These problems are tied together. Society combines our institutions, our cultures, and ourselves as individuals into a single, self-perpetuating, social system: the Top-Down Machine.

​

No one person or group runs this system. It grinds away even when we replace its managers.

Power flows from the top down. People scramble to climb higher, disrespecting those "below" them, bowing down to those "above" them. People go along to get along. 

​

This Top-Down Machine tells us anyone can "make it" or "get ahead" of others if they work hard enough. That's a lie. People born with advantages have a much easier path, and they make sure their children and friends get these same advantages.

​

We all keep the Machine running, often without knowing it. Every time we buy cheap clothes made by exploited workers, buy expensive tickets, or vote, we feed it. When we want to be King of the Hill, "lead" others, be in charge, get ahead of and dominate others; we play the game, play the game and we get played. We're pawns. The players change, but the game remains the same. Powerful elites would not be so successful if ordinary people did not collaborate and have domineering and submissive tendencies themselves.

​

Every nation needs its people to believe in a shared set of core principles. In the United States, this foundation has been the American Dream, as afirmed in the Declaration of Independence with the idea that everyone has the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" This Dream is the belief that anyone, through hard work and determination, can climb the ladder of success, regardless of their background. It embraces individual achievement and self-reliance.

​​
The Trump Administration and its MAGA movement have taken this Dream to the extreme. It's taken the gloves off this mythology and exposed its dark side. It openly idolizes, praises, and promotes domination, power, and greed — with a vengeance, without apology.

Ezra Klein's lengthy August 1, 2025, interview with one of MAGA's leaders, Yoram Hazony, is very revealing. Vice-President J.D. Vance said Hazony "has been quite influential to me.” Hazony is also closely allied with Russell Vought and Stephen Miller, major leaders in the Trump Administration. He's the author of The Virtue of Nationalism and the founder of the pro-MAGA National Conservatism movement, which hosts the annual NatCon convention. 

​

In his interview with Klein, Hazony argues that America needs a more strongly defined Anglo-Saxon "dominant center" that has "a much higher level of compatibility" among its residents, rooted in people who've been here for generations — more cohesive, that is, than we can have with as many immigrants as we have now. 

Hazony says that in order to establish this dominant center, the NatCon/MAGA movement must use the power of the government in an intolerant, aggressive manner to rebuild the center — then, and only then, with renewed confidence and strength, America could be tolerant. ​Or so he claims. Even if you believe he's being honest, this approach hardly seems a reliable way to achieve tolerance. There's no good reason to believe people who gain power with intolerance will become tolerant once they're in control. ​

​

Another significant influence on the MAGA movement is Curtis Yarvin, whose monarchist ideas have moved from internet obscurity into mainstream Republican political discourse through his relationships with powerful MAGA politicians and Big Tech leaders who've funded him.

Yarvin advocates replacing American democracy with an authoritarian system and breaking up nations into a "patchwork" of statelets, like Singapore or Dubai, each governed by corporate CEOs selected by secret boards.

​

During his campaign for Senate, in a 2021 podcast interview, J.D. Vance said:

​

There's this guy, Curtis Yarvin, who's written about some of these things. A lot of concerns that we should deconstruct the administrative state. We should basically eliminate the administrative state. And I'm sympathetic to that project. But another option is that we should just seize the administrative state for our own purposes.... And then when the courts stop you, stand before the country, like Andrew Jackson did, and say the Chief Justice has made his ruling, now let him enforce it.

​

In 2021, Michael Anton, who's now State Department Director of Policy Planning, hosted a nearly two-hour podcast with Yarvin during which they discussed why the U.S. needs an "American Caesar" to seize control of the federal government.

​

Political philosopher Danielle Allen said that the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) project is "clearly based on Yarvin's work." Its war on the government has reduced the size of the federal workforce by some 300,000 workers. 

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for a second Trump administration, called for a similar reduction (500,000 employees). At the rate it's going, the Trump administration may achieve this goal, though it will likely fall short of Yarvin's plan to "Retire All Government Employees" (RAGE). 

​

This discrediting and shrinking the federal government gives more power to wealthy corporations and financial institutions. It reduces the government's power to protect the interests of everyday people by rationalizing the me-first, "every man for himself" culture.​​

​

Trump says his favorite word is "tariffs," but it may be "dominate," a word he often uses in one form or another. In foreign policy, he openly bullies other nations, especially by using the threat of higher tariffs to get his way, even when it involves interfering with their internal domestic policies. Total domination (loyalty) is clearly the name of his game, internally and externally.

Previous administrations have exercised power-over, as have corporations. But they've been restrained by certain rules and have tried to maximize consensus. Trump, however, is seeking to destroy rules and operate with as few restraints as possible.

​