Trump is choosing the broligarchs over his base

When historians assess this age of American populism, Silicon Valley’s plutocrats will surely be judged its winners.

- Edward Luce

The days of censoring Americans online are over, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage,” Vice-President J.D. Vance wrote on X. Europe is pursuing “civilisational suicide” through regulation and censorship, added Mr Christopher Landau, Mr Rubio’s deputy. And so on.

All of this because the European Union last week imposed a modest US$140 million (S$181.4 million) fine on Mr Elon Musk’s X for transgressions unrelated to free speech. But forget the details. Mr Musk is the EU’s sworn enemy. As is US President Donald Trump, who this week described Europe as “decaying” and its leaders “weak”.

Despite having bitterly fallen out earlier this year, Mr Musk and Mr Trump are fated to be close. As the chief US broligarch, Mr Musk is too shiny for Mr Trump to ignore for long. Mr Musk may flirt with a third party, denounce Mr Trump’s fiscal recklessness and even claim that Mr Trump has personal reasons to suppress the Epstein files, but the prodigal son can always find a way back. They have too many common enemies.

The same is true of Mr Trump and the rest of the broligarchy. When historians assess this age of American populism, Silicon Valley’s plutocrats will surely be judged its winners.