's power structure.

Behind the official explanations of weather and crowd size, a months-long Narativ investigation reveals a hidden realignment of global power. Our reporting traces a transformation that began in the uranium mines of apartheid South Africa and leads directly to America's AI future.

At its center are four men who emerged from apartheid's collapse to reshape Silicon Valley: Peter Thiel, Roelof Botha, David Sac…