One may have hoped that the election of Trump and the ‘in(ter)vention’ of another industrialist/businessperson[1] as politician was a highlight of political aberration and confusion, with a foreseeable end and a return to reason. Hope dies last, but it is probably time to lay it to rest. The German poet and perhaps polymath Goethe comes to mind – twice:
Sir, my need is sore.
Spirits that I’ve cited
My commands ignore.To the lonely
Corner, broom!
Hear your doom.
As a spirit
When he wills, your master only
Calls you, then ’tis time to hear it.
And
I can’t blame that in you, it’s no demerit.
This science as it really is I see.
Statutes and laws that we inherit
Like an eternal malady
Go trailing on from race to race
And furtive shift from place to place.
To nonsense reason turns, and benefit to worry.
Woe unto you that you’re a grandchild, woe!
For of the law that was born with us, no!
Of that, alas! there never is a query[2]
The two businesspeople are in the meantime at odds – as had been predicted. One continues to pursue a policy of unpredictability with self-aggrandising audacity; the other is now seeking to turn the tragicomedy to his own advantage in a different way, possibly by founding his own party. But other, more fundamental issues are quickly overlooked in the process: The structural shifts on the basis of which this can flourish.
One crucial point is that businesspeople are not are no longer just string-pullers in the background, but players in the top political league, now without referees. This means not least that the role of the state – and its institutions, including the courts – lost tremendously power, not only in quantitative but also in qualitative terms.
Second, some of the relevant businesses – from Sam Altman to Mark Zuckerberg, framing others as Bezos, Buffet, Gates, Page[3] – are in fierce competition, not claiming a bit more of the cake but claiming the cake and the bakery itself. Between “political” and “project-icle” borders are blurring – the political is seen as collection of projects, each being catapulted like a projectile, aiming on a special show-effect. And as sharp as these projects are, they are politically somewhat unclear, so that Sam Altman for example sees himself as homeless – just like the old German emperor suggested that he doesn’t know political parties, but only Germans,
Altman declared himself as ‘politically homeless’, Altman declared himself as ‘politically homeless’, while reaffirming his deep pride in being American and his belief in techno-capitalism as a force for societal progress. In the post he talks about a shift in his focus from traditional political affiliations to overreaching implications of artificial intelligence. “I’m not big on identities, but I am extremely proud to be American,” Sam Altman wrote. “This is true every day, but especially today—I firmly believe this is the greatest country ever on Earth.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman added, “So now I am politically homeless. But that’s fine; I care much, much more about being American than any political party”[4]
Third, we find here a contradictory overlap of global and particularistic interest – where particularistic is often quasi-national. Again with Goethe we see
Two souls alas! dwell in my breast.
– “my” in fact standing for the manifest interest of major capitals, but equally for the interest of people who are caught in the search for some stability on the one hand and the reality of old patterns of (re)production falling apart. The – seeming – paradox is that the most “advanced and globalised industries” are in coalition with the most conservative – “populist” – forces.
Fourth, while the economy is still the relevant point of reference, the mode of production changed in gar reaching ways: production of goods remains centred stage, though a further shift must be highlighted, continuing the relative devaluation of the primary, secondary and in the meantime also tertiary sector, moving valuation even more to the ‘production of virtuality’ (see already Herrmann: From 5 giant evils to 5 giant tensions – the current crisis of capitalism as seedbed for its overturn – or: How Many Gigabyte has a Horse?; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301815015_From_5_giant_evils_to_5_giant_tensions_-_the_current_crisis_of_capitalism_as_seedbed_for_its_overturn_-_or_How_Many_Gigabyte_has_a_Horse)
Fifth, this has profound consequences for the polity: disempowerment of the working class, undermining of a ‘healthy middle class’ and the precariousness and impoverishment of large sections of the population, thereby hindering political organisation, the further flattening of political parties, in which strategy and tactics on political issues disappear behind pure power calculations, and, last but not least, the bending of the law are the main features of this new network.
These are main features, though others are also contributing to a coup-like seizure of power, the exercise of which then takes absurd turns – the “madman theory” may be applicable.[5]
Absurd and inhuman – and here we come to the point of global powershifts (see also HRUG talk 15 Systemic challenges on global governance in 2025 and beyond; https://youtu.be/aw9JWrUvM4c?si=lR-SmGgNP2CVMIJz): We may say that politics mutated to a form of “project work”,[6] organised and run by global players, acting under the veil of nationalism. Importantly, the institution of the polity loses any sound foundation. In this light we must assess the two “hot topics”: international tariffs and the recent tax and spending bill. With some justification it is seen as major distribution from the bottom to the top. Looking at the mere figures, such assessment is correct – the bottom and top being relevant as “social categories” but as well as distribution from the global south to the global north. So far there is not anything new in qualitative terms while in quantitative terms there is some consensus: in quantitative terms we witness new dimensions.
However, a closer look reveals two important aspects:
• The so-called “budget law” is much more than the spending plan for the near future. The act confronts us with massive structural changes that continue the project 2025: radical cuts in all areas that are of primary concern for ordinary people (not to mention that this who are already marginalised are pushed further to the margins): health insurance (which wasn’t great anyway), old folks and care homes, measures for disabled people …. – it is open how the society will deal with the massive distribution: will more people have to on the streets, die even earlier ….?? Will voluntary engagement by the poor for the very poor be part of the solution or even part of new problems? Will medical research lag further behind, contributing to increasing inequality also from this end? It must also be seen that money is generously dedicated to further armament and the support of certain industries. Moreover, MAGA is meant to attract foreign capital, employing a strategy of sticks (see tariffs …) and carrots (subventions, tax reductions … for foreign investors …) – Important is not least that the initial protests in the senate had been silenced, as a result the act accepted.
• The tariffs, used as means to put countries under (further) pressure, are on the one hand undermining the economic potentials of their own development. On the other hand, the “uncontrolled and uncontrollable Trump-tariffs control” is already well known as boomerang, resulting in further social inequalities in the USA, the price for MAGA, increasing even further by the increasing competition within th4e global north and the restructuration of the accumulation regimes.
Some optimism left for the end … The BRICS, during the summit in Rio, condemned the USA, going beyond the critique of tariffs. Highlighted: The dominance of the USA, the structural weakening of the global south and at the end of the day the hope for mass protests asking for United Make the World Thinking Again. The bright glare of the approaching steamroller and the gloomy times could well prove to be two sides of the same coin.
[1] We should never forget that Trump is not really a politician but his background is business – whatever this really means in his case.
[2] The first from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the second from Faust.
[3] for more see https://www.newsweek.com/american-businesses-supporting-donating-donald-trump-list-2027957
[4] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/openai-ceo-sam-altman-i-am-now-homeless-but-thats-fine-as-now-i-care-much-more-about-/articleshow/122277356.cms
[5] E.g. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxww2kez0go
[6] See in a different perspective Herrmann: Die Europaeische Union als Programmgesellschaft, 2009