Plutocrats expect Trump to serve their interests

Musk not only allowed disinformation to spread on his platform, but aggressively contributed himself. No, common people’s free speech was never at risk under President Joe Biden and would not have been under Kamala Harris as the tech oligarch claimed. What might well have been curtailed, however, is Musk’s freedom to use X as he pleases. Under Trump, that won’t change. 

This single example shows that Musk’s business interest was to prevent another Democratic president. He is likely to escape regulations in other business areas too, including anti-trust rules, artificial intelligence, data safety, labour rights, environmental protection and more. Musk, moreover, benefits from defence and other government contracts, and he may even get a formal role in the new administration.

Other titans of Silicon Valley and Wall Street appreciate Trump’s return to the White House for similar reasons. In the final weeks of the campaign, quality papers started to assess why many plutocrats support right-wing populism. On this platform, the case has been made for quite some time.

It bears repetition. For a long time, the superrich supported globalisation. The liberalisation of markets allowed them to pit national governments against one another when it came to big investment decisions. In the past two decades, however, the dynamics of global cooperation have changed. It is increasingly about coordinating rules to the mutual benefit of nation states, ensuring a minimum level of taxation, supporting social protection and introducing means to protect the global environment. 

Plutocrats resent this trend. They want to be free to do what they want, and they know that, in our interconnected world, nation states are too weak to regulate them. Accordingly, some of them support political forces that claim to protect the nation from evil global interference, agitating against supposedly vicious migrants and mischievous elites. In those plutocrat’s eyes, Britain’s exit from the EU was a triumph. It reduced the reach of the EU, which, thanks to pooling the sovereignty of several nations, is still strong enough to regulate, and restricted the policy options of the UK.

Among the world’s financial elite by the way, Musk is the richest person. Born and raised in South Africa, he is also an immigrant who only became US citizen as an adult. 

Disruption of international affairs

Whether governments say so or not, humankind needs multilateral cooperation to get a grip on huge global challenges. They include macroeconomic stability, environmental health and digitalisation, to name only three. 

In international affairs, the next Trump administration is likely to disrupt such efforts severely. Trade wars, for example, may drive inflation and increase unemployment.  It may prove impossible to tackle the global environmental crisis (climate, biodiversity, plastic waste et cetera).Violent conflict is set to escalate.  Under Trump, the US may even get pulled into another war of the kind that this erratic leader calls “never-ending”. That could happen in the Middle East, for example, and cost many American lives. 

In the USA, many people are set to lose health insurance moreover. They may also lose pregnant female relatives who do not get the medical treatment thy need because that might look like an abortion. They might also lose friends, neighbours or staff, as migrants – some illegal, others claimed to be so – are deported. 

Likely regrets

For various reasons, many voters may thus regret their vote for Trump in the not-too-distant future. They probably believe that, should that happen, they’ll simply elect someone completely different in four years. If the Trump administration manages to modify institutions as planned, however, they may never get that chance. 

Trump-supporting oligarchs, by the way, may have regrets too. They probably think they are in control, but autocrats too resent anyone and anything restraining them in any way. The backlash can be brutal. US oligarchs should have asked their counterparts in China or Russia. 

Hubristic plutocrats, moreover, tend to believe that they are superior beings. Though they believe to always know best how to deal with any issue, they cannot provide the global solutions we need better than national governments can.  

Elon Musk prominently wants to build settlements on Mars given that Earth is haunted by so many problems. That is no serious proposal. It is a ridiculous distraction from what humankind really needs.

Hans Dembowski is the editor-in-chief of D+C/E+Z.
euz.editor@dandc.eu