-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Deconstructing the new American oligarchy
Resent-From: juancarlos.demar...@polito.it
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2025 16:03:28 +0000
From: Brian Merchant <bloodinthemach...@substack.com>
Deconstructing the new American oligarchy
Musk and Trump are showing us what authoritarian rule looks like when
everything's computer.
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here
<https://substack.com/redirect/2/eyJlIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9ibG9vZGludGhlbWFjaGluZS5zdWJzdGFjay5jb20vc3Vic2NyaWJlP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPWVtYWlsLXN1YnNjcmliZSZyPWhidmgmbmV4dD1odHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRmJsb29kaW50aGVtYWNoaW5lLnN1YnN0YWNrLmNvbSUyRnAlMkZkZWNvbnN0cnVjdGluZy10aGUtbmV3LWFtZXJpY2FuLW9saWdhcmNoeSIsInAiOjE1OTU2NTkzOCwicyI6MTc0NDM5NSwiZiI6dHJ1ZSwidSI6ODA4NTQxLCJpYXQiOjE3NDMwMDUyOTYsImV4cCI6MTc0NTU5NzI5NiwiaXNzIjoicHViLTAiLCJzdWIiOiJsaW5rLXJlZGlyZWN0In0.5xXMZyiqTdZg_YJFEEyc9NuEDpTWQSIh2O866jkqsDo?>
for more
<https://substack.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.Z6g1BoXPGbjdvqAu61FE2peQgOiJij4RbFGsu9nYd5g?>
Deconstructing the new American oligarchy
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1744395&post_id=159565938&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=hbvh&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo4MDg1NDEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE1OTU2NTkzOCwiaWF0IjoxNzQzMDA1Mjk2LCJleHAiOjE3NDU1OTcyOTYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNzQ0Mzk1Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.LN0ShYs_WRYNE_jpaPiKJoUocsJ7Ru6K4JgDbq2QzJ0>
Musk and Trump are showing us what authoritarian rule looks like
when everything's computer.
Brian Merchant <https://substack.com/@bloodinthemachine>
Mar 26
<https://substack.com/@bloodinthemachine>
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1744395&post_id=159565938&utm_source=substack&isFreemail=true&submitLike=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo4MDg1NDEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE1OTU2NTkzOCwicmVhY3Rpb24iOiLinaQiLCJpYXQiOjE3NDMwMDUyOTYsImV4cCI6MTc0NTU5NzI5NiwiaXNzIjoicHViLTE3NDQzOTUiLCJzdWIiOiJyZWFjdGlvbiJ9.k3ifXAN0wbES3A8BFGBgEfHHMWzLB2pzi7I34M3VMTM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-reaction&r=hbvh>
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1744395&post_id=159565938&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&isFreemail=true&comments=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo4MDg1NDEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE1OTU2NTkzOCwiaWF0IjoxNzQzMDA1Mjk2LCJleHAiOjE3NDU1OTcyOTYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNzQ0Mzk1Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.LN0ShYs_WRYNE_jpaPiKJoUocsJ7Ru6K4JgDbq2QzJ0&r=hbvh&utm_campaign=email-half-magic-comments&action=post-comment&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email>
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1744395&post_id=159565938&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&action=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=hbvh&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo4MDg1NDEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE1OTU2NTkzOCwiaWF0IjoxNzQzMDA1Mjk2LCJleHAiOjE3NDU1OTcyOTYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNzQ0Mzk1Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.LN0ShYs_WRYNE_jpaPiKJoUocsJ7Ru6K4JgDbq2QzJ0>
<https://substack.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.LA1HoA2wBMqcl1sDLeXxFYhLkfk2w49zpHbTREgLOz8?&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email>
READ IN APP
<https://open.substack.com/pub/bloodinthemachine/p/deconstructing-the-new-american-oligarchy?utm_source=email&redirect=app-store&utm_campaign=email-read-in-app>
Two genres of image loom large over the news feeds of the Trump 2.0 era
so far: photos of shackled men and women, rounded up for detention and
deportation, and pictures of various modes of Tesla protest; vandalized
Model 3s and assailed dealerships. They are not unrelated, of course,
the latter capturing the spasms of resistance to the cruel authoritarian
state documented by the former.
