The unholy faith of Trump and Musk
Looking around the world it is impossible to avoid the ascendancy of Donald Trump’s most important partner and America’s first true oligarch. He has increased his wealth by $250 billion since his host was elected president with 49.9 % of the vote.
We are shared witnesses to the birth of something monstrous and new — something that could not have existed in any moment before this one over the last 80 years.
A single man, the richest in the world, a South African by birth and American through naturalization, he is seeking to topple the governments of Great Britain, Germany, France and other nation states after success in the United States and Canada. He senses weakness, and he is attacking. He is trying to take power across the globe in a way that no human has ever attempted. It is remarkable to watch unfold because it is driven by the same wishful thinking, delusions and self-interested clap trap that is perfectly captured in this nonsensical quote by the government of the hapless German Chancellor Olaf Scholz:
In Germany, the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized Musk by name and predicted that his social media posting would not work with the public.
“The normal people, the sensible people, the decent people are far in the majority in this country,” a government spokesman said, according to the national broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
“We act as if Mr. Musk’s statements ... could influence a country of 84 million people with untruths or half-truths or expressions of opinion. This is simply not the case,” he said.
Indeed, nothing could lead the Germans from the path of democracy. MAGA could only happen in America.
When Trump steps forward and delivers his inaugural address it is important to appreciate what it is you are bearing witness to through the shock of his proclamations and assertions.
The world we share — and the way it functions — was the result of a war that was barely won, and which would have submerged humanity into the abyss of slavery had it been lost. The most important day of the last 125 years was June 6, 1944, when everything hung in the balance that truly matters
Every American president from FDR through Barack Obama protected the peace of the world by sustaining the institutions that maintained strength and kept the chaos of mayhem and Armageddon at bay. The intensity of memory about the events that were barely survived faded over time until, at the end of the long life times of the people who endured them, there was no memory that mattered of them that was left.
The promise that the survivors asked us to make was “Never Forget,” and too many have. They did not ask for themselves, but rather to help ensure our survival.
The election of Trump and the rise of Musk tell us that we have outrun the fear of what nearly destroyed the world. We have outrun the wisdom of those who rebuilt it. We can’t remember — or at least not enough of us can.
We are upon a new frontier unmoored from the protections of deep understanding and the lessons learned from the edge of the abyss, where 100 million human beings were annihilated in a war. We have lost the ability to even comprehend what happened.
There is a movie on Netflix that will help you get your head around what it is I am talking about. It will remind you that freedom is not just an American word.
The movie is called “Number 24,” and it is one of the best and most brilliant war movies that I have ever seen. I urge you to watch it, and to think about the questions posed. They deserve the deepest contemplation.
Everything that Donald Trump says to his supporters is steeped in one of the oldest and most dangerous lies ever told.
It is the lie that says to a person that they are better than someone else because they were born that way. Looking down on someone as a faith has always led to catastrophe here on the good earth.
This is the faith of MAGA and Musk. It is an unholy one.
History has taught us that we have learned nothing from history. We are a nation of imbeciles.
Yes. That's the beating heart of authoritarianism: that my group is better than yours, as a birthright. The idea that all humans are created equal is anathema to authoritarians.