Elon Musk and the Politics of Trillionaire Fascism

Elon Musk is less an aberration than the grotesque byproduct of a capitalist order that converts inequality into virtue, exploitation into spectacle, and mistakes its own deepest failures for its greatest successes. The media frenzy surrounding the prospect of Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire is not a celebration of human progress or individual initiative. It is a symptom of a deeper social and political crisis, one that exposes the power of class privilege, the corrupting forces of gangster capitalism, and a culture increasingly incapable of distinguishing wealth from worth or exploitation from human flourishing. More

My AI Comrade

A few recent AI queries 1) I strained my back lifting a bag of potting soil. What now? 2) Is autarky possible in the U.K? 3) The gauge on our gas boiler is in the red zone. Will it blow up? 4) Did Fritz Lang like Joseph [ . . . ]

The Essential American Soul, Wyoming Version

The US is a violent country.  Every American knows this. We need violence to get through the day. We need to watch it. We need to play at violence in games. We need to hear it and feel it. We need to believe we’re more violent than anyone else. We need the security of thinking no one can take our violence away. We’re frightened by the violence around us and turned on by the violence done to others. Many of us are scared we’re not violent enough, that when push comes to shove, when it comes time to prove our violence, we won’t measure up.  More

Top Stories

UFC White House and the Billionaire Alliance w/ Nate Wilcox

CounterPunch explores the upcoming UFC White House spectacle and the Hollywood, DC, and Gulf power brokers at the nexus of US politics, sports and entertainment. Host Eric Draitser welcomes veteran combat sports journalist Nate Wilcox, Editor-in-Chief of The MMA Draw, to the show to discuss the White House event, the mythology around Trump’s relationship with the UFC and Dana White, the role of Ari Emanuel and TKO Group in monopolizing combat sports and playing all sides of the power structure, the Gulf monarchies and their projection of soft power, the overlap between entertainment, finance, and geopolitics, and so much more.

When State Disaster Response Fails w/ Dr. Nadine Ortega

In this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt speaks with Dr. Nadine Ortega, co-founder of Tagnawa Hawai’i, about grassroots mutual aid disaster recovery. Dr. Ortega breaks down the socio-economic and historical conditions that have led to the recent Kona Low flooding on O’ahu and the 2023 Lahaina, Maui fires, which have disproportionately affected Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and other immigrant communities. She shares stories about the importance of cross-class and interethnic organizing when state-run disaster response fails.

Visit Tagnawa.org for more information.

The State of the US Left w/ Arun Gupta

Journalist Arun Gupta returns to CounterPunch Radio to discuss the state of the left, antiwar politics, and much more. Arun talks to host Eric Draitser and provides his analysis of the No Kings movement and how leftists should understand it, as well as a retrospective of the antiwar movements around Iraq and Vietnam. He explores the importance of physical community and organization using the example of New York’s Lower East Side, where he resides. The conversation also touches on the Left’s historic role in countering the hegemonic view of global affairs. A devoted leftist, Marxist, investigative journalist, chef, and food tour guide, Arun Gupta always brings incisive analysis and thoughtful critique to CounterPunch.