The Resistance

There is a very striking dichotomy in the ongoing effort to counter Donald Trump and Elon Musk's war on the very idea of having a government.  On one hand, most governmental bodies have responded well; from judges blocking of the most egregious overreaches, to even the worst of Democratic governors showing some spine, to foreign leaders standing strong against aggression.  On the other hand, the business world has more or less rolled over completely, most notably with respect to trans rights:

You may notice a specific theme among the examples I selected; namely, that these are liberal institutions in largely liberal areas.  The two hospitals in question are both located in blue states, and the current leader of the NCAA is a former blue state governor.  What is more is that all of these regressive policies are associated with universities—the supposed bastions of liberal/progressive/commie thought.  If liberal governments reflect the general will of the people but the liberal institutions that serve those people do not, which of these parties has the real, meaningful power over you?   

I think it is instructive, then, to consider a similar dichotomy for Trump and Musk.  Trump, despite all of his bluster, has mostly signed a bunch of executive orders that will likely run up against many of the same problems he did last time he did all of this.  This isn't to say he can't and won't do tremendous damage on his own, but that it is necessarily limited by both the strictures of his role and the limits of his wealth.   That is not the case for Elon Musk, who appears to be bound by no such limits.  But while his current rampage is certainly a frightening escalation, it's important to understand that this power grab did not start with Trumps' inauguration.  No, the rise of Elon Musk as a shadow ruler is a long-standing, bipartisan effort:

"In the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, Musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades of privatization, the state has receded. The government is now reliant on him, but struggles to respond to his risk-taking, brinkmanship, and caprice. Current and former officials from NASA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told me that Musk’s influence had become inescapable in their work, and several of them said that they now treat him like a sort of unelected official. One Pentagon spokesman said that he was keeping Musk apprised of my inquiries about his role in Ukraine and would grant an interview with an official about the matter only with Musk’s permission. “We’ll talk to you if Elon wants us to,” he told me. In a podcast interview last year, Musk was asked whether he has more influence than the American government. He replied immediately, “In some ways.” Reid Hoffman told me that Musk’s attitude is “like Louis XIV: ‘L’état, c’est moi.’ ”"

Seen in this light, the liberal institutions carrying out Trump's orders with zero pushback are no longer an anomaly.  If we think of Elon Musk less as a peculiar man and more as the apotheosis of capitalist domination, then the shedding of the liberal veneer from these other capitalist institutions starts to make more sense.  Whatever supposed commitment to justice or equality that these organizations held was mere expediency on the road to further domination.  But don't take it from me, take it from this guy: