There’s a conspiracy idea that the feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is immediately associated to the AI provision within the Massive Stunning Invoice. Trying again at Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance, Vance had no political expertise earlier than Thiel funded his ascension into the Senate after funding his entry into enterprise capitalism. Each Thiel and Musk urged Trump to pick Vance as his VP candidate, and plenty of imagine this was to propel the so-called PayPal mafia into politics. The three males are additionally strongly related to Curtis Yarvin (pictured above), the mastermind behind the Darkish MAGA, Darkish Enlightenment motion.
Take away the subsidies. It should solely assist Tesla.
Additionally, take away subsidies from all industries!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 16, 2024
Now, the media claims Musk turned on Trump as a result of he’s enraged by the EV tax cuts and subsidies. But, solely six months in the past, Musk was on Capitol Hill arguing for the abolishment of EV tax credits. “Take away the subsidies. It should solely assist Tesla. Additionally, take away subsidies from all industries!” Musk posted on his platform, X, on July 16, 2024. Musk had been offloading his White Home duties in latest weeks and this over-the-top public feud appears fabricated.
In comes a possible conspiracy of “Darkish MAGA” or “Dark Enlightenment.” Curtis Yarvin, a former programmer turned blogger, has lengthy argued that American democracy is irreparable and needs to be changed by a corporate-run monarchy led by Massive Tech. Yarvin sees democracy not as civilization’s peak however as its degeneration—a system that obscures actual energy, which he claims is held by a “Cathedral” of media, academia, and bureaucracies that unfold progressive ideologies. Yarvin calls his views “the Darkish Enlightenment” or “neo-reaction” and firmly believes that the perfect authorities would resemble a feudal state or a tech company with centralized energy.
Yarvin wrote “An Open Letter to Open-Minded Progressives” in 2008, which outlines his viewpoints. There’s a ton of knowledge he put forth on his substack, Gray Mirror. He believes that the tech elite ought to rule as they’re the one ones clever sufficient to repair our failed society. The R.A.G.E. technique is to ” Retire All Authorities Workers and change them with personal companies below a whole dictatorship run by a “nationwide CEO,” or what’s referred to as a dictator. Yarvin describes his strategy as “a humane alternative to genocide.”
CNN reported on Yarvin’s views, as did Politico, Time, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and each different massive media company. His views are usually not a conspiracy, however whether or not or not the tech elite has adopted these views is unknown; he has met with quite a few members of the Trump Administration, together with J.D. Vance. Yarvin has mentioned he’s “teaching” Theil, in response to Time Journal, and he even referred to as him a “pal” in an interview with the Hoover Establishment.
Yarvin was invited as a visitor to Trump’s Coronation Ball in January 2025. In a follow-up interview with Politico, Yarvin said that Trump’s first administration principally didn’t obtain something for its supporters versus its lobbyists. I’m not speaking to the excessive strategic command or no matter, however simply my impression from my connections amongst low- and mid-level individuals is that they’ve figured some issues out.” He mentioned that Congress, not the president, actually runs the nation. “Truly, if the White Home didn’t exist, America would nonetheless work.”
He additionally mentioned that the Federal Reserve needs to be below the manager department:
“It’s clearly not a part of the legislative department, it’s clearly not a part of the judicial department, so it’s clearly a part of the manager department. And since the Fed truly controls the financial system, I can order it to mint the trillion-dollar coin, or extra to the purpose, I can principally order the Fed to purchase property. And since I can order the Fed to purchase property, I can order the Fed to purchase notes issued by new establishments. That permits me to principally come head to head with two very clear information. One is that the U.S. doesn’t actually have an govt department — it has a legislative department, and it has an administrative department, which is principally managed not by a monarchical president, however by an oligarchical Congress.”
Washington has been briefed on the Darkish Enlightenment motion. The idea itself will not be a conspiracy, as Yarvin and others do imagine {that a} corporate-run dystopia is the longer term. Steve Bannon, as reported by the New York Times, defined that various tech elites have been on the federal government’s watchlist:
“I requested him if he noticed the identical deep-level philosophical pressure I did. “A pressure?” he requested. “I'd nearly argue it’s an unbridgeable hole.” He named a roster of main figures on the tech proper whom he noticed as enemies: Mr. Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, the neomonarchist author Mr. Yarvin and Balaji Srinivasan, an investor and technologist who promotes the thought of community states, new nations run on blockchain. Mr. Bannon accused the tech barons of selling “technofeudalism” and “transhumanism” — bending human life into technologized and unnatural new types. “This factor is all tied collectively,” he mentioned. “They've a really effectively thought by way of philosophy and a really effectively thought by way of set of concepts, they usually’re attempting to implement that. And to me, all people’s afraid, all people’s scared due to their energy.”
Earlier than he entered the White Home, Vance spoke favorably of Curtis Yarvin. “There’s this man Curtis Yarvin, who has written about a few of these issues,” Vance mentioned on a podcast in 2021, including: “I feel Trump goes to run once more in 2024 [and] I feel that what Trump ought to do, if I used to be giving him one piece of recommendation: Fireplace each single midlevel bureaucrat, each civil servant within the administrative state, change them with our individuals.”
Vance is definitely plugged in with the tech elite. Why did Elon Musk activate Trump? I’ll keep away from the extra elaborate, far-fetched conspiracy theories (such because the Black Eye Membership) and deal with what we all know—the PayPal Mafia exists, as does the Darkish Enlightenment idea. Musk is now calling for Trump to be impeached for a 3rd time. Are the tech elite hoping to put in Vance to the pinnacle place of POTUS? Time will inform the true plan, however this elaborate feud between Trump and Musk is just too sudden to not elevate suspicions.
