“This is not the beginning of a new right-wing revanche fascist era; this is the end of something. But the problem is we can’t get to the new world because the new world is too filled with problems.” — Jonathan Taplin
Trump fantasizes about himself as a king. But he’s actually just an interregnum, at least according to Jon Taplin — author of Move Fast and Break Things, Hollywood insider, and old friend. In a “terrifying” new piece in Rolling Stone, Taplin draws an unusual historical parallel: Trump as Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell cut off the king’s head, slaughtered Catholics in Ireland (his Lebanon), tried to install his son as successor, and ended up with his head on a pike outside Parliament. MAGA is not the future, Taplin suggests. It’s the Gramsci-style death rattle of something that was already dying.
The real question is what’s being born. Jon Taplin calls it the digital military-industrial complex — managed by Thiel, Musk, Andreessen, and a “real piece of work” drone entrepreneur unluckily named Palmer Luckey. In the Fifties, Eisenhower warned America about the dangers of a military industrial complex made up of 40 or 50 defense contractors. Now there are five, and — in Thielian Zero to One fashion — Silicon Valley wants to shrink them down to a techno-oligarchy.
Today’s Iranian war, Taplin says, is the sneak preview of this. In Iran, AI is now, so to speak, calling the ethical shots. Palantir’s targeting system used old intelligence and identified a former military base. Thus the 175 dead children in a school next to a munitions factory. AI is only as good or evil as the information you feed it. Move fast and break things, Taplin appropriated Zuckerberg’s dictum to describe Silicon Valley’s impact on America. But Zuckerberg was only referring to domestic things — technology, society, democracy. Now it’s the world.
But there may be hope. Anthropic is resisting the administration. The midterms are coming. Republican unity is cracking. But there’s also Taplin’s Taco Tuesday (TTT) — “Trump Always Chickens Out” — especially, for some reason, on a Tuesday. Taplin predicts Trump will declare victory in Iran and withdraw. The alternative — invoking the Insurrection Act to cancel the midterms — would have sounded insane a year ago. But, of course, nothing sounds insane in our interregnum times. Cromwell’s head ended up on a pike. Jon Taplin’s Hollywood cronies are, no doubt, licking their lips in anticipation of history repeating itself. First as tragedy, then as farce.
Five Takeaways
• Trump Is Cromwell, Not the Future: Taplin argues this is not the beginning of a permanent MAGA era but the end of something—an interregnum in Gramsci’s sense. Cromwell ruled for eight years, tried to install his son, and ended up with his corpse dug up and his head on a pike. The old is dying and the new cannot be born. In this interregnum, many morbid symptoms appear.
• The Digital Military-Industrial Complex Is More Dangerous Than Eisenhower’s: Eisenhower warned about 40 or 50 defense contractors. Now there are five. Silicon Valley—Thiel, Musk, Andreessen, Luckey—wants to replace them. The US spends more on defense than the next ten countries combined. 59% of discretionary spending goes to the Pentagon. That money doesn’t build bridges or fund colleges.
• AI Targeted a School and Killed 175 Children: AI is selecting targets in Iran. The system—Palantir’s—used old intelligence and identified a former military base that had been a school for eight years. The children are dead. AI is only as good or evil as the information you feed it.
• Altman Threw Amodei Under the Bus: Sam Altman publicly supported Anthropic’s position on surveillance and autonomous weapons on a Tuesday. By Friday he’d signed a deal with the Department of War. Classic Sam. Meanwhile the administration is trying to kill Anthropic by barring any government contractor from using Claude—a potential death sentence for a company built on enterprise clients.
• Taco Tuesday: Trump Always Chickens Out: Taplin predicts Trump will declare victory and withdraw—“Taco Tuesday,” where TACO stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” The midterms are coming. Either the Democrats run the table, or Trump invokes the Insurrection Act to avoid electoral defeat. Nothing is insane with this president.
About the Guest
Jonathan Taplin is Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California and the author of Move Fast and Break Things, The Magic Years, and The End of Reality. He was tour manager for Bob Dylan and The Band and produced Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and The Band’s The Last Waltz. He lives in Los Angeles.
References
References:
• Jonathan Taplin, “The Terrifying New Era of American Imperialism” — Rolling Stone
• Move Fast and Break Things by Jonathan Taplin
• The End of Reality by Jonathan Taplin
• Eisenhower’s farewell address (1961) and the original military-industrial complex warning
• Antonio Gramsci: “The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum many morbid symptoms appear”
• The Last Supper (1993)—the Clinton-era consolidation of defense contractors from 25 to 5
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States—hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.
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