Donald Trump | La poutocracy

There are obviously still many things to say about Donald Trump.

Starting with the reactions at home, the nervous collapse of a large part of the commentariat, how to break the news to your child, devastated specialists, angry at the United States who voted wrong… It went very far.

We speak out against the invasive American culture, but are in harmony with the political life of our neighbors. Should know.

It is certain that the result of this election will have direct consequences on Canada, its economy, its immigration, and on the progress of the world in general. But above all it concerns the citizens of the United States. It is up to them to decode their new social situation, their fractures, and to understand why MAGA makes something so powerful vibrate among the ostracized, as if this fantasized America was speaking directly to them.

Stating that Trump is a moron is convenient and a bit of a short analysis. We know his connections, his crimes, his lies, his licenses. But Trump 2.0 is anything but a stupid clown.

To understand what is happening and putting itself resolutely and quickly in place, we must stop whining and look ahead. Because the United States, and therefore the world, will really change. Its re-engineering has begun. The second mandate will be that of reconfiguration.

The fascism trail is tempting to explain Trump… but misleading. This is not about the fascism of the 1930s and its thumping of boots. We must turn our gaze towards the sunny paradise of Silicon Valley, of its super-rich and its thirsty for the power of new technologies.

Trump has no use for democracy, but he likes the appearance of it. He knew how to get elected by flattering and courting targeted, very defined groups of voters. He legally used democratic mechanisms.

But what motivates it, propels it, is plutocracy, government by the most fortunate. Which is far from cushy democracy.

Trump is a tycoon, certainly extremely wealthy, but not one of the constellation of the planet’s mega-rich, those for whom the private island, the media or space are no longer enough. Those who also want total power and who are starting to offer themselves countries, more or less directly.

The mega-rich of Silicon Valley made Donald Trump their political instrument, drowning him in millions during the election campaign. Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet (Tesla, X, SpaceX), invested around 200 million¹ in his foal.

Old-style capitalists controlled traditional sectors of influence, starting with the press, but this neolibertarian uses the tools of the future. Through high technology, the conquest of space, it infiltrates almost every corner of our lives and now, the management of the United States. The man who has the ear of the president-elect will co-direct DOGE, the Department of Government Effectiveness, an unprecedented operation to dismantle the State.

The conflict of interest is blatant. Musk will slash regulations, favor his companies, undermine the pillars of American democracy.

In The Chaos EngineersGiuliano da Empoli² shows how the strategists of the new American right reinvented the rules of their country’s politics, played on populism and opened the door to Trump. Which allows us to understand how it emancipated itself from the Republican Party to create its own authoritarian body, playing on nostalgia and assumed nationalism: the MAGA movement. Trump is not a clown, but the product of a relentless strategy. Another essay helps to understand the role of Silicon Valley, new technologies, social networks and artificial intelligence (AI) in the march to the White House and the control of political power: The Tech Coupthe Marietje Schaake³.

In recent years, under the cover of joyful innovations, tech companies have bypassed regulations and begun to become all-powerful, while remaining opaque to governments. From cryptocurrencies to AI, their tools are everywhere. Unbridled technology has become a highway to power for autocrats everywhere. Musk is its most lively and disturbing avatar. His billions, his tools, his libertarianism and his megalomaniacal thirst for power naturally led him towards Trump who, for his part, is fascinated by his new friend.

Between Washington and Silicon Valley, we are entering a new era of political life, led by the mega-rich, for them and their global companies. They are organizing a global and worrying takeover.

In his masterful essay, The provocative societyDahlia Namian⁴ quotes the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who explored the question of fascism. She writes: “Arendt never stopped wondering how the totalitarian phenomenon could haunt liberal democracies, manifest itself in perfectly regulated legal systems. […] But unlike totalitarian regimes like Nazism, the trivialization of evil can easily, in neoliberal societies, do without a leader. » Or, as we may soon see, take the form of a puppet leader, omnipresent as he may be, in the service of tech billionaires, who want to “reengineer” the world.

Ultimately, we should fear Musk more than Trump. They found each other. They will govern together, at least, in the beginning. Afterwards, who knows what will happen to Elon’s limitless ambition. After all, he will have already bought himself the president of the most powerful state in the world.

1. Read the article from Guardian « Elon Musk’s Super Pac spent $200m to help elect Donald Trump » (en anglais)

2. Giuliano da Empoli. The Chaos EngineersParis, JC Lattès, 2019, 203 pages

3. Marietje Schaake. The Tech Coup. How to Save Democracy from Silicon ValleyNew Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2024, 336 pages

4. Dahlia Namian. The provocative society. Essay on the obscenity of the richMontreal, Lux, coll. “free letters”, 2023, 240 pages

What do you think? Participate in the dialogue