Thought Reform and the Remaking of Trumpism
Elon Musk seeks to reshape and reorient Trump's base around his own goals using 'thought reform' techniques. Donald Trump seems unlikely to stand in his way.
This summer, Elon Musk told audiences at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, "As you can see, I'm not just MAGA, I'm Dark MAGA," donning a new black hat look. He later augmented it with a black-letter, calligraphic typeface reminiscent of Hitler's Nazi regime, calling it "Dark Gothic MAGA."
Breaking with the iconic, basic red MAGA hat, a staple of Trumpism from 2016 onward, was a signal of future ruptures in the fragile MAGA alliance, which might be described as a coalition of factions that includes legacy business interests, Silicon Valley, nativists, and Christian nationalists — and Musk is betting he will come out on top.
From Trumpism to the Musk Doctrine
Trump's recipe for electoral success involved pandering to each of his coalition's component factions and telling them what they wanted to hear, often mixing coded messages in his rambling 'weaves.' Each faction was left feeling sufficiently satisfied that Trump was their guy, fighting against the Democrats and the evil globalists — and that translated to victory at the polls.
Musk is explicitly abandoning this strategy in favor of a program of thought reform. Where Trumpism 1.0 already practiced this technique — building a cult following by signaling which ideas were and were not acceptable to the tribe — Musk seeks to alter the beliefs of existing supporters while also expelling those who do not fall in line.
Robert Jay Lifton, the famous scholar of totalitarian regimes, calls this methodology thought reform, and it's routinely used in the context of cults and cultish groups. Lifton identified eight key criteria for thought reform, and Musk has been ticking them each off the list.
Musk is exercising milieu control, or determining where information flows and who is allowed to remain in the in-group, by banning and demonetizing apostates on X. He has cast himself as a demi-god and messianic savior, convincing his believers that only he can get humanity to Mars — a dubious goal, but one through which Musk can exercise what Lifton calls mystical manipulation. Musk demands purity, by threatening to ban or marginalize (or primary) those who do not comply with his program. Confession — asking members to fall in line and profess their sins — is less explicit with Musk so far, but many are ready to obey in advance.
Lifton describes cult doctrine as a kind of sacred science which must not be questioned. Musk certainly employs this: of course humanity should become multi-planetary and we should strive to reach Mars. Anyone doubting this must hate humanity — even as Mars is an inhospitable planet and any kind of settlement is necessarily a multigenerational project. Loading the language involves imbuing everyday language with additional meaning for the in-group and meant to poke fun at outsiders. This has been a feature of the online right for decades (think Pepe memes and inside jokes).
Lastly, Lifton identified doctrine over person where the group's goals outweigh any personal considerations; Musk comes through here in spades, as he's all about saving humanity, earthly concerns be damned. And finally there is Lifton's idea of dispensing of existence, wherein the leader can decide who is expelled or allowed to remain. Musk does this daily on X.
Dave Troy
Project Russia and "Pure Product"
While researching my recent column on Project Russia, the series of books published in Russia that outlined an ambitious program for overthrowing the world's democracies, I learned of another concept called "Pure Product," (thread) wherein an elite group of leaders orients society hierarchically around specific goals without its members even being aware of it. Musk's thought reform efforts reflect this technique as well.
The "Pure Product" concept subtly manipulates society by deciding who is rewarded and amplified and who is marginalized and silenced. The elite is focused primarily on setting "metaphysical goals" while the society itself is oriented around producing the resources to achieve them. Musk is doing this by deciding who does and doesn't get amplified and paid.
As an analogous example, Project Russia cites the Arzamas project in Soviet Russia, the goal of which was to build a nuclear bomb. Obviously this had no specific bearing on the day-to-day lives of most citizens, but regardless, every aspect of Soviet life was shaped in a way that was supportive of this goal. Whether the goal is used to allocate resources or justify hardships, the society is groomed to not only be supportive of the goal, but to be happy about it. Dissenters can either be silenced or sent to the gulag as necessary.
Replace the nuclear bomb with settling Mars, and Musk's vision snaps into focus. He is the new elite envisioned by Project Russia, and he is using Pure Product techniques to reorient the entire world around explicit goals.
MAGA and the Republican Party Are Obsolete
DC pundits have settled into a lazy symbiotic relationship with MAGA. They pretend to know its rules — about what it is, how it works, who's in and who's out — and the public pretends to think the pundits know what they are talking about.
If Musk has proven anything, it's that the rules of Washington — about what can and cannot happen, about how things work, about what MAGA even is — can be broken and rewritten without respect to previously accepted wisdom. In particular, he has apparently opened up a major rift with Steve Bannon, who until now has helped to lead and shape the nativist and Christian nationalist factions within MAGA.
But does this actually matter? It might, if one intends to win conventional elections in 2026 or 2028. However if winning elections is no longer important, then reshaping the culture around the Pure Product idea using thought reform techniques might be a higher priority. And this also raises the question of whether we will even have actual elections in the future, or if they will resemble democratic processes in Russia, with outcomes known in advance.
In this dark moment, we can look forward to one thing: finding out who exactly is in charge and what they will do upon taking power. So far, Trump has fallen in line with Musk, agreeing with his stance on H1-B visas and immigration.
My bet is that Musk will remain in command and that Trump will aid him in expelling individuals and factions who do not fall in line. For Musk, the allure of the Pure Product approach is compelling and aligned with his collaborators, Putin and Xi.
Pundits would be well advised to prepare to update their ideas about how Washington works, as the MAGA coalition and the Republican Party as we have known it seem destined to become relics of the past.
