Chapter 44: The Powerless Elite
When Institutions Surrender
A sociologist named C. Wright Mills published The Power Elite in 1956. He defined the power elite as the men at the top of three sectors of American society: the large business corporation, the federal government, and the military establishment. The power elite comprised “those who decide whatever is decided of major consequence.”1
In Mills’s view, the people comprising the power elite were neither particularly bright nor particularly good. Indeed, the final chapter of his book is entitled “The Higher Immorality.”2 They had attained their positions of power because they came from the right families and had gone to the right schools. By this is meant not just Harvard, “but which Harvard? By Harvard, one means Porcellion, Fly, or A.D.: by Yale, one means Zeta Psy or Fence or Delta Kappa Epsilon; by Princeton, Cottage, Tiger, Cap and Gown, or Ivy.”3 Mills’s power elite were a rather undifferentiated crew. They knew each other from an early age, had similar backgrounds, and thought alike.
Their power derived not from their individual traits but from the institutions that they directed. “[T]hey are in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society. They rule the big corporations. They run the machinery of state and claim its prerogative. They direct the military establishment.”4 The economic, political, and military domains were what mattered.5 They are what journalist William H. Whyte described in a book also published in 1956 as “organization men.”6 As historian Richard Hofstadter observed in his classic Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, “Once great men created fortunes; today a great system creates fortunate men.”7
Mills looked down – way down – on the power elite.
“It is not the barbarous irrationality of our political primitives that is the American danger; it is the respected judgments of Secretaries of State, the earnest platitudes of Presidents, the fearful self-righteousness of sincere young American politicians from sunny California [this presumably is a reference to the then vice president Richard Nixon]. These men have replaced mind with platitude, and the dogmas by which they are legitimated are so widely accepted that no counterbalance of mind prevails against them. Such men as these are crackpot realists. . . .”8
This book is an extended rant against the state of the nation in 1956. A few of the observations are applicable to the United States today. For example: “[F]or the first time in American history, men in authority are talking about an ‘emergency’ without a foreseeable end.”9 It is under the cover of Trump’s self created endless emergency that he has arrogated so much power to himself.
If one were to write a book entitled “The Power Elite” today, who would be included? Let’s take a look at the three categories upon which Mills focused: business, the military, and government.
The place to start in the business category is with the “tech bros”: Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg. These three stood behind Trump at his inauguration on January 20. At that time they were worth somewhere between $850 billion and $1 trillion. Musk contributed about $290 million to Trump and various other Republican candidates in 2024.
Musk created the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (known unaffectionately as DOGE), the putative purpose of which was to root out “waste, fraud, and abuse” in the federal government. Like Trump, Musk is a man without empathy. He laughingly approached his assignment wielding a chainsaw. DOGE accomplished nothing near its goals but did succeed in generating endless confusion and ill will.
Musk contributed mightily to the chaos of the Trump administration. Following well publicized shouting matches with administration officials, replete with expletives10 and also a very expensive and failed attempt to influence an election in Wisconsin, Musk leaves Washington with his tail firmly between his legs, whining about being misrepresented by the mainstream media. He claims now that his political commitments will be sharply cut back. “I think I’ve done enough.”11
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With his staggering wealth and his control of major corporations, Musk belongs on any list of the power elite from the business world, but he is less powerful now than he was on January 20. With a fortune of over $420 billion, an unimaginable sum of money, he is the richest man in the world, perhaps the richest man ever. He is not the most beloved. He played an important role in shutting down USAID, which Bill Gates memorably described as “the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children.”12 Not an appealing epitaph.
Bezos and Zuckerberg are about equally wealthy and tied for the label of the world’s second richest man. Each is worth about $220 billion. Bezos is most well known for founding Amazon in a Seattle garage in 1994. He also owns the Washington Post. In a striking illustration of obedience in advance, he prohibited the Post from endorsing Harris prior to last year’s election.
Bezos wrote a lengthy column seeking to explain this prohibition.13 The column was an embarrassingly transparent lie. He had rubbed Trump the wrong way during the first administration. He wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again. His column could have been summarized in two words: “I caved.”
As the world knows, Trump’s meandering tariff policy was announced on April 2. One of Amazon’s websites decided to publish information concerning the higher prices of its products caused by these brain-dead tariffs. Trump’s press secretary labelled this a “hostile and political act.” Trump phoned Bezos. The result? “Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific,” Trump told reporters. “He solved the problem very quickly. Good guy.”14
As for Zuckerberg, he is endeavoring to get Trump to tell the Federal Trade Commission to terminate the anti-trust suit against his company. He is doing what he can to ingratiate himself.
Three of the wealthiest people in history. They all pay court to Trump. Do they qualify as members in good standing of what could be called a power elite? Trump is getting payoffs in such large amounts from so many sources that he may not really need these characters now. Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg in 2025 are a far cry from Carnegie, Morgan, and Rockefeller a century and a half ago.
