The Ultimate Plan To Make America A Business-State

America’s newly elected president, Donald Trump, is the figurehead of a warship plying new ocean waters. We’ll call it the HMS Trump Troupe—a band of zealots and bad actors who favor shotguns over pistols.

In ancient times, sculpted figureheads symbolized a ship’s spirit. The Egyptians adopted figures of sacred birds to ensure protection and vision. The Romans and Greeks showcased carved wolf or boar heads that represented ferocity. The tale of William of Normandy’s conquest of England in 1066 depicts invading ships adorned with figureheads of lions and dragons.

It may be obvious, but it’s worth noting that symbolic figureheads don’t propel a warship. Forward movement happens with strong tailwinds. The Trump Troupe, a vessel that embodies the United States of America, is on a journey into unexplored autocratic waters. Although The Donald is the foremost figure in this movement, he is not propelling this ship. Galeforce tailwinds are blowing a fleet of mercenary warships across the globe, destroying any democracy in their path. 

Make no mistake, these forces do not seek to improve democracy through turns toward illiberal, conservative ideologies. These forces want to destroy and bury democracy and, in their wake, create new models of nationhood. They are actively replacing nation-states with business-states characterized by monolithic control of trans-geographic resources.

Trump’s threats to abandon the NATO alliance have sent tremors across Europe. On the eve of its next election, Germany is grappling with choices between a patchwork democracy or a turn toward strongman leadership. Germany’s leading conservative candidate, Friedrich Merz, whose conservative party won the recent election, sees an “epochal rupture” with a United States more aligned with Russia. Referring to the U.S., Merz said: “It is not just another change of government (in the U.S. under Trump), but a complete redrawing of the world map^⁠.”

Democracy Under Attack

The tailwind blowing America into autocratic waters represents an entirely new world in which a class of ideologues and opportunists view nation-states as businesses best managed by powerful CEOs. The citizens who live in these business states become employees with minimal human rights.

The wealth generated by these business states flows to monolithic CEOs—kleptocrats who can be government leaders or high-level officials (public or private). These ruling elites use their position of power to exploit national resources and public funds for personal gain.

What becomes of the citizens of the business-states? Subsistence wages trickle down to its citizen “employees.”

This scenario, epitomized by the Trump Troupe, may sound like the frenzied dream of an obese right-wing ideologue high on Ozempic. Unfortunately, the business-state model is far from a fantasy. Very real ideological currents are at play, intent on washing away democracies and creating islands of business-states freed from the geographic boundaries of traditional nation-states. 

Today, the Trump administration is attempting to transition the United States into America, Inc. In this kleptocratic world, the concept of national sovereignty gives way to the commodification of national wealth.

The idea that a mercenary Trump wants to turn America into an autocratic commodity is not mine alone. Consider these recent headlines in major U.S. News publications:

• Did you know that the United States is joining an international fascist network^⁠?
• In the MAGA vision of the national interest, America will be more like Russia, China, and Iran.
• In 2000, (Trump) wrote that “pulling back from (supporting) Europe would save this country millions of dollars annually^⁠.”

Anne Applebaum introduced this model of a business-state in her important book Autocracy, Inc. (2024). In it, Applebaum focuses on the dynamics of kleptocracies (“nations ruled by thieves”), whose leaders accumulate wealth through embezzlement, bribery, or other forms of corruption, often at the expense of the society they govern.

Applebaum portrays Russia as a prime example of a kleptocracy, a mafia state built and managed for the purpose of enriching its leaders.

The difference between a kleptocracy and an autocracy is the degree of corruption of the ruling elite. The more corrupt the elite, the more likely the autocrats are kleptocrats^⁠.

America, Inc. as an Emergent Business-State

There is no clearer example of the Trump Troupe commodifying international relations than its efforts to extort Ukraine of its sovereign rights to mineral deposits worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Trump has demanded a 50% share in these minerals^⁠ in exchange for Ukraine’s defense against Russia. From Trump’s commodified perspective, the U.S. has been paying for its defense against Russia. He now demands “payback.”

Another example of Trump driving an America, Inc. mentality is its unrealistic solution to the deadly Israel/Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Trump has proposed that the U.S., by some unknown authority, become owners of the Gaza coastline and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East^⁠.” He is not troubled by the fact that over two million Palestinians consider Gaza their home. To Trump, homesick and despairing Palestinians are an annoying business detail requiring relocation to neighboring countries – out of sight and out of mind in a high-priced Gaza Mediterranean Resort Complex.

There are numerous other examples of Trump’s business-state agenda:

• Trump wants to gain control of Canada, Greenland, Panama (as well as Ukraine and Gaza), all of which have commercial value for an American business-state.
• As noted, Trump’s staff are meeting in Saudi Arabia with Russia to carve up the spoils of Ukraine without the participation of Ukraine, Europe, or the NATO alliance.
• Just prior to his inauguration as president, Trump’s family started selling its own cryptocurrency token ($Trump) and, along with its partners, earned an estimated $100 million in transaction fees. 
• The early 31 traders of the $Trump meme coin, including Trump loyalists, made $669 million in profit. The 813,294 traders who came later were stuck with real or paper losses worth $2 billion. (Victims of a pump-and-dump strategy?) These windfalls and subsequent losses came as Trump’s staff was drafting new cryptocurrency regulations to ease oversight of the crypto-industry^⁠.
• As the Trump team prepares to carve up Ukraine with the help of Saudis as intermediaries, Trump has held meetings in the Oval Office (where he sits as president, not businessman) with Saudi and other officials to consolidate rival factions of the LIV Golf league into one larger and more profitable organization.
• A more robust LIV Golf league will likely increase the profitability of Trump’s international network of 18 golf clubs^⁠: 12 in the U.S., two in the UK, one operating and one being built in the UAE, and two being built in Indonesia.

