As the Trump administration begins to take shape before it comes into office in just a few days, even before it takes over, the chasms between different clans of supporters are becoming public and acrimonious. In addition, the bases of the ideas of Elon Musk, the Trump whisperer, deserve serious examination.
Less than two weeks prior to being sworn in as president , Donald Trump held what he called a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Throughout that hour, he rolled out all his usual, splenetic grievances and imaginary slights — about the judicial system, his persecution by an independent prosecutor, the unfairness of the media, and the so-called idiocies of his soon-to-be presidential predecessor. This, of course, is well-ploughed, often imaginary but malign material collectively comprising chunks of the red meat flung to his fervent supporters. No surprises there.
That day too, Trump also called up to the dais a friendly Emirati businessman who says he plans to make a major infrastructure investment in the US, as well as the man who will be Trump’s Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who announced that a hostage deal in Gaza is inching closer. (Witkoff has been a backbench observer to ongoing negotiations by the Biden team.) The goals for these announcements were designed to impart the illusion that Trump was the de facto, if not the de jure, president.
However, what attracted the most attention, puzzlement, and consternation, was…
