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The Center Has Been Hollowed Out
And Musk and Trump now want to set us against each other. Can we resist the urge to hate?
Most of us have eaten the hollow chocolate bunnies that appear in our lives for various reasons each Spring. They look solid and colorful and make you want to chew off an ear or two upon peeling back the protective foil. Yet, no matter how sturdy those bunnies look sitting on the store shelves or in the kiosk windows, you intuitively also appreciate how fragile they are. Filled with air, the sweet, chocolatey sides have nothing to brace up against, and so with the slightest bit of pressure, they will, without hesitation, cave in on themselves.
Donald Trump’s attempts to hollow out the center have been successful in many ways, but because he is, for many, such a vile and hated figure, there is never a discernible center. People move to and away from Trump like the tide, so that movement constantly expands and shrinks the center. Post-election, the tide had moved toward Trump, so a smaller and more hollow center appeared, strengthening the two sides and making a cave-in less likely.
Since the election, however, Elon Musk has been playing an identical role played by Alfred Hugenberg in 1933 Germany. Hugenberg was one of the wealthiest industrialists of the Weimar era, and if not for him and…
