“If you have the ambition to become a villain, the first thing you should do is learn to be impenetrable. Don’t act like Blofeld - monocled and ostentatious. We journalists love writing about eccentrics. We hate writing about impenetrable, boring people. It makes us look bad: the duller the interviewee, the duller the prose. If you want to get away with wielding true, malevolent power, be boring.”
I suspect Jon Ronson was wrong when he claimed that being boring was the most effective way to get away with “wielding true, malevolent power.” If anything, the Trump-era and its aftermath (including the sequel that started on Monday 20th January 2025) has proven the exact opposite: that the most effective way to get away with exercising your malevolent power over others is to be as eccentric and offensive as possible. If you oversaturate the market with your sheer absurdity, well, eventually, the people will grow numb and passive to it. Elon Musk’s bizarre salute at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC certainly attracted a lot of attention and a fair amount of backlash but, at the end of the day, what really became of it? Everyone said their piece, a US meteorologist was quickly ushered out of a job and life went on.
As far as I’m concerned, Musk’s wealth and his increased confidence on the global political stage is of far more pressing concern than his sort-of-Nazi-sort-of-fascist salute. That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t criticise the man for the…erm, interesting way that he chose to throw his heart out to a braying audience of sycophants. Again, we need to consider the possibility that Jon Ronson was wrong – a listless bureaucrat is far less effective than a clownish villain, because the clown is able to drown his sinister intentions beneath a wave of laughter. Musk’s presence at Trump’s inauguration, alongside a plethora of other wealthy and powerful individuals – such as Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook; Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google; Tim Cook, the Apple Chief Executive; Jeff Bezos, the Executive Chairman of Amazon, stands as a symbol for the direction that America will move under Trump. Symbols matter. These multi-billionaires aren’t flocking to Trump’s side because he’s going to be their enemy. If anything, their presence at Trump’s inauguration highlights the final stages of America’s transition from a flawed and corrupt democracy into open plutocracy. I suspect that, if we aren’t careful, Musk and his compatriots would be more than happy to do the same to us. Perhaps we are already too late…
Merriam-Webster defines “plutocracy” as “1. A government by the wealthy. 2. A controlling class of the wealthy.” This, in my opinion, is a reasonable definition but one that has been sadly limited by the expansion of the international political power of individual wealthy elites; a process that has marked the opening decades of the twenty-first century. I would posit that we – by “we” I am referring to Western Liberal Democracies – are rapidly shifting into an international plutocracy; a collection of states and economic zones of interest that will be explicitly governed by the super-wealthy. What I am describing goes beyond mere oligarchic corruption. Musk, and his position as head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, is perhaps the best representation of this transition into plutocracy. Of course, America is only a piece of Elon Musk’s new political empire. Last year, Musk attempted to use his wealth to exert influence over British politics – something that, in my estimation, only further emphasises the gradual decline of the illusion of democracy.
I would posit that we - by “we” I am referring to Western Liberal Democracies - are rapidly shifting into an international plutocracy; a collection of states and economic zones of interest that will be explicitly governed by the super-wealthy.
Back in December 2024, Elon Musk and Nigel Farage got together – with the Reform Party Treasurer Nick Candy playing third wheel – for an hour at the Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. I suppose this was part of Mr Farage’s ongoing quest to spend as little time as possible in Clacton-On-Sea which, in all fairness, is a campaign that is not without some merit. During this intellectual Clash of the Titans, money was (apparently) discussed, with Farage claiming that Mr Musk was “fully, fully behind us.” In typical Farage fashion, very few specifics or details were given out – just enough to titillate both his critics and crusaders within Old and New Media. Indeed, Mr Musk’s Father has even weighed in with the suggestion that his son might consider becoming a UK citizen, which would enable him to provide Farage with a personal donation of up to $100 million.
To give credit where credit is due, even Farage – with all his delusions of grandeur – didn’t go this far, stating that, whilst his party was “in negotiations” with Musk over the matter, speculation of a donation as high as $100 million was “for the birds.” I couldn’t agree more. After all, this isn’t the first time that Musk has decided to use his vast fortune to support a political candidate. He donated $75 million to President Donald Trump’s most recent (and successful) re-election bid, with $72 million of that sum going into a political action committee he set up called America PAC. I suspect that it was this vast donation that encouraged Trump to appoint Musk as the Administrator of DOGE. Farage, for all his enthusiasm, would never be able to offer Musk a similar title.
Still, even with Farage having to play second-fiddle to Musk’s most useful political asset, it couldn’t be denied that, at the end of 2024, things looked good for the two culture warriors. This special relationship persisted into the beginning of 2025, with Farage declaring at the Reform Party’s East Midlands Conference that Musk was a “hero” whose efficiency plan for Donald Trump’s government was the “blueprint we need.” The ever-obsequent Farage also took the opportunity to say that he was “very pleased he’s [Musk] backing our party.” The previous day, Musk told his followers on social media that “Britain needs Reform now.” Musk also tweeted in support of Tommy Robinson. Perhaps Musk expected Farage to do the same thing. Perhaps not. The cracks in this special – and possibly parasocial – relationship were already, arguably, beginning to show, with Farage telling GB News that Robinson was not “what we need.” This rift over Robinson ultimately proved to be the doom of Farage and Musk’s special relationship. Musk stood by his previous statements that Britain needs Reform, but without the superfluous presence of Nigel Farage, tweeting that “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.” Farage responded by stating that “Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree.” I never thought that my respect for Farage as a politician – and as a man – could be diminished but calling someone that has just said you don’t have what it takes to lead your own party “remarkable” is truly something.
