This is from John Mauldin, a well renown Economist. I've had a problem with calling our Deep State 'Elitist', because in my mind there's nothing elite about them. Mr. Mauldin is able to define the difference for me, what say you?
What Is an Elite?
The classic definition of an elite is a group or class considered superior to others because of their intelligence, social standing, or wealth.
I grew up poor in West Texas and then the city. Dad was an alcoholic. I got lucky on my SATs, got a scholarship and now live a life that by any standards is charmed. I have some modicum of influence from my writing. Some would consider me to be an elite. I don’t feel elite.
Ian Bremmer grew up in a rough part of Boston with a single mother. He was definitely not elite except that now he writes bestsellers, counsels presidents of countries and CEOs, and runs one of the most important geopolitical consulting firms in the world. Most would consider him an elite. When you are having dinner in his home you recognize his brilliance, but I don’t feel “elitism.”
I can describe any of hundreds of thousands of people this way. Is Trump and MAGA pushing back on them? I don’t think so. In fact, the “elites” I know who are going into the administration want to push back against what they consider elitism.
Let me argue that the elites that “populists” are pushing back on are not of wealth or education or position but are cultural elites that believe that a certain way of thinking is superior and want you and all our institutions to not only reflect that thinking but to actively promote it. MAGA is not against success. They celebrate it!
The “deplorables” who cling to their guns and religion are not just those with less education or economic success, but they also include some who are highly successful and by some definition would be considered elite.
Ian, I don’t see it as dark MAGA. I see it as bright MAGA. They are optimists, not just from tech but from all stripes and who believe in a bright future. They believe in the quintessential idea of America. They understand our problems but believe we have been improving for the last 250 years. Yes, they want less government, but only because they believe it would help unleash the best of America, letting all Americans create their own destinies.
I would not consider myself MAGA in a true sense. I am not trying to go back. I believe in the future and want to go forward. But I also don’t want to be told what to think that defies my own common sense.
Woke culture lays all the problems of the world at the feet of white privilege, racism, and creates divisions and class strife. It wants me to reject one religion and join another, whether it is climate change or class struggle or letting boys compete in girls’ (my granddaughters’!) athletics and use their dressing rooms.
And it celebrates anti-Semitism, something I thought we had intellectually banned from this country.
What Musk and Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi and millions of others believe is that free speech and free thought are paramount. They don’t want the government censoring their speech on social media, something that wasn’t even possible 20 years ago. There are so many things from a technological standpoint that are simply changing the character of our American experiment so rapidly that it is critical we maintain the standards that are essential to our experiment in free markets and free thought. If there is one thing uniting an incredibly disparate movement, in ways and groups that I would’ve never dreamed possible even a decade ago, it is the paramount belief in free speech. It is cultural elitism that is being pushed back on—that arrogant sense of superiority.
Gurri gets to the core of it, but there is more. It is not just that social media and the internet have allowed us all new sources of information, they are also allowing potential new sources of thought control. Listen to Marc Andreesen’s stories about how close we came to government using artificial intelligence to control our social media. Read the Twitter Files.
Bannon in one sense is right. Trump is an imperfect vessel. But there is no perfect vessel for a movement that is this disparate, this disjointed, with so many parts and people and cultures. That’s just not possible. I don’t believe I am the only person who can both support Trump and at the same time be uncomfortable with some of his decisions. If you agree with me 80% of the time, you are not my enemy. And I will use my free speech to make both points in this letter.
Listen, I get that America is not perfect. I have two black sons and two Asian daughters. Nine grandchildren and only one is pure Caucasian. I understand that there are unpleasant undertones to American culture more than you could possibly imagine. But I also know that there has been remarkable progress in my 75 years of life. And I believe more progress will be possible in the next 75.
Like Gurri, I don’t know if Trump and the thousands of appointees that are descending upon Washington can really tame Leviathan. But they are by God going to try, and I will do everything I can to help them. Do I have any idea what it will look like? No. But I do have a dream or two.
And that’s why I will do everything I can to help Americans live longer, to try to explain what is happening in the economics and finance world, and to make my part of the American experiment better than how I found it.
Will the pendulum swing again? Of course. It’s in the back and forth of the pendulum that we find the true path forward. That’s how we end up in Neil Howe’s period of civic pride and cooperation in the 2030s. And we have no idea what it will look like. But I hope to be there with you, having gone through the crisis and announcing the next manifestation of a new and better and improved American experiment.