Those images of migrants being herded into airplane cargo holds, into
tents, into detention centers
<https://substack.com/redirect/d8635f82-9b22-486c-8eb6-b30fbcb8a2d1?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
of tourists who were thrown into solitary confinement, of Mahmoud
Khalil, the Columbia student arrested by ICE, of the Venezuelan migrants
deported to a prison camp in El Salvador, gruesomely posed and
photographed by the state itself, the photos proactively disseminated
for maximum dystopian effect
<https://substack.com/redirect/deed96fb-24f4-418f-9705-2d180fb0c403?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
exemplify the brutal and performative politics of a Trump regime
consolidating executive power and lustily fulfilling campaign promises.
The cuffed migrants given no due process before being shipped to a
brutal prison camp, the tourists offered no reason for their extended
confinement, Khalil charged with no crime.
Then there are the husks of burnt-out Teslas, RESIST scrawled across the
showroom walls, the protestors with Swasticar signs. The images are a
stirring and constant reminder that the most ubiquitous site of protest
to the horrors above, to the gutting of the federal workforce, to the
systematized dehumanization of migrants and minorities, to the general
slide into fascism—is a car dealership. The target is a luxury tech
product, and the protestors and saboteurs make it unignorable that we
are in the ides of an American oligarchy, and that we must recognize its
singular authoritarian and retributive character if we are to hope to
effectively confront and eventually dismantle it.
/Thanks as always to the supporters who make this work possible—this
newsletter is 100% reader-funded. If you would like to pitch in and are
able to do so, $6 a month or $60 a year lets me keep the lights on. You
can read more about my mission here
<https://substack.com/redirect/5e15ddab-d98d-4197-8813-f00798487643?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>.
Many thanks—and hammers up./
Upgrade to paid
<https://substack.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.w_ddAGObrlwLJhPq2LNlEm-6fehMqV300nU4Y35y3yc?&utm_medium=email&utm_source=subscribe-widget&utm_content=159565938>
<https://substack.com/redirect/7ae6fa76-02cc-4aad-8831-b4dbaba757fc?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>
Elon Musk and Donald Trump on the White House grounds with a CyberTruck.
Image via the White House Flickr account
<https://substack.com/redirect/ce069fa6-7207-4b84-996a-b222e2403686?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
remixed with Adam Fuhrer’s glitch art generator
<https://substack.com/redirect/59831bf5-c1bc-4e1f-8a98-b413aa43687e?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>.
On X, where so many of these images rain down—the deportation porn
promoted by the site’s owner, the posts featuring charred EVs swimming
against the algorithmic currents—Elon Musk attacks judges whose
injunctions are slowing the mass deportation effort
<https://substack.com/redirect/7aba11ef-4be0-4684-86af-dc682c82a0b6?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
retweets broadsides against political opponents, and boosts accounts
that come to the defense of Tesla, including but not limited to the new
Director of the FBI, Kash Patel. On Monday, Patel affirmed on the
platform
<https://substack.com/redirect/0273acbe-0427-4745-8996-b6f00c4524fd?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>that
the bureau would be investigating property crime against Musk’s electric
car company as domestic terrorism, and earned himself an RT from Musk in
the process. Patel joins US attorney general Pam Bondi, commerce
secretary Howard Lutnick
<https://substack.com/redirect/1b5820c7-53db-4310-b282-73c6dee66917?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
and president Trump himself in circling the executive wagons around
Musk’s car company, launching a federal task force
<https://substack.com/redirect/5b9c3f5d-7a8f-43a6-ab8a-cd20447509ea?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>to
investigate vandalism against Teslas and Tesla dealerships.
