Musk and Soros

That Elon Musk is called the 'George Soros of the Right', given that the billionaire funded the decidedly right-wing Donald Trump's campaign is often missed, as the side of the media with the 'monopoly on truth' naturally triumphs over the other. Partisan and ideological moorings conveniently make one side the villain and the other the hero

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Mention of George Soros conjures diverse emotions, depending on who is asked. He is without doubt the favourite bogeyman of the hard-right like French ultranationalist Marie Le Pen, Hungarian authoritarian Viktor Orban, Israeli hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Turkish ultra-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, British Brexiteer-conservative Nigel Farage or more recently Donald Trump and his latest troubleshooter, Elon Musk.

Conversely, Soros has been a funder of the Democratic Party in the US and has self-confessedly supported causes that are inherently liberal and pro-democracy, through his much-bandied Open Society Foundation that operates in over 120 countries. But as the world turns hard-right, conspiracy theorists attribute much of the 'Deep State' allusions to the 94-year-old who has already donated nearly $35 billion, and is believed to be only worth about $6 billion now.

Former President Joe Biden recently conferred the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Soros recognising the philanthropist for, "supporting key pillars of open societies: rights and justice, equity and equality, freedom now and in the future. His inspiring generosity reminds us of all of our capacity and our obligation to stand up to the abuse of power and to be guardians of democracy and all people yearning to be free". A completely contrarian impression, even to the one getting increasingly asserted in India, is due to the prevailing political dynamics, polarisation and partisan preferences.