The idolization of billionaires as paragons of leadership has led to average men with above average income convincing themselves they're an inch short of god.
We'll need a correction, many corrections even, to put this fad to bed.
When have any elite not thought they were the smartest, most virtuous, anointed by god, etc? I don't think you can just point to Rand or something -- That's just the modern context we view it through.
While donations from the wealthy to Trump were significant, Kamala Harris still outraised him by a huge margin. It's a misconception that billionaires 'bought' Trump. Many of them detest him and are opportunistic suppoters. Only a small minority supported him consistently, and GOP elites resisted his rise in 2016 as much as they possibly could. Trump won because he has massive grassroots support. At least 25% of the electorate are hardcore supporters.
Secondly, billionaires did not want this war. Trump's enables were Evangelical Christians and their sick theology connected to Israel. In Latin America it's Rubio.
Finally, billionaires don't pay for this war through direct taxation. They pay for it indirectly: as U.S. debt and interest rates rise, financial instability increases, causing their assets to depreciate.
To me this is about power, religion is branding and the real decisions follow money, media control, and long‑term interests. Not every billionaire has to love trump and just enough of them have to be okay with him because he delivers tax cuts and deregulation
On the Middle East part: these aren't just random countries tied to some prophecy, theyre core US allies. If the US misplays this and loses them, thats a huge hit to US leverage
The theocrats want to bring about Armageddon. It's not clear if the technocrats are merely not objecting to it, or if they have some other goal in mind. Perhaps they want to funnel money to themselves via the defense sector, or perhaps they want to show off America's might. It may just be supporting one of our few remaining allies, who considers Iran a threat but hasn't risked an all-out war.
I'd like to think that, if this goes badly, then the theocrats and technocrats will blame each other for doing something costly. But I'm sure they'll just blame progressives, which always seems to suffice, regardless of how absurd the explanation is.