What Is an Elite?
The classic definition of an elite is a group or class considered superior to others because of their intelligence, social standing, or wealth.
I grew up poor in West Texas and then the city. Dad was an alcoholic. I got lucky on my SATs, got a scholarship and now live a life that by any standards is charmed. I have some modicum of influence from my writing. Some would consider me to be an elite. I don’t feel elite.
Ian Bremmer grew up in a rough part of Boston with a single mother. He was definitely not elite except that now he writes bestsellers, counsels presidents of countries and CEOs, and runs one of the most important geopolitical consulting firms in the world. Most would consider him an elite. When you are having dinner in his home you recognize his brilliance, but I don’t feel “elitism.”
I can describe any of hundreds of thousands of people this way. Is Trump and MAGA pushing back on them? I don’t think so. In fact, the “elites” I know who are going into the administration want to push back against what they consider elitism.
Let me argue that the elites that “populists” are pushing back on are not of wealth or education or position but are cultural elites that believe that a certain way of thinking is superior and want you and all our institutions to not only reflect that thinking but to actively promote it. MAGA is not against success. They celebrate it!
The “deplorables” who cling to their guns and religion are not just those with less education or economic success, but they also include some who are highly successful and by some definition would be considered elite.
Ian, I don’t see it as dark MAGA. I see it as bright MAGA. They are optimists, not just from tech but from all stripes and who believe in a bright future. They believe in the quintessential idea of America. They understand our problems but believe we have been improving for the last 250 years. Yes, they want less government, but only because they believe it would help unleash the best of America, letting all Americans create their own destinies.
I would not consider myself MAGA in a true sense. I am not trying to go back. I believe in the future and want to go forward. But I also don’t want to be told what to think that defies my own common sense.
Woke culture lays all the problems of the world at the feet of white privilege, racism, and creates divisions and class strife. It wants me to reject one religion and join another, whether it is climate change or class struggle or letting boys compete in girls’ (my granddaughters’!) athletics and use their dressing rooms.
And it celebrates anti-Semitism, something I thought we had intellectually banned from this country.
What Musk and Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi and millions of others believe is that free speech and free thought are paramount. They don’t want the government censoring their speech on social media, something that wasn’t even possible 20 years ago. There are so many things from a technological standpoint that are simply changing the character of our American experiment so rapidly that it is critical we maintain the standards that are essential to our experiment in free markets and free thought. If there is one thing uniting an incredibly disparate movement, in ways and groups that I would’ve never dreamed possible even a decade ago, it is the paramount belief in free speech. It is cultural elitism that is being pushed back on—that arrogant sense of superiority.
Gurri gets to the core of it, but there is more. It is not just that social media and the internet have allowed us all new sources of information, they are also allowing potential new sources of thought control. Listen to Marc Andreesen’s stories about how close we came to government using artificial intelligence to control our social media. Read the Twitter Files.
Bannon in one sense is right. Trump is an imperfect vessel. But there is no perfect vessel for a movement that is this disparate, this disjointed, with so many parts and people and cultures. That’s just not possible. I don’t believe I am the only person who can both support Trump and at the same time be uncomfortable with some of his decisions. If you agree with me 80% of the time, you are not my enemy. And I will use my free speech to make both points in this letter.
Listen, I get that America is not perfect. I have two black sons and two Asian daughters. Nine grandchildren and only one is pure Caucasian. I understand that there are unpleasant undertones to American culture more than you could possibly imagine. But I also know that there has been remarkable progress in my 75 years of life. And I believe more progress will be possible in the next 75.
Like Gurri, I don’t know if Trump and the thousands of appointees that are descending upon Washington can really tame Leviathan. But they are by God going to try, and I will do everything I can to help them. Do I have any idea what it will look like? No. But I do have a dream or two.
And that’s why I will do everything I can to help Americans live longer, to try to explain what is happening in the economics and finance world, and to make my part of the American experiment better than how I found it.
Will the pendulum swing again? Of course. It’s in the back and forth of the pendulum that we find the true path forward. That’s how we end up in Neil Howe’s period of civic pride and cooperation in the 2030s. And we have no idea what it will look like. But I hope to be there with you, having gone through the crisis and announcing the next manifestation of a new and better and improved American experiment.
