| Still from "Key Largo" (1948) |
Just days after he promised advertisers that Twitter would not become a "free-for-all hellscape," Elon Musk used the platform he now owns to amplify a baseless conspiracy theory about the hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband by an intruder.
However, just because Musk couldn't resist mocking the still hospitalized Paul Pelosi doesn't necessarily mean I'm trying to say he has become a Trumpist. No, label-wise, Musk is an "unbridled capitalist." He apparently wants to use some of the most gullible suckers in the USA -- MAGA Republicans and their associates such as the Proud Boys, QAnon followers, etc.
Both Musk and Trump can see the same well-armed legions of white nationalists out there -- domestic terrorists who seem happy to strike fear and foster chaos. Tactics clearly crafted to pave the way for the Musks and Trumps to do as they damn well please. Both obviously know that creating confusion can yield opportunities which lead to gaining more control.
Musk has tipped his hand. While he may be on Trump's side sometimes, on some issues, he's not going to be a reliable ally. It looks to me like Musk wants to be more of a rival for Trump out in right-wing crazy land.
Perhaps what would please such wannabe autocrats the most would be to establish a new Gilded Age in America. Another span of time, such as the late-1800s, in which once again money totally rules.
After all, from what I've seen, it looks like capitalism will always try to fend off any sort of regulation or limitation on its power. It's geared to react that way. Thus, we can expect that capitalism will always move toward accumulating more money to grease the wheels of power to corrupt.
What Musk and Trump have most in common is that they will always want more. Which is not unlike what Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson), the mob boss in John Huston's "Key Largo" (1948), reveals to Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) in the scene linked to above.
Also like Rocco, neither Musk nor Trump will ever get enough. So, it says here that as long as capitalism is seen as more important in the larger scheme of things than once-cherished concepts such as democracy, justice and dignity the system we've got now will keep creating more Roccos.
Maybe one day society will wise up and protect itself more from the dangerous whims and urges of the super rich. Or, maybe not.
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