If a hostile power invaded the United States, I can’t imagine it acting in a way very different from the methods with which the Trump-Musk coalition is undermining the polity and weakening the country domestically and abroad. Donald Trump won his second presidency at the ballot box, and his partnership with Elon Musk will last only as long as the president sees the maniacal magnate as a useful tool, so we cannot speak of a conquest by a foreign, well-disciplined army. But, from Trump’s inauguration on, the way that the political situation inside and outside the United States is taking shape shows that everything is being done according to a long-term plan. The architects of the notorious Project 2025 are already in key posts in the administration.
At his inauguration, Trump presented himself in messianical terms. “My life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again,” he said, referring to the assassination attempt against him. “The golden age of America begins right now.” Thus, the slogan “Make America Great Again” is turbocharged. The supreme leader is sent by God, can make no mistakes (a concept which the less divine Supreme Court has already ratified), and, subsequently, is unstoppable. His rivals, on the other hand, must appear mortal and weak. And so, among his first actions, Trump disarmed and humiliated leaders of the previous administration. He stripped Joe Biden, Antony Blinken and others of security details and security clearances, along with those of former aides who had crossed him. The state apparatus and institutions were immediately beheaded, with employees forced to resign or declare fealty to Trump. All of them must endure the humiliation of being under the thumb of unknown youths who serve Musk – a whiff of Mao’s Cultural Revolution combined with the way the United States behaved in Iraq, various “banana republics,” even Greece at one point. (History’s revenge came from within, we might say.) That’s why all institutions must be controlled, especially the still partially independent judiciary and the news media. That is why the education, health and administrative systems are being dismantled. That’s why there is such a war on knowledge, research and memory. There must be no firm ground for resistance to take root. Also, there must be no foreign influence on domestic politics, no cooperation between like-minded people, groups, nations. So, at every opportunity, Trump and Musk portray democratic allies as enemies while sucking up to enemies of democracy everywhere.
As the “golden age” breaks out of its egg, the great question is whether enough citizens will realize in time that – for the sake of a paranoid minority – America is losing all that made it great.