Democrats wooing Musk after the Trump breakup is US plutocracy at its best

It’s official: United States President Donald Trump and the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, person broken up.

At the extremity of past month, Musk departed from his station arsenic the caput of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wherever helium oversaw the wide firing of national employees and dismantling of assorted authorities agencies – each the portion benefitting from his ain companies’ lucrative contracts with the government.

Anyway, US “democracy” has ne'er met a struggle of involvement it didn’t like.

Musk’s work astatine the White House initially appeared to extremity connected an amicable enactment arsenic Trump praised him for the “colossal change” helium had achieved “in the aged ways of doing concern successful Washington”. The erstwhile caput of DOGE successful crook thanked the president for the opportunity.

But soon aft his departure, Musk publically criticised the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, a taxation and spending measure that Trump is presently obsessed with passing, slamming it arsenic a “disgusting abomination”.

There ensued predictably melodramatic societal media exchanges betwixt the 2 right-wing billionaires with Trump pronouncing Musk “so depressed and truthful heartbroken” aft leaving the White House and offering the further coherent analysis:

“ It’s benignant of Trump derangement syndrome. We person it with others, too. They leave, and they aftermath up successful the morning, and the glamour’s gone. The full satellite is different, and they go hostile.”

Musk has repeatedly taken recognition for Trump’s 2024 predetermination triumph connected relationship of the gobs of wealth helium donated to the president’s run and those of different Republican candidates. Now that the narration is over, Trump has wasted nary clip successful warning Musk that he’ll look “very superior consequences” if helium chooses to money Democratic campaigns successful the future.

But immoderate Democratic ears, astatine least, person perked up astatine the anticipation of getting the planet’s richest idiosyncratic backmost connected their broadside – which helium abandoned successful favour of Trump aft having extended enactment to Democratic erstwhile Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The governmental switcheroo was hardly extreme. At the extremity of the day, ideology matters small erstwhile you’re conscionable successful the concern of buying power.

California Congressman Ro Khanna, for example, precocious opined that Democrats should “be successful a dialogue” with Musk successful airy of their shared absorption to Trump’s large beauteous bill.

As per Khanna’s view, “we should yet beryllium trying to person [Musk] that the Democratic Party has much of the values that helium agrees with.” He went connected to database a fewer of these alleged values: “A committedness to subject funding, a committedness to cleanable technology, a committedness to seeing planetary students similar him.”

Never caput that Musk’s main “value” is simply a committedness to controlling arsenic overmuch of the world – not to notation the full star strategy – arsenic helium perchance tin for the payment of himself and himself alone. Beyond his wide firing activities portion caput of DOGE, a little reappraisal of Musk’s entrepreneurial way grounds reveals a full deficiency of the “values” that Democrats purport to espouse.

Over caller years, reports person abounded of intersexual harassment and acute racism astatine Musk’s Tesla car factories. In October 2021, a national assemblage successful San Francisco ordered Tesla to wage $137m to a Black erstwhile worker who claimed helium was told to “go backmost to Africa” among different abuses suffered astatine his workplace.

Along with violating national labour laws, Musk arsenic main enforcement of Tesla threatened workers implicit the imaginable of unionisation. When the COVID-19 pandemic deed successful 2020, helium violated section regulations to support his factories up and running, underscoring a wide contempt for quality beingness that, again, should not beryllium a “value” that anyone aspires to.

To beryllium sure, not each Democrats are connected committee with the connection to woo Musk backmost into the Democratic campy – but helium whitethorn beryllium getting a increasing cheering squad. In summation to Khanna’s advocacy connected his behalf, New York Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres seems prepared to springiness Musk his ballot arsenic well: “I’m a believer successful redemption, and helium is telling the information astir the [big beautiful] legislation.”

Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s erstwhile White House manager of communications, has, meanwhile, suggested that Democrats could “bring Elon Musk backmost into the fold arsenic a prodigal son” by foregoing much left-wing policies – arsenic if there’s thing genuinely left-wing astir the Democratic Party successful the archetypal place.

Newsweek’s write-up of Scaramucci’s comments observed that “It would beryllium a coup for Democrats if they could tribunal the power of the world’s richest antheral erstwhile more.” It would not, obviously, beryllium a coup for democracy, which is expected to beryllium regularisation by the radical and not by money.

And yet a longstanding bipartisan committedness to plutocracy means the US has ne'er been successful information of existent democracy. Instead, billions upon billions of dollars are spent to prolong an electoral charade and guarantee that superior remains concentrated successful the hands of the fewer – portion Americans proceed to literally dice of poverty.

Now it remains to beryllium seen whether the Trump-Musk breakup volition thrust Democrats into Musk’s arms. But either way, the country’s plutocratic values stay stone coagulated – and that is thing little than a “disgusting abomination”.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.