I guess it's hard to interpret the desires of the billionaire class, but is this not the first time (OK, second, technically) one of them has sat in the US captain's chair? He may be yet another proxy of economic warlords like Musk, Thiel, MBS, and some constellation of Russians, but Trump is not not one of them. Same with his VP and cabinet. I think Trump is a moron, like anyone reasonable. At the same time I can't help but feel there's something more to all of this.
A TALE OF TWO CABINET MEMBERS I. REX TILLERSON Regardless of politics, Rex Tillerson was a vaguely-credible choice for Secretary of State. He had a credible degree from a credible school and worked his way up from entry level to CEO of ExxonMobil. While he lacked foreign policy experience, he had reasonable credentials from the business world to make him a bold, but not bugshit, choice to be our point man on foreign diplomacy. Not that any of that really mattered; he was hired because he looked like a Secretary of State, any number of sources have confirmed this. Unfortunately for Rex he set out to do the job he was hired to do and presumed a reasonable degree of independence. Thus was Rex Tillerson fired by tweet after thirteen months while on the shitter midflight. As aligned with Trump's goals as he was, he wasn't an utter lickspittle. Thus did Rex Tillerson retire to ignominy where he mostly counts his money or some shit, who knows. II. PETER NAVARRO Unlike Rex Tillerson, Peter Navarro has never been anyone's credible choice for anything. He's been a joke in the finance industry for nigh onto 30 years, largely known for bugshit ideas with no basis in truth and some seriously cranky opinions about China and tariffs. But he's on TV a lot. Note that he didn't get a major role in the last administration because "TV Economist" went to Larry Kudlow, whose main claim to fame was being Jim Cramer's straight man on "Kudlow & Cramer." Unlike Rex Tillerson or 99% of the first Trump Administration, Peter Navarro never said shit about anything Trump wanted of him and, in fact, went to prison rather than testify against Trump. Thus does Peter Navarro and his splendidly stupid ideas about tariffs hold Trump's attention... until it doesn't. And then it does. And then it doesn't. And then it does again. And then it doesn't. The best idea Trump has ever heard is the last idea Trump heard. This is as well-documented as his desire for people who look like the role over people who can do the role. Neither of these guys are the ones you want running things. But everyone credible is fuckin' gone, man. If John Bolton thinks you're a lightweight, you're a lightweight and the John Bolton level of competence was entirely gone by 2019. We're now talking about Deputy Director of the FBI Dan Bongino. If Diamond & Silk hadn't half-died of COVID they'd probably be co-chairs of the Department of Sassy MAGA or some shit. People forget but this fucking happened. "Oops I fired my pandemic response team better go check Yahoo!Answers." Venezuela is the shithole it is now because Chavez and then Maduro relied so heavily on cronies that every competent career professional exited the country. Iran had a similar problem but was less brutal; Cambodia had a similar problem but was more brutal. The Trump playbook is to absolutely drive out all the careerists who know what the fuck they're doing to replace them with loyalists, but there just aren't that many loyalists eager to go be park rangers or whatever. Not only that but the Trump administration doesn't have the authority that Chavez or Khomeini or Pol Pot had so he's stuck being thwarted in his dictatorial desires by the American legislative process. He also doesn't really wanna be a dictator. I mean, he does, but that's only because dictators can play golf whenever they want. He's a deeply venial man with an utter disinterest in the world and he's getting on in years. The last thing he wants to do is work. So he's surrounded by lickspittles each pushing their own agenda, being careful not to push so hard that they get replaced by someone who will cause less work. And everyone with any competence is fuckin' gone, man. The "billionaire class" didn't want Trump. When you've lost the Koch Brothers you've lost. Yeah, Elon pumped a bunch of money into Trump but that's because Elon is a Twitter-poisoned edgelord who disregards everyone who doesn't suck his cock. Yeah, Jeff Bezos bent the knee but that's because we gave JEDI to Microsoft. Yeah, Mark Zuckerberg bent the knee but that's because his entire empire is one monopoly bust from oblivion - have you seen Facebook's mote lately? Trump is a populist voted for by idiots who were mad about inflation surrounded by incompetents who think they can catch a falling knife. Never attribute to malice that which is more easily explained by incompetence. - Napoleon BonaparteAt the same time I can't help but feel there's something more to all of this.
Trump's cabinet is half billionaires, half media savvy loyalists. His core competency is a bizarre command of attention and an ability to get away with anything. That also implies being able to do things nobody else can. Maybe Trump believes in Peter Navarro's ideas, maybe not. It's a knob he can turn, it has tons of powerful people trying to call him when he does, and he can convince half the country that it's all part of his master plan and will work out in the end. These people are driven by faith and will ignore the pain if they think China will hurt and they can keep calling Trudeau governor. Why not create spectacle and leverage while you gut the government? If things get too bad the Fed can just lower rates. What is there to lose? The billionaire class didn't want Trump. He is a chaos monkey. And I guess it's not quite right to think of the "billionaire class" as a unified class, since there are probably many spheres of influence and interest between their fiefdoms (which span borders). But they do want things. Trump is uniquely capable of doing those things. Elon Musk is doing those things right now. The Koch Brothers may not like Trump and did not support him directly, but they bankrolled Project 2025. Jeff Bezos may have bent the knee to Trump but he also learned the hard way from MBS that economic and information power only goes so far. Honestly, Zuck's oversized tee shirt and gold chain iteration are a big improvement over the last version. He probably genuinely thinks he's a genius, but I don't think he cares at all whether tariffs will actually help or not. He completely baffles us all, but at the same time we all know exactly how he works. I claim only that he's a useful idiot to anyone able to get on the phone and have him remember their name.
I think it's foolish to presume Donald Trump has "beliefs." The man is as transactional as it comes and so disinterested in external knowledge that Samantha Bee can make a credible argument that he is illiterate. There's a passage in Mary Trump's book in which she, a girl under ten, watches a young Donald come home from freshman year at college, open the refrigerator in the servants' kitchen, pull out a stick of butter, unwrap it and eat it like a candy bar, his eyes never leaving the inside of the fridge. True story? We'll never know. But the people I know who have worked with Donald Trump - been on the plane, been in the penthouse - describe a man with a singular interest in his perceived level of influence. He wanted a wall because China has a wall. He wants Greenland because it's big on a map. If you examine the extended, historical policy positions of Donald Trump, they have been "acquire things and write 'Trump' on them" followed by "diffuse responsibility for failed gambits." That's it. That's the sum total of the man's contribution to society. Trump's first appearances as a media personality are as parody. He has been that guy from the drop: So what you're left with are people who can advance their own agenda through puffery. You're absolutely right in that everyone of any power or influence is looking to MBS. But I think only MBS is savvy enough to maintain his independence by (A) going through Kushner, whom is far easier and cheaper to flatter (B) acting tough in defiance. The rest of them are just trying to protect their money. Nobody around Trump has the independence to challenge him in any real way. That's by design. So what we're left with is a bunch of lickspittles playing I Got Mine. There's nothing deeper than that. Down to the shitfucks from Project 2025, they're all playing Personal Agenda Advancement with a venal old man who probably doesn't know how to read.