Three men who have been arrested for three different incidents of
vandalism on Tesla property—in South Carolina, Colorado, and Oregon—now
face twenty years in prison
<https://substack.com/redirect/fa9f67f7-8898-4e33-a609-1e935385b497?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>on
terror charges brought by Bondi’s Department of Justice. In case the
threat of retribution for dissent wasn’t made clear by all the due
process-free imprisonments and deportations, Trump went ahead and made
the link explicit:
“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail
sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla," he wrote ina
Truth Social post
<https://substack.com/redirect/e0afd40b-79aa-416f-93f3-26610f9bf77c?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>.
"Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have
become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!"
It’s not all bluster. As WIRED’s Caroline Haskins reports
<https://substack.com/redirect/6e24916e-bc2f-449e-b9cd-d9ba746967d1?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
the domestic terror designation gives federal and local law enforcement
new powers to surveil protestors, and for Musk and DOGE to access data
turned up in the investigations. In other words, the richest man in the
world, the owner of seven tech companies—including the most important
right-wing propaganda platform—whose wealth is bound up in part in the
value of a car company, is facilitating the state response to people
protesting his unelected role in dismantling federal services and
accelerating the drive to authoritarianism.
So here we are. It has been simultaneously surreal, disturbing, and
continuously unsurprising to watch this unfold. After decades of
worsening income inequality, of the hollowing out of state capacity, of
concentrating power among the ultra-rich, this is reality now.
Considering the new heights of influence reached by the Silicon Valley
tech giants, and the emboldenment of the titans who run them; the notion
that the most erratic, richest, and most desperately approval-seeking
among them would seize power? Well, it tracks.¹
Of /course/there’s Elon Musk, installing StarLink wifi in the White
House, and well obviously he is positioning himself toreceive billions
in federal contracts
<https://substack.com/redirect/404a06ed-daa3-4316-9fb9-b2b7151219ab?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>and
why wouldn’t he be on the White House lawn, televising a car commercial
as a news conference, alongside the US president? The only thing that
feels truly shocking at this point is that Musk /isn’t /using Grok in
DOGE’s new government AI chatbots, and is opting for Anthropic’s Claude
instead, for the time being, anyway.
Look, sure, theAmerican oligarchy’s power has been effectively
entrenched for years
<https://substack.com/redirect/62a85f7a-2158-490e-995a-05bb4853ef8a?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
but there’s something striking about its final, open presentation in the
White House, in the pretenses being effortlessly peeled away likethe
paneling
<https://substack.com/redirect/4e4bdb9c-6912-4e8e-980f-4641404169c5?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>on
a Cybertruck
<https://substack.com/redirect/0b44ed6c-e492-4239-b9d2-f4a8ceaf10d4?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>.
Musk’s omnipresence and power brokering in the oval office, the notion
that his presence there might even need to be explained at all a distant
afterthought. The naked favor trading, the self-dealing, the old grifts
with new coats of paint; the crypto and AI czar whose VC firm isheavily
invested in crypto and AI
<https://substack.com/redirect/057cf1f1-57dc-4381-a2e7-24ccf82bf315?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>companies.
The defense tech contractor who publicly squeals with delight
<https://substack.com/redirect/d6e88ea0-b6b2-4376-be2a-181799a4dc99?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>over
the prospect of killing enemies of the state for profit.
Perhaps it took Silicon Valley’s penchant for disruption to render the
tried and true robber baron model of wielding influence from the
sidelines obsolete. Power once acquired through corporate lobbying, the
funding of influence groups, or via the occasional
Congressionally-vetted cabinet post
<https://substack.com/redirect/3bfc9e57-84fe-4e9c-a8c8-9253bb029b3a?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
is now openly and casually seized. Perhaps it took the wealth, ego, and
entitlement of a Silicon Valley CEO to push through this final breach,
his claims to futurity paving over audible protests and human rights
injustices.
