Under the guidance and massive supply of money by Elon Musk, Donald Trump won the elections in 2024. Ever since the electoral democratic systems came into being in the world, such big tycoons with total disrespect for democratic principles never won an election in any country. In America, which remained the global model for the constitutional democracy, no leader of Trump’s wealth and with Musk kind of megalomaniac tycoon won an election, that too for the second time. Not that the Democrats and left liberals, from the Clinton family, Obama family to Biden family and their supporters did not commit blunders by their anti-village, anti-native working class approach. This is a paradoxical situation where democrats were seen as anti-working class and Trump kind of tycoon is seen as pro-poor in America.
The democrat leaders created the Trump-Musk combination by their own family empire politics by setting up global NGOs. Trump used this situation to his advantage. With Elon Musk joining him in the 2024 elections the whole world is facing a new situation.
DE-GLOBALIZATION PROCESS IN MOTION
However, the globalization process that started during Bill Clinton times seems to have entered into a retreat phase. Within thirty years it created its own nemesis in the Trump-Musk team. A de-globalization process seems to have started with these two impulsive leaders, with a slogan of America first. In real terms Trump-Musk nationalism is anti-poor. It is true that the global poor need not live with a begging bowl and every nation has a responsibility to feed its own working masses, children and the old. But in the post-World War II situation America gave misguided hope to the world that America would help the poor and be a guard of welfare democracy all over the world. In the Cold War times its stature had grown and it fed millions of poor and that led to the thinking that dependence on America is not bad.
The globalization and liberalization process expanded the market economy worldwide. Cheaper goods and commodities came into global markets and such goods and commodities reached nooks and corners of the globe. Food, shelter and education avenues improved worldwide. The USAID played a definite role in this process. Now the Trump-Musk team stopped any flow of funds from the USAID to poor countries. Millions of children still depend on such global help in Africa and Asia. The tycoon’s nationalism will lead to more and more concentration of wealth in the hands of the very poor and they try to capture electoral structures and they themselves could come to power in many countries like Trump and Musk. Seasons politicians trained in the political philosophy and future of humanity with creative ideas will be displaced by tycoons, who become rulers by winning elections. America that produced highly philosophic rulers like Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln now gave way to Trump and Musk in the very process of globalization. Where the de-globalization process with tycoon nationalism would lead is not known.
The world is now getting divided into new blocs. The European Union has taken a decision to militarize itself as Trump-Musk America withdrew from several important global forums. Canada and many Latin American countries seem to join the camp of anti-Trump-Musk America. Around the issue of Ukraine and Russia a new global order seems to emerge.
UNACCOUNTABLE MUSK
By bringing an unaccountable Musk to play a key role in democratic setup by creating an uncontrollable Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) , a large-scale privatization process, by dismantling state apparatus, seems to be on the cards of the Trump-Musk team. They are removing thousands of Government employees to run the system with their cronies.
They are trying to establish a Marxian mode of imaginary ‘Stateless Society’ without creating a self- governing human society. American society is also full of crime, with gun culture leading to a killing spree on a daily basis. If in a stateless America capitalist tycoons rule, with their private armies, who will not be accountable, the system will only move into tycoon dictatorship. Since this is happening in America, a nation that was the torch bearer of electoral democracy for more than 250 years, the very idea of democracy itself might get into a trap.
MUSK’S AMBITION
Musk has shown his ambition for deconstructing the state sector with a deep authoritarian private economy to rule the roost in the world. Vulnerable democracies like India have already shown bending behavior to Musk’s business power. The fact that the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, went crawling to his house giving gifts to his children and unmarried partner, is a new low operation of our biggest democracy in the world. The fear of this global tycoon is running deep in the world.
The only country that seems to be unwavering to the Trump-Musk tycoonism is China. It is preparing deeply dug up tunnels for a war with America, if necessary.
ILLEGAL MIGRATIONS
The massive illegal migrations of Indians, Mexicans, Muslims from the entire Muslim world to America happened with the American Dream hunt that the American intellectuals, cultural scads and media, apart from the American state, sold to the world. That dream forced the people to migrate to America illegally and legally as if life is only in America and nowhere else. Now the Trump-Musk team is sending them back to their nations literally handcuffed in American military planes. Despite Narendra Modi’s presence before the Trump-Musk team, the Indian migrants were sent back in torturous travel and huge humiliation to the Modi Government. We Indians need to bend our heads with a sense of shame, how our own fellow citizens lived through this kind of torturous illegal migration and merciless drop down in our nation.
The Trump-Musk combination is shaking the world with everyday tweets that shake the global conscience. They are doing psychological warfare on the global vulnerable.
NATURE OF TYCOON NATIONALISM
World so far has seen several forms of nationalism. Linguistic nationalism when Europe got divided into many language nations played a key role. Tensions and wars broke out, based on the linguistic ideologies. World also has seen ideological nationalist wars and cold wars. The whole cold war period was the ideological nationalist conflicts between democracy and socialism. America and the Soviet Union were in the lead of these nationalist camps.
The Second World War was fought as an ideological war between Nazism and Fascism on the one side and democracy and socialism on the other, before the Cold War started. Religious nationalism had its brutal impact not just in Islamic world, but in Christian world in the early modern times. After globalization in the recent past religious nationalism has posed a challenge to secular nationalism in India and many other countries, in Europe and Americas. Trump was seen as a new type of nationalist when he was the president of the USA between 2016-20, his first term.
Now there is new nationalism. This kind of tycoon Nationalism by monopoly capitalists can emerge in any country, including India. With the emergence of the Trump-Musk team in the USA, tycoons the world over will think of becoming rulers. This form of nationalism was not known to the world earlier.
Globalized capitalism has led to a massive wealth concentration in the hands of a handful global tycoons. The Trump-Musk team emerged from the globalized wealth concentration in the hands of a few tycoons. But what this kind of tycoon nationalism does to the world is not exactly predictable now.
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist and author. His latest book is The Shudra Rebellion.
