American Elites Seek to Rig the Game

Commentary In the aftermath of the disgraceful Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the American ruling class has flexed its muscles like never before. Big Tech oligarchs moved in unison to kneecap upstart Parler, a would-be Twitter competitor, and ban former President Donald Trump and scores of other conservatives. Simon & Schuster, one of the nation’s most reputable book publishers, canceled a book deal that it had commissioned with the conservative Sen. Josh Hawley. President Joe Biden, in direct defiance of his campaign-season vows to unify the country, oversaw a deeply divisive and ideological first week in office. And just last week, popular retail brokerage Robinhood took severe measures to restrict trading of GameStop’s stock after a populist Reddit-induced stock-buying frenzy dramatically spiked the firm’s share price and wreaked havoc for short-selling hedge funds. One harkens back to that most paradigmatic of progressive mantras, once uttered by former Obama …