It has been widely reported that most CEOs of major companies dislike Trump. But they do not say so out loud. Do powerful people have to censor themselves? Or is self-censorship a sign of lack of power? The latter is more likely.
They are afraid. “Nobody wants to be on [Trump’s] radar. . .”15
Let’s turn to the armed services. Are the top generals and admirals part of the power elite?
Trump fired the head of the Coast Guard, Admiral Linda Fagan, immediately upon taking office. A month later, he fired the head of the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles Q. Brown. Brown was replaced by an officer who was called out of retirement. Trump also got rid of the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force, critical positions that ensure enforcement of military justice.16 Despite the enormous size of the American military budget, it is hard to look at these firings and conclude that the top officers are people of power.
How should we think about the third leg of the power elite in Mills’s view – what he called the “political directorate”?17
Congress need not be mentioned. It has never been less important in American governance than it is now.
How about the Cabinet? Note that Mills refers to the “respected judgments of Secretaries of State.” There has never been a Cabinet like this in American history. There is one qualification to serve – complete, unquestioning, abject praise of Donald Trump. The Secretaries of State and Treasury, Marco Rubio, and Scott Bessent, are potentially up to their jobs. Both have clashed vigorously with Musk, but of course not with Trump.
The rest of the Cabinet is a collection of incompetent embarrassments. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is a former Fox News commentator. He uses compromised software to discuss highly sensitive information, thus putting our armed forces in jeopardy. Reports have it that his department is in chaos. But his loyalty to Trump is beyond question.
Hegseth is conducting prayer meetings in the Pentagon. The main speaker at the first one was Brooke Potteiger, Pastor of the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship in Goodlettsville, TN. In his sermon, Pastor Potteiger said:
“We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed — for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land.”18
Stability and moral clarity. Not much of either in the Trump administration. If Pastor Potteiger is angling for a place in the modern power elite, this is how to get there.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, is primarily known for shooting her 14-month-old wire hair terrier, Cricket. Secretary Noem testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs on May 20. She was asked by Senator Hassan of New Hampshire:
“What is habeas corpus?”
Her response:
"Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the President has to be able to remove people from this country."19
Alas, the dictionary disagrees with the Secretary. Habeas corpus is ”a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.”20 As Senator Hassan explained, “Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea.”21
From Hegseth to Noem, Trump with this Cabinet has created a Stupidocracy. Are these people part of a power elite? Of course not. They humiliate themselves almost daily.
When C. Wright Mills published The Power Elite in 1956, there were indeed separate power centers in the United States. But the President of the United States at that time was a patriot named Dwight D. Eisenhower. Today the President is a tyrant named Donald Trump. He is uninformed and unconstrained. And he is the power elite in the United States today. The CEOs are petrified. The generals and admirals have been dispensed with. The Stupidocrats in the Cabinet are powerless. Their only job is to praise the dear leader. They should be able to manage that. But not much else.
The future of our nation is anybody’s guess.
A Special Announcement
June 16 marks the 10th anniversary of Trump’s ride down the escalator at his building in New York City to announce his candidacy for the Presidency. In the succeeding decade, he has become the most important American political figure since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
June 16 is an appropriate occasion to take stock of the Trump phenomenon. Two issues strike me as particularly salient.
What accounts for Trump’s rise to power?; and,
What do you think the course of American politics will be in the years to come?
I would like to hear from you on these issues, if you are interested in sharing your views. Please note, there is no need to write anything if you would rather not.
I can be reached at richardtedlow@me.com. Your name will not be mentioned in what I write, but the perspective you communicate will inform the content of the June 16 chapter on the Trump story.
Let me express my gratitude to the readers of Dystopias and Demagogues for your engagement with this project.
C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) p. 19.
Mills, Elite, pp. 343-361.
Mills, Elite, p. 67.
Mills, Elite, p. 4. Mills is distressingly inconsistent on this point. See, e.g. pp. 24 – 25
Mills, Elite, p. 6.
William H. Whyte, The Organization Man (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002).
Richard Hofstadter, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (New York: Vintage, 1963) p. 236.
Mills, Elite, p. 356.
Mills, Elite, p. 184.
Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, “The Decline and Fall of Elon Musk,” The Atlantic, May 21, 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgnRaLYNFBc
Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, “The Decline and Fall of Elon Musk,” The Atlantic, May 21, 2025.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/jeff-bezos-washington-post-trust/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/29/business/white-house-calls-report-that-amazon-is-adding-a-tariff-charge-a-hostile-action
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/business/trump-tariffs-ceos-prices.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-pushes-out-top-us-general-nominates-retired-three-star-2025-02-22/
Mills, Elite, p. 169.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/us/politics/pete-hegseth-prayer-pentagon.html
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/20/nx-s1-5405144/habeas-corpus-noem-dhs-senate
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Dictionary+definition+of+habeas+corpus&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/20/nx-s1-5405144/habeas-corpus-noem-dhs-senate