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JeriAnn Cherek's avatar

What are your thoughts about Musk and Bezos’ firms winning prime defense contracts with the US Department of War?

Lawson Bernstein, MD's avatar

It’s the central question I’m examining in a piece that publishes Sunday “ The Birth of Corporate Authoritarianism“. The short answer is that when private capital becomes the primary architect of national defense, the distinction between corporate interest and state interest begins to collapse.

JeriAnn Cherek's avatar

I did a linguistic analysis a couple of weeks ago of a Pete Hegseth statement; his language indicated high sensitivity (e.g., repeated unprompted denials) about "not having a dog in the fight" about who the DoW awards new contracts to. Meaning, he clearly thinks he has a conflict and some personal gain. If this is within scope of your piece I'd love to know your thoughts/if you found anything.

Lawson Bernstein, MD's avatar

I did not, as that was not the focus of the piece. But it would not surprise me. The current administration has significant self-dealing as a theme. A longitudinal analysis of his speech would be revealing, but outside my expertise.