Finally, we know what MAGA means when they promise to “Make America Great Again.” It’s now obvious that “again” refers to the Gilded Age, the late 19th century.
From the 1870s through the 1890s, industrialization launched economic growth beyond any prior generations’ imagination, creating a new class of super-rich magnates (Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Gould). By the turn of the century, their one percent of the population controlled over half of America’s wealth and an even greater share of its political power. America was indeed “great” and very rich, but most Americans were left mired in poverty, under the control of a few men who rigged the system against them.
Under the Trump administration, we see a parallel super-rich class, the tech giants, concentrating wealth and power beyond most of our imaginations (Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg). Since President Trump’s election, Musk’s wealth has increased 69%, approximately $70 billion. (Estimates vary but when the numbers get that high, what difference can it make?) Just as with the magnates of old, today’s super billionaires know that with great wealth comes great power: witness Musk’s near total control of our government.
The late 19th century was the most corrupt era of American politics, but it looks like we are on track to match or exceed its record. Today’s billionaires even use the same tactics to gain and keep power. In the first Gilded Age, outright bribes assured control of both state and national governments; today’s bribes are thinly disguised as “campaign contributions” but the results are the same. Gilded Age taxes also mirrored Trump’s plan. Import tariffs assured that only working- and middle-class Americans paid the country’s bills, while the tax advantages went to those who could pay the biggest bribes. Turns out tariffs are a great way to build a strong political base while shifting money from the poor to the rich.
The 19th century overlords also understood that the best way to control people is to scare them and keep them divided among themselves. In the South, this meant the establishment of the Jim Crow regime that almost universally disenfranchised Black citizens. Meanwhile, vicious attacks on immigrants further frightened and divided those who might otherwise have challenged the super-rich’s power. In today’s climate, if the public’s focus can be kept on DEI and CRT, they won’t notice that they don’t have health care or decent wages.
The clearest evidence that we are on the road to another Gilded Age is the attack on the administrative state, the so-called “Deep State.” In the 19th century the super-rich played their game with no rules and no limits. Those are the “good old days” that today’s billionaires long for. All they need to do is convince the people that their government is their enemy and that rules checking the power of the wealthiest are unwarranted tyranny, and their oligarchy is empowered beyond measure.
The good news is that the first Gilded Age ended with the Populist uprising (real populism, not the fake variety Trump claims.) Interestingly, that resistance to concentrated wealth and power was led in large measure by an unlikely group: Texas farmers. They even saw through the racist regime that kept both races down so that they “may be separately fleeced of their earnings.” (See Gregg Cantrell’s detailed account, The People’s Revolt: Texas Populists and the Roots of American Liberalism.)
Can we do it again?
