MAGA without Trump will make today's hell seem like paradise

We live strongly tempted to believe that Donald Trump represents a one-off, the type of charismatic leader that captures a dangerous zeitgeist, the one the founders worried about, and one for whom a pending disposal, whether by scandal, term limits, or just old age, provides the country an off-ramp from insanity, the restoration of normality, the opportunity to at least grab some of the older greatness — warts and all.

Don't fall into that trap because while we wait, the real movement roots.

The world missed a critical point in time, an opportunity to atone for all that was "last time" while also the chance to cap everything coming, wasting the moment that was late January 2021. Oh, to go back, right, Mitch? As per always, the GOP let justice and righteousness fall 10 senators short in impeachment 2.0, all to ensure a bright billionaire future on the backs of working Americans.

MAGA-MORE took root as "Trump Two: Angrier, Hungrier, and Uncut" sailed in through a post-pandemic fog. Trump provided post-COVID clarity for a mean crowd, doing the only thing he ever did well, the only thing they ever wanted: instinctive anger and cruelty directed at all "others."

So here we are, the world a stage for a man ranting through a dangerous retribution tour, resulting in the vast majority of the globe, including 60% of Americans, counting down days. But others have calendars, too — the MAGA pure-bred, those who see Trumpism as a mere baptism in a growing religion, none more committed and dangerous than Bishop Peter Thiel, currently converting "Palantir" into a war chest and a tech-juiced para-military. Palantir money and power currently await next-gen MAGA.

Yet again here we are, facing election 2026 — we hope — with another moment in a particularly dangerous time. War, possible recession in the wind, a long, hot summer, and top-tier players positioning, ever building. Thiel often leads the way.

Everyone understands that Vice President J.D. Vance, once a fairly harmless, almost tolerable, anti-Trump "hillbilly," now functions as a Thiel torpedo, for now restrained only by fealty to Trump — waiting, planning. Vance kept his cymbals quiet in the drumbeat to bombs on Iran for a reason. Too risky, the war, the politics, and Trump (Get used to the distance).

Over on the side, Thiel somehow found time to leave his Palantir planning for a week to visit Rome and give a talk on the future. Note, quickly, he didn't speak at the Vatican, where he'd have to justify himself to the relatively liberal, pro-immigration, pro-poor people Pope Leo. Instead, Thiel found MAGA Catholics and similar right-wing zealots to talk about ... Well, we don't know, because he specifically limited these seminars to invitees. So, behind closed doors, no recording devices, the gods only know what they talked about. But we can bet he's positioning himself as singularly essential in a Hard-Right global totalitarian future.

He is not there extolling the virtues of Jeffersonian democracy.

History clearly teaches that "Hard Right" always means singular power, functioning fascists, committed to doing whatever it takes to overthrow Classic Western Liberalism, which, notably, includes the rule of law and democracy. We feel that tension already building in one man's MAGA movement, Trump. Except it only begins there and, through the likes of Thiel, readies to really grow.

Because not only is Thiel tied to Vance, but also the increasingly dangerous Elon Musk, newly-minted media mogul Larry Ellison, far-right Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, along with too many others, ready to use whatever tethers MAGA together post-Trump.

Problematically, this group has the goods to get it done, "it" being big-brother Orwellian control made ever easier by overruning old school media (Thanks, Ellison!), tightening social media, and a lot else, all of it now combined with AI and the surveillance state made possible by Palantir. This column won't go harmlessly unnoticed — nothing will.

Past totalitarian movements came with inherent risk; you might lose your life or your stuff. It required commitment and bravery. Not this one. These people's "stuff" includes not just guarded luxurious compounds, multi-citizenships, and White Houses, but also every international electron netting the globe, satellite to screen, all monitored in real time according to a real plan by the ever-ready AI and — again, surveillance. Certainly, there's no risk to their lives, not with billions, even trillions, at their disposal, all projected forward with drones, robots, driverless vehicles, monitored by Gen-Z generals sitting behind screens. "Control the world and get a sandwich, all from the luxury of home, risk-free!"

That's a tempting opportunity for them. After all, if they happen to fail it will likely encompass little more than nations paying them to go away. Don't think it's not possible.

This is depressing. Except the world still has this "moment in time 2.0," perhaps the last chance. A ton of tools may be falling together. In a world of memes, the "Epstein class" resonates hard. The war in Iran gives the American public a prequel of what the world looks like when ruled by whim, dictators bombing when they "feel it in their bones," with a recession looming, the billionaire reckoning, and AI set to take over perhaps one-third of society's jobs. It really is now or never.

And it's not too late. Try as they might, the Trump-GOP hasn't been able to wipe away American fondness for elections. After all, the GOP wouldn't be considering nuking the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act if it could win elections. Americans like democracy, preserving the right not to be shot in the street, not have their media monitored, all that. We are the ones who feel unsettled, knowing that this time we may lose our lives or our stuff if we just let it happen.

What to do?

Someone smarter than me has to put together a plan under which enough of us unify. I can contribute, even with something all too obvious. If one needs direction, wants a read on the future, a figure to fight, start seeing Trump as nothing less than a harbinger, the mascot of the Epstein class, entry-level fascism, look farther, look to the Epstein class as both memes and monsters, to Musk, to Ellison, and the true north on this one, watch Thiel, the guy who perhaps is willing to risk it all.

Fair is fair. They will all certainly be watching you. Stare back. Because in some ways, they already have all the money, all the tech, most of the anger, and a vicious plan. They have everything except hearts and minds. So steady yours and don't waste another moment.