Recent Plutocratic Insurgency (& Counter-PI) Events in America: ‘Billionaire’s Club’ Cabinet and Health Care CEO Assassination

Plutocratic insurgency (PI) is an emerging form of insurgency not seen since the late 19^th century Gilded Age. It is being conducted by high net worth globalized elites, allowing them to remove themselves from public spaces and obligations—including taxation—and to maximize their ability to generate profits transnationally. It utilizes lawyers, lobbyists, and co-opted politicians along with endemic corruption, rather than armed struggle—though private-security companies (mercenaries) may be employed in this regard—to create shadow governance in pursuit of plutocratic policy objectives. Ultimately, this form of insurgency is representative of the challenge of 21^st century predatory and sovereign-free capitalism to 20^th century state moderated capitalism and its ensuing public welfare programs and middle-class social structures. It can be viewed as a component of ‘Dark Globalization’ that, along with the emergence of criminal insurgency, is now actively threatening the public institutions and citizenry of the Westphalian state form [Updated].   

The ‘plutocratic insurgency’ (PI) construct, developed in 2011, has a somewhat contentious past. In fact, it has been both ignored and, when attention is paid to it, demonized by high net-worth societal elites who scoff at the plutocratic moniker as a Marxist fantasy. It also represents a line of research which has remained relatively unfunded as why would those with money want to further such a perceived anti-American construct which is at odds with unfettered capitalism. Rather than being representative of neo-Marxist political thought,  however, the construct is both protective of and reinforces the sovereign state-moderated capitalism which forms the basis of our liberal-democracy. Within this state form, governance (as an ideal) is meant to enfranchise the entire socio-political spectrum, the rule of law is paramount, all citizens and corporations are required to pay their fair share of taxes, and societal benefits are enshrined as a ‘public good.’ Upward mobility is paramount so that the lower and working classes have hope for their children’s futures, our social classes do not lock up and become hereditary, and a strong middle class (of centrist values) moderates  the political landscape. This is expressed by the societal mythos of the Horatio Alger’s stories about young, impoverished individuals working hard and making a better life for themselves and the perception that anything is possible for immigrants to achieve in America.

As we witness the transition of the American economy from industrialization (3^rd Epoch mechanical based) to information (4^th Epoch post-mechanical based), we have seen the concomitant thinning of our middle class which no longer has functional utility for our economic and warfighting sectors, the concentration of wealth among the few, the increasing polarization of our political parties (with both the Democrats and Republicans seemingly moving towards the extremes of the spectrum—and a great centrist and opted out Independent group having no moderating political voice or ability to get outside candidates elected), and rising national public and family debt levels. Along with the intense dysfunction concerning immigration protocols and a lack of shared societal values, the integrity of our state form is thus increasingly being challenged.

In addition to the various elements of the transition from Modern to post-Modern civilization which have been taking place for decades, two new recent plutocratic insurgency events stand out and currently dominate the news and social media. Thumbnails of these two events are as follows:

• Donald Trump’s ‘Billionaire’s Club’ of Cabinet Nominees: While Trump has been characterized as a populist working-class candidate with an America first agenda, he is ultimately aggrandizing the ultra-rich (the Tiffany’s constituency) at the expense of his rural base (the Dollar General constituency). Trump ($8 billion net worth) is now surrounding himself with plutocratic allies in top governmental positions in what can only be viewed as an even more egregious case of ‘crony capitalism’ than during his first administration. Such a presidential cabinet composition is more extreme than anything seen during the American Gilded Age when robber barons and their monopolizing trusts held most of the wealth in our country:

“Enough billionaires and multimillionaires have been assembled by Donald Trump to fill key roles in his nascent administration to form a soccer team… At least 11 picks for strategic positions after Trump returns to the White House in January have either achieved billionaire status themselves, have billionaire spouses or are within touching distance of that threshold.”

