Tough talk is not uncommon in politics, especially when former allies clash. And it’s even more so in the age of social media, which allows these “tough talks” to find a much larger audience.
But what’s happening between Donald Trump and Elon Musk is unprecedented. In a short period of time, one of the most high-profile political alliances in the world, that between Donald Trump and the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, has devolved into a barrage of insults, innuendos, and not-so-veiled threats, exchanged in real time on the social media platforms that are both their favorite means of communication.
That’s not to say their disagreements weren’t real. Musk, the owner of a multinational with interests far beyond the United States and investments, among other things, in electric cars, could not easily coexist with aspects of Trump’s economic populism, such as tariffs that undermine globalization or the withdrawal of support for electric cars, while he also seems to disagree with the budget bill that many fear will further increase deficits and debt.
Of course, at the same time, it was Trump who brought Musk into the government, asking him to help increase government efficiency, resulting in a wave of cuts and layoffs in areas that Musk’s people considered unnecessary, even if they concerned areas such as the security of critical infrastructure.
And now they are clashing. Without many arguments, but with an obvious desire to prove which of the two is “higher on the food chain.” And it’s not a conflict that will end quickly. Just think that Musk owns X (formerly Twitter), has 220 million followers on his platform, and can certainly present himself as an entrepreneur of the future, given the investments he has made in cutting-edge sectors from electric cars to satellites and space travel.
But if there’s one thing that remains as a feeling from this admittedly rough clash, between two people who have never been traditional politicians, it’s precisely that when politics is undermined in every possible way as an activity that can make people’s lives better, then space is created for the representatives of the very rich to believe that they can exercise power themselves better than politicians. But this results in a decline in politics in all its aspects: from the contempt for scientific knowledge about economic and social phenomena, to all variations of populism (and techno-populism). And obviously we will not hear any arguments, nor will we see any respect for elementary decency.
Obviously, the decline in politics did not begin now. For decades now, the West has tried to tell us that “markets” think and decide better than people and that the welfare state is a “cost” and a “burden”. Not to mention how all the ideologies and policies that were moving in a different direction were stigmatized and vilified: redistribution, social justice, public goods, the active role of the state. However, now in cases like the American one, things are taking a dangerous turn with unpredictable consequences, with the picture being almost repulsive.
And this means that politics must return. Only this must concern the essence of politics, namely the ability to truly represent society, and therefore the social strata that today remain essentially excluded from decision-making processes. Otherwise, it will ultimately matter little whether we are governed by arrogant multi-billionaires, or as it should be, “technocrats.”