The other striking thing is just how tenuous it all is. As has been
pointed out by folks likeHamilton Nolan
<https://substack.com/redirect/72001d64-2c29-4c22-81b4-a9756acb1c99?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>and
Tesla critic Eric Niedermeyer, Musk’s fortune, while vast, is less
secure and more vulnerable than it appears. An ideal foil for Trump,
Musk’s immense wealth and power is bound up in the long-gestating and
self-cultivated mythology of his immense wealth and power. PayPal made
him a multimillionaire, and SpaceX multiplied his fortune, but it’s
Tesla that made him the richest man on Earth. And starting in the
mid-2010s, when Musk began promising full self-driving features and
robotaxis, Tesla’s value—not to mention Musk’s net worth—has been
uniquely dependent on the successful cultivation of fantasies that have
yet to materialize.
That historic wealth, along with his loyalty, is what validates Musk to
Trump—he’s got the richest guy in the world running the government for
him. Just like Trump always ostentatiously prioritized being
/perceived/as a successful business magnate over actually operating as
one, Musk, who really did build some successful companies, has
continuously and exponentially inflated their value, potential, and
power. A man who both is and pretends to be an ultrarich businessman and
a man who both is and pretends to be an ultrarich tech entrepreneur are
running the country.²It’s an oligarchy of speculative wealth and power
made real; an oligarchy of science fiction, even.
<https://substack.com/redirect/7859cc32-69fa-4cac-a4e3-76f47e40312a?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>
Via the White House Flickr feed
That the fiction can be punctured to great effect is the insight central
to the Takedown protests, and why targeting Tesla has proven effective:
it reminds investors and consumers that Tesla is in reality merely a
mid-sized auto manufacturer with stagnating sales in key markets, fierce
competition from China, few to no new products on the horizon, and that
it justrecalled every single one of the 46,000 trucks it has sold
<https://substack.com/redirect/8352b95b-0923-4f39-bf00-522d5d3da774?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>because
the panelling falls off, and you can bring Musk back down to earth.
Investors have plowed more and more money into Tesla over the last ten
years because of Musk and his promises; if you can make it clear the
extent that he has failed to deliver, make it so he /can’t /deliver, the
house of cards might come down. I don’t think anyone has any illusions
that they’re going to /bankrupt /Musk, or even cause him serious
material hardship. But you might certainly embarrass him, put a dent in
his weepy-Tony-Stark reputation, and even undermine his political
standing as a result.
The best evidence that any of this is possible is that the attacks on
Tesla /are working in one important way/: Musk is clearly and
demonstrably affected by the backlash, which in turn stands to affect
his semi-speculative empire.
The tech culture writer Max Read
<https://open.substack.com/users/238208-max-read?utm_source=mentions>taxonimized,
accurately, I think, the predominant strain of the newly recalibrated
conservative movement asthe Soy Right
<https://substack.com/redirect/ef2dc7aa-22ed-4538-a0f5-ad35359665c3?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>;
the too-online, perpetually aggrieved faction that presents itself as
masculine but is also afraid to take the subway or step foot in a city.
Elon Musk, of course, is their avatar. A soy right CEO—a man who
displays no compunction at all about destroying tens of thousands of
people’s livelihoods, but chokes back tears on Fox News
<https://substack.com/redirect/aab557c1-c5c8-4f0e-bf01-9a4fcc15036d?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>when
someone mentions his companies’ declining stock prices.
“It’s difficult,” he admitted, red eyes glazing over. Meanwhile, major
investors are calling on Muskto leave DOGE and refocus on Tesla
<https://substack.com/redirect/ac16552d-5f7c-4796-92de-901d0c5a055d?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>—or
find a new CEO. Musk was forced tohold an emergency all hands
<https://substack.com/redirect/4186d230-6487-456a-a1a3-63bdc1faee5e?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>at
the company to raise morale and appease spooked investors, and Trump,
Lutnick, and the White House Press secretary all took toaggressively and
openly boosting
<https://substack.com/redirect/4389798e-1543-4fef-be3a-d384424fe867?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>Tesla
from their official perches.
