This past weekend offered a bizarre contrast in the forces shaping our times.
A sitting US president celebrated his eightieth birthday with an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) spectacle on the South Lawn of the White House. The US and Iran agreed to a preliminary peace deal that may or may not settle a war that has shaken energy markets and the global economy. And Elon Musk became the first human whose wealth has exceeded a trillion dollars after his SpaceX initial public offering became history’s largest at $2.1 trillion.
I’m laying down a wager that the Musk milestone will leave the deepest mark of those three events, and it’s not even a close call. It’s not because of Musk alone, but rather because of what he represents as a new force in human affairs that will exert itself for decades to come: the rise of technology-infused private wealth and power on a scale once reserved for nation-states.
US President Donald Trump’s birthday celebration—a mixed celebration of martial arts, POTUS at eighty, and America at 250—got plenty of notice. And it’s certainly worth reflecting on what the event and the Trump presidency more generally say about our American moment, its celebrity culture, and this weekend’s fusion of politics and entertainment.
