The new strongmen of the Trump galaxy: the rise to power of an “anti-elite elite”

Elon Musk, représentant emblématique d'une “élite anti-élite” Consolidated News Photos – Chip Somodevilla – Pool via CNP

L’universitaire montpelliérain William Genieys, directeur de recherche au CNRS en poste à SciencesPo Paris, est un politologue et sociologue spécialiste de la société américaine.

“Does Donald Trump's new presidency herald the rise to power of “the people and the end of corrupt elites”, as he claimed throughout his election campaign? ? Contradicting the populist leader's rhetoric, a completely different reality: that of the rise to power of an anti-elite elite.

This is the thesis defended by Montpellier academic William Genieys, a CNRS research director based at SciencesPo Paris, and a political scientist and sociologist specializing in American society, and Mohammad-Saïd Darviche, a lecturer at the University of Montpellier, in a work published on the website The Conversation (*).

“A hyper-conglomerate radical”

At the origin of this text, remembers William Genieys,“a desire to work on this subject when I saw the names of the first people that Trump wanted to appoint when he came to power, some of whom were announced during the election campaign.”

He then sees the emergence of “a hyper radical conglomerate”, and, therefore, a governance at the service of objectives that are no less radical: “Let's take Elon Musk for example. Even more than his personality, what really worries me is the job that has been assigned to him, and that he will want to accomplish: basically, deconstruct the entire State, with a civil servant status – and he wants to greatly reduce the number of them – which would be subject to the principle of absolute political loyalty” he told us at the end of last week, three days before the inauguration of the winner of the election presidential.

Loyalty “to the leader Maga”

After this date, the authors estimate in their text, the fraction of the Republican elites “most loyal to the leader Maga (for “Make America Great Again”, Editor’s note), who share a common and strong hatred of the Democratic elites and their policies, will monopolize the executive powers (the administration), judicial – the Supreme Court among others –, and legislative, at least until the next midterms, the mid-term elections in Congress, which will take place in 2026. Their political project is therefore less about challenging elitism in general than the elitism specific to liberal democracies.”

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

“Extravagant positions on Canada and the Greenland”

What they believe is still somewhat obscured by Donald Trump's most thunderous statements since his election (“the President-elect's extravagant positions on Canada and Greenland” they observe), or those of Elon Musk in support of the most radical right-wing parties in Europe, Italy or the United Kingdom.

An ideology inspired by another inauguration speech, that of Ronald Reagan for his first presidency, where the former actor had declared bluntly that “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem”.

“Rid democracy of the deep state”

From there, they complete, “the Trumpian elite translates its anti-elitism into a simple political program: rid democracy of the “deep state” and its corollary a “government of insiders” subverting the general interest”.

A program for which Donald Trump has found the right men and women to implement it with the greatest possible dedication and conviction. With Elon Musk (Tesla, X) as Commissioner for Government Efficiency and leader of the tech giants who have rallied (more or less recently) to the billionaire Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, ex-Facebook), to Jeff Bezos (Amazon), to Peter Thiel.

But only Musk will join the Trump administration, where he will rub shoulders with other pillars of this governance with an ultra-conservative profile, and perfect representatives of this anti-elite elite.

The desired “purges” of the future FBI director

at the forefront of which we will find the former prosecutor Kash P. Patel, “probable future FBI director”. Who, according to William Genieys,“in his manifesto against the federal administration described as a “Government of gangsters””, evokes the need “to resort to “purges”, and to pursue certain democratic elites in court, offering popular vindictiveness a list of sixty personalities…”

Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Budget Management, “known for having obstructed the transition with the Biden administration in 2021”. MAXPPP – KEVIN DIETSCH

And the very possible appointment of Russel Vought to head the Office of Budget Management, a key body in the President's cabinet at the White House, “known for having obstructed the transition with the Biden administration in 2021, attests to the same authoritarian impulses”.

“Towards an openly biased democracy”

A few examples among several others just as representative, such as the anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy at Health, or Peter Hegseth (who is the subject of several scandals for sexual assault and alcoholism) at Defense.

And if William Genieys refuses to evoke a shift towards a dictatorial, or fascist, or even illiberal regime, he sees there an “evolution” towards what he calls “an openly partial democracy, within which the government elites”.

I subscribe to read the rest