Because of all of that—or, more darkly, because of the FBI and the DOJ’s
vows to investigate Tesla vandals as domestic terrorists, thus giving
investors reason to believe the animosity against the brand will die
down—shares of Tesla spiked again on Monday, delivering Musk’s company
itsbiggest one-day gain since election day last November
<https://substack.com/redirect/04ba9080-f365-48d9-b118-85937ec22627?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>.
Once again, 21st century American oligarchy in action: The man
administering the US state as much as anyone saw his immense wealth,
bound up as it is in science fictional promises, threatened by
protestors and direct action, summoned the heads of the nation’s federal
investigators to combat them on his behalf, and spurred the sitting
president and his department heads to make sales pitches for the
embattled electric car company.
I know we’re numb to everything, but this is wild,
straight-from-the-pages-of-cyberpunk-novels type stuff. But the modern
state is willing, even happy to do all this on Musk’s behalf, thanks of
course to his wealth, which he continues topump into state-level
elections on the GOP’s behalf
<https://substack.com/redirect/163b1847-074c-4411-ac8c-09cd672e436d?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
his status as the DOGE point man, doing the unpopular work of firing
public servants and angling to replace them with AI, and his eagerness
to use his platform to promote their pet causes—like, for instance,
sharing posts and images supporting the administration’s deportation
campaign—and tomanufacture consent
<https://substack.com/redirect/8a9e722b-cfe8-4043-9d9e-e9cf975416c6?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>for
notions gaining ground
<https://substack.com/redirect/5c0622f0-e28a-4d72-951d-a4866188898d?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>on
the right like due process is simply too cumbersome to do for everybody
<https://substack.com/redirect/b92a4b06-69d1-4d65-bc4f-230f6d54b5f0?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>/./
/That’s/why Trump was happy to do a car commercial for Musk on the White
House lawn a few weeks back, even if the most memorable part of the
endeavor was a goofy Trumpism. “Wow, everything’s computer” was one of
the first public moments in Trump’s second presidency that was both
depoliticized enough and sufficiently gestured at the contours of
“charm” to become a meme. It’s something your grandpa might say. But
there’s more to it than that, I think; another reason it resonated. It
isn’t just that Trump sounded like kind of a dummy, awed by the
relatively common technology he was looking at, it’s how dully /aligned
/with Musk’s governing philosophy
<https://substack.com/redirect/8bf74104-38c2-4377-8a48-7719541e0ff6?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>(and
philosophy in general) it is: Everything’s computer!
This is how Musk has extended his empire over the last ten years, SpaceX
somewhat discounted. Problem with the Tesla manufacturing supply chain
threatening to derail a quarterly report? Announce robotaxis and fake a
self-driving demo
<https://substack.com/redirect/b86f5727-0a46-4e5b-8fd5-a55083593290?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>—/everything’s
computer/. The Cybertruck rollout a little underwhelming, and facing
well-publicized problems with X, the everything app? How about some
robot butlers and home robo-servants
<https://substack.com/redirect/ec3e12c5-cadf-4c9c-993b-4830714aba0a?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>.
After all, /everything’s computer/. Promise to slash the government and
not sure how to prop it up or how seriously anyone is actually expecting
you to take this DOGE thing? Announce an “AI-first strategy” to replace
federal workers’ tasks
<https://substack.com/redirect/7edefd0f-b0fe-4de1-835d-157c13b62470?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>—/everything’s
computer./
This is also a useful thing to keep in mind with regard to the new tech
oligarchy, because if everything’s computer, then everything’s attack
surface, too. This is why every Tesla dealership in the country has
become a protest site, every Tesla on the road a target of ire, every
Musk brand a source of derision. I recently spoke with a high level
organizer who believes much of the future of the resistance to Musk’s
moves will be carried out digitally, by hackers or tech workers.
Meanwhile, there’s a website called Dogequest
<https://substack.com/redirect/5d094f62-f7ec-4c52-b883-eee8596e593b?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>that
purports to list every Tesla owner in the nation, and promises to remove
yours if you sell it off. There’s a growing grassroots movement turning
out to oppose the Musk-Trump nexus; 34,000 people just showed up
<https://substack.com/redirect/d62e8ca6-d5e5-49cf-a32c-9420bf5fa33d?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>at
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders “Fighting the Oligarchy”
tour in Denver.
