Everything is happening with astonishing speed. The Trump-Musk regime is rapidly dismantling US government structures, academia, and health organizations, resulting in thousands of job losses and the elimination of billions in funding. The breadth and pace of this assault are overwhelming, making it nearly impossible to keep up with the relentless devastation, much less to organize a response. None of this chaos is happenstance.
To effectively counter the Trump offensive within the US and prevent its international spread, it is vital to grasp its roots. The velocity of this attack can be traced back to strategist Steve Bannon, known for his “accelerationist” tactics and his strategy to overwhelm with information to confuse and disengage the public. This leads to a flood of misinformation regarding climate and Covid, creating a disorienting atmosphere where the public becomes easy prey for simplistic Trumpist narratives targeting the woke, immigrants, transgender individuals, and other scapegoats. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter/X aligns with Bannon’s goals.
We are witnessing the convergence of two powerful factions within the Trump ecosystem: the fossil fuel-backed Heritage Foundation and the tech industry. The former developed Project 2025, a blueprint for Trump’s initial year in office. Curtis Yarvin, a preferred thinker of PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, has expressed a desire to “reset” an entire country by replacing outdated democratic frameworks with a more business-friendly and less accountable alternative. Both sectors have poured hundreds of millions into Trump’s campaign.
So far, regulatory roles have been eradicated, cryptocurrency will evade democratic scrutiny, budgets have been slashed to enrich Musk through SpaceX and Starlink contracts, and recently dismissed government employees are set to be replaced by AI solutions.
Many industries have sensed the shift and have ceased even the pretense of greenwashing or climate accountability as they abandon responsibility for a sustainable future. The climatic and ecological ramifications of this transition are as catastrophic as they are intentional. We must give a fitting title to this new age of fossil fuel and tech barons accelerating their assaults on democracy and the planet: cataclysm capitalism.
Cataclysm capitalism emerges as a successor to neoliberalism and its disaster capitalism. As Naomi Klein articulated in her book, *The Shock Doctrine*, neoliberalism capitalized on crises to deregulate and privatize public services, weaken trade unions, and civil society, thereby creating conditions favorable for private wealth accumulation while resulting in detrimental effects on equality, labor, and welfare. Cataclysm capitalism not only replicates these tactics but intensifies them. The change occurs at a frenetic pace, dismantling public institutions more thoroughly, with a more blatant assault on democracy. The most alarming aspect is that industries thriving amid planetary and societal ruin have concluded that they can profit without the necessity of thriving economies. Neoliberalism at least proposed it was serving a broader good through market competition; cataclysm capitalism discards this facade entirely.
Fossil fuel corporations, right-wing tech tycoons, and their financial backers have somehow become convinced that they can flourish without prosperous economies. They have learned to monetize chaos and devastation, understanding that impoverished populations will endure harsh working conditions and accrue debt in order to survive.
Ironically, widespread economic insecurity fuels far-right ideologies. Voters trapped in a perpetual state of anxiety and confusion, lacking clarity about the systems creating their struggles, become easy targets for far-right narratives that blame immigrants, the “woke,” and transgender individuals. Unfortunately, as neoliberal ideologies have consumed formerly center-left parties (such as UK Labour and US Democrats), we are left with significantly diminished organized opposition and a more direct pathway to accelerated catastrophe.
The outlook is bleak. We are confronted with a coordinated hostile takeover of democracy, paired with an economic dismantling favoring sectors that benefit fossil-fuel and tech magnates, to our detriment and the detriment of all life on Earth. What can we do? I propose an initial three-pronged plan that is simple yet actionable.
First, knowledge is empowerment. We must deepen our understanding of those who threaten our world, from fossil fuel think tanks to far-right tech accelerationists. Our task is to inform our fellow citizens about who we are up against and their ultimate aims, converting paralyzing fear into informed anger.
Second, it is crucial to organize and unite, whether through trade unions, neighborhood groups, or any collective that can be formed. Many of us have grown up in neoliberal cultures that encourage individualism and isolation. As a result, organizing feels foreign and demanding; our learned sense of helplessness is a vital part of disaster capitalism’s strategy.
Yet, as an inherently cooperative species, we possess remarkable innate abilities to collaborate. Organizing is fundamentally what we, as social beings, were meant to do. At its core, organizing involves gathering individuals, raising awareness of our shared issues, discussing actionable solutions, and implementing those strategies. Rinse and repeat; make it a part of your life’s pursuits.
Third, we need to strategically confront the Trump-Musk initiative instead of reacting to every individual action. We know that destruction and corruption will follow in their wake; thus, we must present a positive vision worth defending. From my research, I propose a model of scientifically informed democratic decision-making for the common good. This includes creating our own organizations focused on mutual aid and protecting vulnerable communities. We have everything to lose if we remain complacent, and everything to gain if we take action.