Now that, as of the writing of this article, more or less sums up the breakdown of Farage’s special relationship with Elon Musk. I doubt that this breakup is causing much heartbreak to Mr Musk. He already has his tentacles entrenched rather deeply in the White House and has, more recently, been weighing into the politics of the Old World with greater and greater intensity, urging the Germans to support the AfD Party in the upcoming elections this February, with Musk even going as far as describe the organisation’s current co-chairwoman as “the leading candidate to run Germany.”
So, Musk is clearly someone with his fingers in a lot of different pies – and he’s not too particular about what’s lurking beneath the crust. Indeed, I doubt that Musk has completely lost interest in Britain. If I was a gambling man – which, being the pathological pessimist that I am, I am not – then I would be willing to bet that Musk will retreat for a short while in order to give Farage and the Reform Party the opportunity to think over his suggestions. Perhaps for Nigel Farage there is a silver lining to Musk’s condemnation of him as the leader of the Reform Party. Farage has previously claimed that Tory members would vote for him as their leader. If Farage acts quickly, then he can push the damp flannel Kemi Badenoch aside, and leave Reform to be torn apart by Robinson and Tice. It would not be the first time that Farage has dropped one party for another. The only other option Farage really has, in my estimation, would be to try and pull off the Gerard Batten strategy of bringing Robinson in as some sort of semi-official advisor. That might just be enough to mollify the cash-cow that Elon Musk is attempting to set himself up as to the modern international Right. Farage, unlike Batten, has the charisma and popularity to actually make such a deal sound palatable – I can see no other way to resolve the current tensions between the Reform Party’s leaders and its increasingly dissatisfied political base.
The question should be asked: why am I even talking about this? Who cares about a squabble between Nigel Farage and Elon Musk? Well, we are back in the domain of symbols, I’m afraid. George Carlin might have been correct when he stated that symbols were for the symbol-minded, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pay any attention to the patterns that are forming on the global stage. Musk, using his vast wealth and Trump’s lack of foresight or scruples, has successfully eroded any division that might have previously existed between the wealthy donor classes of America and its political establishment. They are now, for all intents and purposes, one and the same. Now, Musk is attempting to do the same thing across Europe.
Musk sticking his greasy nose into the muck of British politics shouldn’t be seen as a surprise; indeed, the outrage and humour that has been generated – hell, the fact that I felt motivated enough to cobble this article together – highlights that the pseudo-progressives, what passes for a “left-wing” in modern Britain, have been asleep at the wheel. Well, the car careened off-course well over half-a-century ago, my friends. Whether this rustbucket of a democracy ends up driving over the edge of a cliff or straight into a wall depends on the competency of whoever it is the plutocrats decide to fast-track into Number 10. Given the recent track-record of our anointed leaders, my instincts tilt towards pessimism. Whilst it’s undeniably funny to see Elon Musk calling for the replacement of Nigel Farage, especially after the frog-faced, lizard-brained creature spent the back-end of 2024 toadying up to Kekius Maximus – incidentally, this prostrating attitude is hardly new when it comes to the modern Right; look no further than the pitiful simpering that Ted Cruz has displayed towards President Trump – the humiliation of Britain’s least popular populist is not, in my opinion, cause for celebration. Well, alright, perhaps a little bit of celebration. I’m only human after all.
Pettiness aside, here’s the problem: Musk believes himself to be not only qualified, but entitled to reach across the Atlantic ocean and stick his flabby fingers in our political arena. He’s the richest man in the world, after all, and it has worked out so well for him in the States – why not? Why not indeed. British politics is already more or less a puppet-show for the super-rich and influential. All that Musk is attempting is a less-subtle (more American) continuation of what has been happening in this country – and the West – for a long, long time. There have been warning signs, for anyone who was paying attention. In America, the decision of the Supreme Court to capitulate to Citizens United might not have been the first nail in the coffin of Democracy, but it was a bloody big, tetanus-riddled nail, to be sure. By elevating personal wealth to the same level of Free Speech, the Supreme Court guaranteed that the rich would always have more of a right to speak – and, therefore, more influence – than the poor because, after all, a poor man might out-argue or out-shout a wealthy CEO, but a wealthy CEO will always be able to outspend great swathes of the American (and global) population. Citizens United, followed by Musk’s increased interference in one nation after another is the inevitable result of global hyper-capitalism, the final step from flawed, faux-democracy into outright plutocracy. Granted, it’s not much of a line to cross, but cross it Musk has. The square-headed car-manufacturer represents the tipping point, the intermediary stage, the gradual evaporation of whatever passes for democratic representation in this formerly United Kingdom. It’ll get worse before it gets better – and, truth be told, regardless of what Anthony might have claimed in 1997, I have very little hope that things are about to get any better. With the supposed Left hobbling to the Right, and the political Right spreading their legs for just about every billionaire or corporation waving a wad of cash, there’s not a lot for the employed classes to feel happy about.