<https://substack.com/redirect/729f09f6-dc17-4d80-9e32-cdaf188fb252?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>
Smart, targeted campaigns, mass protest, and organized tactical
resistances remain our best hope against the emboldened American
oligarchy; it cannot be beaten back with blunt force, nor does it need
to be. It is unusually brittle, built upon interlocking mythologies with
distinct vulnerabilities—including the big mens’ twin perennially open
wound egos. Musk will surely respond to future threats to his companies
by leaning further on the Trumpist state, but the harder he leans, we
hope, the more stress it bears and the more precarious the whole project
becomes.
And let’s not underestimate the appetite for pushing back, either. I
think it is even more latent, even more widespread than we might
believe, even given we have not yet seen the hundreds of thousands of
people in the street that Trump 1.0 or the George Floyd protests
delivered. There is anger and fear nearly everywhere I look, online,
sure, but also in the shaking heads at restaurants and in the grocery
store checkout lines, Musk’s name cursed and always in the air.
I was a volunteer on my 3rd grade son’s field trip last week, and on the
bus ride to the museum, I shit you not, some of the kids were pretending
to shoot at Teslas out of the window with finger guns. These were not
even my kids, I swear, and when I asked them why they were shooting the
cars, one even said “well the cars are ok but they’re made by Elon
Musk’” and went back to “bam-bam-bam”-ing them.
The evils of this formation of state are so easily intuited a child can
comprehend them, there is a will to resist, it is widespread, and it can
grow, if we are not beaten down by exhaustion, by the right’s drive to
overwhelm, by threats of surveillance and retribution.
Things to remember perhaps as we return to our doomscrolls, to the
interminable news of freshly orchestrated cruelties and atrocities, as
the Democrats fail to register an opposition and the courts’ power
falters. As American democracy sits more imperiled than at any point in
my lifetime, as the images of mass oppression continue to proliferate,
goaded on by Trump and his prodigal oligarch, I’m reminded of the famous
lines from Susan Sontag’s /On Photography/, which I’ll leave you with here:
Photography implies that we know about the world if we accept it as
the camera records it. But this is the opposite of understanding,
which starts from /not/accepting the world as it looks. All
possibility of understanding is rooted in the ability to say no.
1
Related: This great piece, Trump’s Antisocial State
<https://substack.com/redirect/7f9abc32-0696-4da6-b362-78e08672c48b?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>,
by Melinda Cooper, about the broader contours of the Trump project, its
roots in Project 2025, Elon Musk’s involvement—and what set the stage
for it all in the first place:
The late Keynesian social state, with all its contradictions, has
been replaced by the neoliberal /antisocial/state—a state that has
downsized its redistributive functions, converted much of its
welfare arm into punitive and carceral functions, privatized or
outsourced as many of its services as possible, and multiplied its
guarantees to private operators. This is a state form that abandons
the low- and non-waged to self-care yet still includes them within
its nets as permanent debtors and generators of income such as toll
fees, rents, utility bills, and interest on student debt. In its
most inclusive “third way” form, the neoliberal state creates
“social markets” as a substitute for social insurance: that is,
instead of underwriting and equalizing the risks borne by everyday
citizens, it incentivizes private insurers or asset managers to
operate these services at a profit.
2
With, it might be noted, a VP who built his own wealth and connections
in the venture capital world
<https://substack.com/redirect/a638da98-4404-44fc-99df-551dc3c8d2cc?j=eyJ1IjoiaGJ2aCJ9.xqj3RHIT8Y-h7sdLE-82ev2q2IlOuBOIgN8Cwgt7_o8>.
Upgrade to paid
<https://substack.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.w_ddAGObrlwLJhPq2LNlEm-6fehMqV300nU4Y35y3yc?&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=postcta>
© 2025 Brian Merchant
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
