Suzy Wiles’ assessment of Donald Trump’s Cabinet in the Winter issue of Vanity Fair may have given many readers a chuckle. She called it a world-class Cabinet, better than anything I could have conceived of. (“Eye of the Hurricane,” by Chris Whipple, Vanity Fair, Winter, 2026, pg. 52)
In her words, their strength lies not in their vision or experience. They are remarkable in their willingness to be “disrupters”, the only people with the balls to take on an entrenched deep state. (Ibid. pg. 52)
Most of us understand that a willingness to slash and burn has little to do with leadership. What’s more, while Trump’s sycophants take bows for their destructive proclivities, they seem unaware that the giants of technology have already charted a course for humanity. What should concern us all is where they will take us. Do they have a plan beyond growing richer and more powerful?
For example, is their aim to make computers humongous calculators designed to solve Nature’s mysteries? Or are they dedicated to creating a robotic species that will serve human needs? Maybe they intend to do both. The underlying question is, can we trust a profit-driven industry to determine society’s endgame?
We can’t even trust Nature. Would anyone argue that its design for the human knee is flawless? All that can be said about the knee is that it didn’t arise from a profit motive. This is the juncture where Nature and humankind diverge. People are re governed by their desires rather than by chance. Greed is the most prominent impulse among them.
A society is either peaceful or tumultuous, depending upon the guardrails it puts in place to restrain overwhelming ambitions. Take AI, for example. It is capable of solving problems once considered intractable, and its knowledge is shared globally. Yet AI has no conscious intention. Disinformation can be distributed by the same means, depending on the character of those who spread it.
Does this uncertainty worry AI developers? Are they providing guardrails? Sadly, I hear little talk about that, and too much about stock market fluctuations.
Without moral imperatives, either social, philosophical, or religious, our darker angels are unrestrained. Worse, they can spread chaos like a virus, replicating until confronted by an opposing force. Violence and war are the usual outcomes.
Knowing what we do about human nature, are we wise to leave the future in the hands of oligarchs who pursue money and power?
Already, AI spawns talk of massive unemployment. Elon Musk describes this outcome as increased leisure. But with no income, ordinary people wonder how they will live. And, they have good reason to worry. Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, doesn’t hide behind euphemisms. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, more wealth has been created than at any time prior in human history, but in advanced economies, that wealth has accrued to a far narrower share of people than any healthy society can ultimately sustain.
The merely wealthy are also worried. They see instability ahead and insist that billionaires pay higher taxes. Having millionaires aligned with ordinary men and women may have benefits, but I am confident that ordinary people can speak for themselves.
Given their head, they would lead the country in a kinder, gentler direction. Before Trump and his sycophants, a majority talked about equity and inclusion. They still hunger for those values despite their corrupt leaders.
We witness that moral longing in Minneapolis. Each night, individuals leave the warmth of their homes and spill, like a squadron of ants, into the luminous snow. They join others in a peaceful protest on behalf of the most vulnerable among us. These demonstrators aren’t titans of industry, not oligarchs who lunch in Davos. They are ordinary citizens–mothers, fathers, and grandparents. Some arrive leaning on canes. A few are in wheelchairs. Whistles at the ready, they are determined to defend their neighbors against a masked and armed military.
I stand in awe of their courage. Blood may etch the cracks along their city pavements, yet still they rise.
I see no similar courage among the elites, including our elected leaders. Nor do I find any reason to allow the privileged to frame the rules of our society. Having rewarded themselves at the expense of the country, they are not entitled to speak for the rest of us.
Power to the people.
BOYCOTT: Tesla, Apple, Amazon
