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As you might have noticed, Elon Musk often wears a black MAGA hat, rather than the standard red one. What gives? Is Musk color-blind or does he have bad fashion sense? Look:
In a recent column at The Bulwark, Jonathan V. Last argues that this is not an accident at all. In fact, it is very subversive. Musk is trying to split the MAGA movement and take control of one part of it.
Branding and iconography have always been very important to Donald Trump. Think of the golden escalator, the famous mug shot, and the red hat. Other politicians use the American flag as their symbol, not some dumb hat. The red MAGA hat is very special. Anyone wearing it can be (proudly) identified as a Trump supporter 100 yards away. Trump knows this.
Flags are also important as icons. Trump has his own flag. It was so important that when Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) challenged Trump in 2024, he made his own flag that was sort of based on Trump's but not quite. It was meant to send the message that DeSantis is like Trump, but not quite:
According to Last, the Black MAGA hat is sort of like DeSantis' flag. It tries to be like Trump, but also different. Musk wants to create his own faction of MAGA, Dark MAGA, and become its leader. The hat declares that Musk is not a foot soldier in Trump's army, but the leader of an alternative faction that could challenge Trump some day. Musk can't be elected president (because he was born in South Africa) but he could still lead a powerful movement and perhaps some day run for the Senate or governor of a big state, or maybe just exert power by leading a big movement.
Dark MAGA would be different from original MAGA, which attempted to be a populist movement. It wanted to bring back manufacturing jobs, stop immigration, and punish elites. Musk's Dark MAGA wants to turn the country over to billionaire tech bros for their own benefit and to hell with everyone else.
Could Musk pull this off? For one thing, he is far wealthier than Trump, probably 100x wealthier. He also has his own power base among tech billionaires. He is not dependent on Trump in any way. He is also not the least bit interested in grift or nickel-and-diming his supporters the way Trump does. He doesn't need to please Fox, as he owns his own media platform. This makes him Trump's peer, not his subject.
If Musk is serious about this, expect him to begin with getting podcasters, tech bros, and other influencers to start wearing his hat rather than Trump's. That could quietly signal allegiance to him. He will try to grow his movement. Trump may eventually come to see Musk as a threat and fire him, but that won't make Musk disappear because he has an unspeakably large amount of money, his own power base, his own media outlet, and the ability to command a vast amount of attention whenever he wants to. It could be quite a showdown. (V)