Elon Musk's ties with Donald Trump once symbolised an alliance between tech and politics but their recent spat is sparking fears that the 'Dark MAGA conspiracy' is coming true.
The red MAGA caps have become one of the most recognisable symbols in American politics, worn proudly by Donald Trump supporters across the country. The US president's former close ally, Elon Musk, sported a customised version that boldly read: "Trump Was Right About Everything!"
At a campaign rally, the world's richest person took things a step further, joking to the crowd: "I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA". The comment seemed harmless enough at the time and was reportedly referencing his all-black outfit and matching black MAGA hat.
But as Trump and Musk's relationship has publicly imploded, some are connecting his words to a much darker theory.
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What is Dark MAGA?
The term 'Dark MAGA' stems from a fringe conspiracy theory called 'dark enlightenment.'
The theory allegedly originates from Curtis Yarvin, a 51-year-old computer coder who believes tech billionaires will eventually overthrow the US government and install a CEO to run the US like a corporation instead of a democracy.
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According to this theory, traditional democratic institutions would be dismantled and replaced with a high-tech authoritarian regime.
How are Musk and other tech billionaires connected to Dark MAGA?
Seemingly, the world's richest man is closely tied to Peter Thiel, the PayPal founder who's been claimed to be a major figure in these circles, as per the conspiracy theory.
Supporters of the theory point that Musk and Thiel leveraged their influence to get JD Vance selected as Trump's running mate, while refusing to financially back the president's campaign unless their chosen 'CEO' was picked as VP. The next step in this supposed scheme would be to seat Vance as president and remove Trump from power entirely.
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While this sounds far-fetched, Trump's recent cosying up to tech power players like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and initially Musk has added fuel to the theory.
What parts of the Dark MAGA theory are 'coming true'?
While the conspiracy remains a fringe theory, several elements that it predicted are supposedly happening.
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For one, the Dark MAGA theory mentioned mass firings of federal employees, which was a plan implemented by Musk's DOGE team earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Washington institutions have reportedly been briefed about the 'Dark Enlightenment' movement, suggesting officials are taking it seriously enough to monitor.
Dr. Katie Pruszynski, a Trump specialist and researcher at the University of Sheffield, said the ideas are 'not new.'
"This is a very clear example of how fringe figures such as Curtis Yarvin are transformed from a fairly nondescript computer scientist into a political philosopher through social media," the expert said. "His embrace by Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaires such as Peter Thiel has propelled him to the centre of the far-right’s political intelligensia.
"But his views are not new, and the actions being taken by the Trump administration to hollow out the administrative state do not originate with Yarvin, despite bearing many of the same neo-reactionary hallmarks."
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Dr. Pruszynski added that Yarvin's views are 'extreme' but were made 'more mainstream by Trump Republicans some time ago, which is far more troubling.’