The Growing Axis of Business-State Autocracies

Autocrats have existed throughout history and have gone by many names: king, dictator, fascist, totalitarian—to name a few. What sets today’s autocrats apart from those of the past is that they support one another through networks of cooperation and shared resources. Anne Applebaum’s well-documented book serves as a warning to all.

The major players in today’s “axis of autocracies” include China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, three of which are capable of nuclear war. 

As a cooperative network, these four players share an opposition to Western influence and what had been the U.S.-led international order. They are engaged in increased economic and military cooperation and coordinated diplomatic efforts. Their relationships are based not on the spread of mutual love but on the mercenary principle of maximizing transactional gains.

This axis of major autocratic players lends mutually beneficial support to their lesser peers: Venezuela, Nicaragua, Angola, Myanmar, Cuba, Syria, Zimbabwe, Mali, Belarus, Sudan, Azerbaijan, and dozens of others.  Already influential, Saudi Arabia is gaining international strength with the support of the Trump Troupe.

The common playbook^⁠ among these tech-savvy autocrats is to sabotage all forms of transparency or accountability and repress anyone who challenges them, maximizing the wealth flowing to the ruling elite.

The Influencers Onboard the Warship Trump Troupe

The earliest reference to America, Inc. was made by two economists, Morton Mintz and Jerry Cohen, in their book America, Inc.: Who Owns and Operates the United States? Their work warns of the dangers posed by corporate hegemony over concentrated industries. The book was published in 1971, during a peak period for liberal democracy. 

As political leanings shifted, the liberal movements of the 1970s sparked a conservative backlash in the 1980s. In 1986, the popular President Ronald Reagan instilled his grim perception of government into Americans’ minds: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” 

Given Reagan’s influence, the “government is good” ethos of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson gave way to the “government is bad” values of Tea Party politics, from which Trump’s MAGA revolution emerged.

Today, the Trump Troupe warship is filled with hypocritical actors who oppose Trump in private but praise him in public. Influencer shipmates include ideologues who preach a gospel that democracy is the worst form of government ever devised and needs to be destroyed. These influencers have the ears of Trump’s advisors, such as JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Elon Musk, Steve Bannon, and Peter Thiel.

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has his own strong views about government. He has repeatedly stated^⁠: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” 

Recall that Peter Thiel was responsible for grooming a young JD Vance’s anti-democracy values, and it was Thiel who convinced the Republican elites to install JD Vance as Trump’s vice presidential running mate.

JD Vance also has ideological ties to Curtis Yarvin and Nick Land. Both believe the democracy that emerged in the 1700s during the Age of Enlightenment was impossible to achieve. Yarvin and Sand each preach their own version of “Dark Enlightenment^⁠.”

Briefly, Justin Yarvin and Nick Land argue that democracy leads to declining accountability and restricted individual liberty. They favor a more hierarchical system of governance, where power is concentrated in the hands of a capable elite. In their gospel, this elite would be better equipped to make decisions that benefit society.

These are the ideas that Trump and his advisors are using to plunder the wealth of America. I’ll expand on the anti-democratic worldview of these ideologues in future posts.

Taking the Wind Out of the Sails of the HMS Trump Troupe

Leaders cannot lead without followers. Even if empowered, toxic leaders can still harm unhappy followers if they remain silent. However, when a mass of followers become vocal resisters, toxic leaders will lose their power.

Trump is the leading edge of a cadre of wealthy people who want greater wealth. They surround themselves with ideologues who pontificate on the dangers of democracies that promote inclusion rather than exclusion. In a game of zero-sum thinking, when the wealthy win, we lose. The greater their theft of the commonwealth, the less wealth is available to commoners.

Democracy thrives when an informed citizenry engages in respectful debates about public policies that benefit the greater common good. Healthy debates cannot happen without tolerance for differences, a willingness to compromise, and, most of all, knowledge about the topic of debate. 

Democracy depends on freely available information and voters with enough knowledge to sort through arguments and counter-arguments.

The Way Forward

We cannot let ourselves become another Russia. The only good news in this story is that Trump’s moves to destroy our democracy are nascent. America has a history of peaceful dissidence.  Now is the time to put the HMS Trump Troupe warship “in irons.”

Fellow dissidents, learn as much as you can about the complex forces driving democratic backsliding worldwide. There is no single cause for the rise of autocracies. 

In nations where elections still take place, individual citizens are convinced to vote for strongman leaders. The groups to which people belong significantly shape shared belief systems. As like-minded groups cultivate a common worldview, cultures evolve, normalizing social values that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Social media adds another layer of complexity to this puzzle, and the advent of artificial intelligence will only make it worse.

To repeat, there is no singular cause for the loss of democracy worldwide. Our best defense against mercenary autocracies is to read deeply, thoughtfully, and speak loudly. Learn about the many dimensions of democracy (personal, social, and cultural) that are the foundation of its restoration.

For example, the concept of “liberty” may seem like a universal idea that everyone understands, right? Wrong. The ideas of liberty and freedom are fraught with many ideological differences. Freedom – to do what to whom? Liberty – for your good or the collective good?

In my newsletter, Unpuzzling Life’s Complexities, I write about the many-level foundations of democracy. For example, you can read about the many meanings of liberty here.

Only an informed resistance will stop the Trump Troupe warship and like-minded autocrats from their stranglehold on human rights and a fair share of the commonwealth for all.