There’s a conspiracy concept that the feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is straight associated to the AI provision within the Large Lovely Invoice. Wanting 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 lots of consider 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’s going to 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’s going to 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 ought to be changed by a corporate-run monarchy led by Large 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 data 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 Staff and exchange them with personal companies beneath an entire dictatorship run by a “nationwide CEO,” or what’s known as a dictator. Yarvin describes his method 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 large media company. His views will not be 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 known as him a “buddy” 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 acknowledged that Trump’s first administration mainly 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 folks 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 ought to be beneath the chief 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 chief 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 mainly order the Fed to purchase belongings. And since I can order the Fed to purchase belongings, I can order the Fed to purchase notes issued by new establishments. That enables me to mainly come nose to nose with two very clear info. 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 mainly managed not by a monarchical president, however by an oligarchical Congress.”
Washington has been briefed on the Darkish Enlightenment motion. The idea itself shouldn’t be a conspiracy, as Yarvin and others do consider {that a} corporate-run dystopia is the longer term. Steve Bannon, as reported by the New York Times, defined that quite a lot of tech elites had been on the federal government’s watchlist:
“I requested him if he noticed the identical deep-level philosophical stress I did. “A stress?” he requested. “I'd virtually 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 concept 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 nicely thought by philosophy and a really nicely thought by set of concepts, they usually’re making an attempt 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 believe Trump goes to run once more in 2024 [and] I believe that what Trump ought to do, if I used to be giving him one piece of recommendation: Hearth each single midlevel bureaucrat, each civil servant within the administrative state, exchange them with our folks.”
Vance is actually 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 concentrate on what we all know—the PayPal Mafia exists, as does the Darkish Enlightenment concept. Musk is now calling for Trump to be impeached for a 3rd time. Are the tech elite hoping to put in Vance to the top place of POTUS? Time will inform the true plan, however this elaborate feud between Trump and Musk is just too sudden to not increase suspicions.