"End Times Fascism": Naomi Klein on How Trump, Musk, Far Right "Don't Believe in the Future"

An alliance between the far right and Silicon Valley oligarchs has given rise to a form of end times fascism," says journalist Naomi Klein, who details in a recent essay co-authored with Astra Taylor how many wealthy elites are preparing for the end of the world even as they contribute to growing inequality, political instability and the climate crisis. Klein says that while billionaires dream of escaping to bunkered enclaves or even to space, President Donald Trump and other right-wing leaders are turning their countries into militarized fortress states to keep out immigrants from abroad and ramp up authoritarian control domestically.

There's always an apocalyptic quality to fascism, but fascism of the 1930s and '40s had a horizon" for a utopian future, says Klein. Today, by contrast, we're up against people who are actively betting against the future - not just actively betting against it, but fueling the fires that are burning this world."