The 2024 U.S. election is shaping up to be the most surreal chapter yet in our modern political saga, and nothing illustrates that more than the bizarre spectacle of Elon Musk palling around with Donald Trump, all while waving Orwell’s name like a battle flag. Musk, who loves to warn the world about the dangers of dystopias like 1984, is now rubbing elbows with Trump—a man who makes Orwell’s concept of doublespeak seem like a party trick. It’s as if we’ve entered a parallel universe where Orwell himself is being spun faster than a PR campaign, adopted by both political camps as the ultimate authority on their version of the truth.

However, Orwell was merely warning us about the tyranny of totalitarianism, when power falls into the hands of the few. And in this case, these few include Donald Trump and the richest person in the world (at least of those who are publicly known), who also owns X (formerly Twitter): Elon Musk. You could easily cut the irony with a knife, but this meme also vividly depicts the current situation:

The meme perfectly illustrates Musk's misunderstanding when he tweets about anything Orwell-related, and he really seems to enjoy tweeting about Orwellian dystopias and the dangers of Big Brother-style surveillance, censorship and government control. You know, typical “1984” material. And yet, here he is, making nice with Trump, a man who has no qualms about centralizing power, demonizing the press, and throwing Orwell’s concept of "truth" into a blender set to puree.

What’s even more Orwellian, or maybe just painfully ironic, is that Musk owns Twitter (now X), one of the very platforms where the manipulation of information spreads like wildfire. He warns us about Big Brother, but Big Brother might just be Musk himself, tapping away on his phone in the early hours, deciding who gets to speak and who gets banned. Orwell would probably throw his hands up in frustration, muttering something about how we’ve taken the worst parts of “1984” and made them user-friendly.

In the end, the contradictions are almost laughable. Musk warns of a dystopia, but by owning the digital town square and cozying up to Trump, he’s actively creating one. Trump cries foul about Orwellian control while simultaneously embracing the tools to centralize power in a way that would make Big Brother proud.

Here’s the kicker though—Orwell isn’t exactly the ideological football they want him to be. While both sides of the political spectrum have been quick to claim Orwell for themselves, often using his warnings against authoritarianism to bash their rivals, Orwell himself was actually very clear about one thing: his critique wasn’t of communism in general, but of totalitarianism in all its forms. In fact, Orwell was an outspoken democratic socialist, someone who believed deeply in equality and social justice but feared how power in the wrong hands—whether it be fascist or communist—could warp those ideals into oppression.

Let’s break it down. The right loves to hold up Orwell as the guy who “warned” us about socialism, pointing to 1984 or Animal Farm as proof that left-wing ideas inevitably lead to authoritarian control. Trump’s camp, in particular, has been keen to push this narrative, warning that any government intervention is a slippery slope to Thought Police knocking on your door. But what they conveniently forget is that Orwell wasn’t warning about socialism as a concept—he was warning about the corruption of power. In his essays and letters, Orwell explicitly said that he was a democratic socialist, believing in a government that served the people without descending into tyranny.

Meanwhile, the left has also tried to rally behind Orwell, pointing to his lifelong fight against fascism and authoritarianism. But even here, the picture is skewed. Orwell’s greatest fear was that any ideology—capitalist, socialist, fascist, you name it—could, when concentrated in the hands of the wrong people, lead to oppression and control. He wasn’t singling out one political camp as the “bad guys”; he was calling out the human tendency to abuse power when given too much of it. Whether it’s the heavy hand of the state or unchecked corporate power, Orwell’s message is the same: beware of those who claim to know what’s best for you, and always question who holds the reins.

 

So while both camps are quick to usurp Orwell’s authority for their own purposes, the real Orwell would probably be shaking his head at the whole spectacle. He was a democratic socialist (a term that Europeans may be more familiar with than North Americans), a fighter for justice, and a fierce opponent of authoritarianism in any form. Yet, here we are in 2024, watching as his name is invoked to justify everything from MAGA rallies to Musk’s grand visions for Twitter.

On top of that, as if the whole thing with Trump and Musk wasn't absurd enough, there is even a theory on the internet about a mixture of the two opposing ideologies, which can be discussed under the term “MAGA communism”. Is this the world spirit of Hegel in action? "Aufhebung" and synthesis? I can't evaluate that ad hoc right now.

If we’ve learned anything from Orwell, it should be this: be wary of anyone who claims they’re the sole protector of freedom, especially when they’re the ones holding the power.