With his return as US President, we are witnessing in real time the takeover of governance by Big Capital.

Published : Jan 15, 2025 08:49 IST – 3 MINS READ

Vaishna Roy

Vaishna Roy is Editor, Frontline.

US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on November 26, 2020. | Photo Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP

Two important events will dominate mind space in the coming days: Donald Trump’s second swearing-in at the White House and the Assembly election in Delhi. The State that houses the national capital has not only eluded the BJP for 27 years, but for the past decade it is a tiny rebel outfit that has defeated it. One can almost visualise the history book passages (or perhaps a 3D beam) that will relate this David-Goliath tale to future generations.

No less dramatic is Trump’s return as POTUS. While the prospect is alarming, in reality it might simply be more of the same stuff his predecessors served up but in a spicier dressing. The US, red or blue, has for years ignored the rights of self-determination of smaller countries, flouted United Nations norms, incited rebellions and wars around the globe, bombed innocent civilians to oblivion (this does not include the tens of thousands killed by its copious supply of arms), and made a mockery of the post-World Wars imaginary of a world united by cooperation and fraternity.

Thus, the thunderstruck reactions to Trump’s desire to purchase Greenland are a bit rich. Trump has also cast covetous eyes on Canada and the Panama Canal. He justifies his claims: “for national security purposes”, “for the free world”, “for economic security”. The US bombed Iraq too for democracy and the free world. The American response under Joe Biden to the genocide in Gaza, its denunciation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (which Russia claims is for its own “national security”) while supporting Israel’s vicious crusade against the Palestinians have all, in the social media age, very publicly killed the US charade of batting for a global order based on international law and pointed very loudly to oil. Trump is simply stating openly what has long been closet American policy.

It is not Trump and his outrageous statements we should focus on. What makes Trump dangerous is the backing he gets from his billionaire comrade-in-arms Elon Musk whose post-election pronouncements have grown in both amplitude and ambition; he speaks, for instance, of colonising Mars. He dreams of joining the Trump government and news reports say he has been a “near-constant presence” at Mar-a-Lago. “He’s behaving as if he’s a co-president,” a source is quoted as saying. He reportedly participates even in sensitive conversations. Musk’s public snub to Justin Trudeau or the fact that the incoming Ambassador to Denmark is his close associate are signs of his peer power.

In other words, we are witnessing in real time the takeover of governance by big capital. The neon-lit, fossil-fuel-guzzling, Big-Mac-munching neoliberal beast that the US unleashed is slouching towards its logical conclusion—full political power. The billionaires in Trump’s team are together reportedly worth about $400 billion, more than the GDP of many countries. And, when oligarchs rule the world, it would be stupid to imagine them worrying about the environment or trees or indigenous people. If Greenland is on Trump’s agenda, it is because its icy surface is known to hide resources like oil, gas, and rare earth minerals that big business craves.

The scenario is playing out across the globe, not least right here in India, where the intimacy between the industrialist Gautam Adani (the richest Indian, worth around Rs.11 lakh crore) and the Prime Minister has triggered many charges of rules and regulations being tweaked for short-term benefits to a privileged few at the cost of long-term losses to the disregarded many.

The next four years are likely to be momentous for the ways in which the world’s moral compass, aligned at least aspirationally along the axes of justice and equality for all, is going to be reset to dramatically different bearings. It is unlikely to happen entirely peacefully.