The Guardian, 6 December 2024

The fact that the normal FBI cabinet nominee vetting process (for U.S. national security needs) was initially stonewalled for weeks by the new administration leads further credence to concerns related to the possible, compromised manner in which nominees were being selected. Further questions about their economic (moral) conflicts of interest and self/close family profiting at the public expense come to mind. These positions also enhance these billionaires’ impunity of action within our society by merging their immense private economic power with newly acquired public (governmental) political power.  Additionally, Elon Musk ($348 billion net worth)— an arch-plutocratic outlier—and Vivek Ramaswamy (~$1 billion net worth) as heads of the new governmental advisory committee, DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency and also  the name of a cryptocurrency Musk endorses and owns) may be exempt from ethics rules in their shadow governance roles. It could be argued that the foxes are going being let into the hen house given that the intent of DOGE is to cut federal spending via the elimination of governmental employees and regulations when:

Musk’s companies have received nearly $20 billion in government contracts and both he and Ramaswamy have complained about how federal regulators have hampered their businesses.

USA Today, 5 December 2024

DOGE Coin and the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE)

Source: Social Media Representations

• The Assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO: While first and foremost a premeditated homicide for which the perpetrator must be brought to justice, the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by a masked and hooded assailant with a silenced pistol can also be viewed in its counter-plutocratic vigilante context. While all the facts are still out related to the case, the dominant social media narrative surrounding the incident exhibits a mocking ‘oh darn, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy’ take. The words on the bullet casings— “deny,” “defend” and “depose”—are seemingly indicative (one interpretation) of corporate health care practices which are predatory in nature. These practices are meant to maximize profits at the economically ruinous (and fatal) expense of older and vulnerable Americans (the little guys) denied lifesaving procedures and medicines:

While it’s also impossible to confirm a motive for the slaying at this time, social media has run wild with the idea that it was revenge for UnitedHealthcare’s denial of medical coverage from a patient…

Further, he is being made out as a patriotic (folk) vigilante for the people:

As an unabashed admirer put it on X, “are those pics actually the shooter. pls i hope so america needs a hot assassin.”… A comment on the same thread with more than 5,000 likes read: “He’s FIIIIINE. And an American hero? Thank you for your service king.”

Rolling Stone, 5 December 2024

Wanted Assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO

Source: NYPD Crime Stoppers

The fact UHC profits were $23 billion in 2023 fuels such perceptions. Since the shooting, large corporate healthcare providers have been feverishly pulling their C-Suite level leadership information off their websites, contacting private executive security firms for protective details, and even reversing some of their draconian benefits policies (for better short-term optics). While the incident is presently a one-off, a simmering hostility exists within American households who perceive (rightly or wrongly) that they are being ripped off by large corporate greed within the healthcare industry. Whispers of class warfare concerns—or at least follow-on assassination attempts— have been taken note of by the plutocratic class within the healthcare sector of our country. This is understandable given some of the recent social media comments that have been made and the supportive street gatherings that have taken place:

Former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz defended the gruesome execution of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday in a sick social media post suggesting other health care executives should face similar fates—as hundreds of more twisted trolls took to the internet to revel in the tragedy.

“And people wonder why we want these executives dead,” Lorenz wrote on BlueSky, a microblogging social media network, alongside an article about how Blue Cross Blue Shield will no longer cover anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries.”

MSN, 5 December 2024

For more on the ‘plutocratic insurgency’ (PI) construct, refer to the eleven research notes published at Small Wars Journal and also the following book (which contains those notes and significantly more writings with over thirty readings in total):

Plutocratic Insurgency Reader: A Small Wars Journal Book (2019).

Notes published at SWJ after the publication of the Reader are as follows:

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 12: COVID-19 Fall Out—Revitalized Public Infrastructure or the Further Concentration of Private Wealth? (April 2021)

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 13: The Liberal-Democracies Strike Back – Countering Extra Sovereign Corporate Tax Avoidance (July 2021)

Authors writing on this subject include the authors of this short essay, along with Dr. Nils Gilman (Deviant Globalization, The Twin Insurgency), Dr. John P. Sullivan (originator of the criminal insurgency construct; Privatizing Urban Public Spaces), and a number of others whose works are included in the Reader. While admittedly little has been written about plutocratic insurgency over the last three years, it is time for SWJreaders to become refamiliarized with the construct, especially now that it has been reinvigorated under the auspices of the Arizona State University (ASU) Media Enterprise and the new Small Wars Journal team. The intent is to get the readers (as potential authors) engaged in this emerging form of insurgency analysis and debate. This line of inquiry is the counterpart of

the twin insurgency component of 4^th Epoch War along with the criminal insurgency construct, which forms the basis of the highly successful El Centro section of the journal, focused on ‘Exploring the Small Wars of Latin America and Beyond.’