Gramsci in the Age of Christian Nationalism and Technocratic Autocracy
How “Common Sense” Shapes American Power
I’ve been on a reading binge, sifting through articles and academic papers to make sense of what’s happening in American politics. With Donald Trump inaugurated for a second term on January 20th and Elon Musk elevated to an unprecedented position of unelected power within the federal government, the landscape of American governance has changed — radically, and possibly permanently.
The Heritage Foundation is not just a think tank — it’s a policy factory, rapidly dismantling federal institutions and reshaping government from within. Christian nationalism has secured its most powerful foothold yet, as Trump and his allies reinforce Christianity’s unwarranted privileged position in American life, embedding it deeper into law, education, and governance.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the appointment of prominent Christian nationalists to key positions of power. Mike Johnson, an open proponent of Christian nationalism, is Speaker of the House. His biblical worldview is not just a personal belief — it is now a legislative agenda. From education to reproductive rights to LGBTQ+ policies, Johnson and his allies are working to institutionalize Christianity as the moral foundation of American governance, stripping away any pretense of secular democracy.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk isn’t just a billionaire — he’s the de facto executive administrator of the U.S. government. His influence extends far beyond social media; he now controls digital communication, state infrastructure, and economic policy, consolidating power in a way that no private citizen has before. His Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has gutted federal agencies under the guise of “streamlining,” replacing career civil servants with corporate-aligned loyalists.
It feels like the country is unraveling before our eyes. But that’s the thing about hegemonic shifts — they don’t always look like revolutions. Sometimes, they look like a gradual slide into inevitability.
In trying to understand how all of this happened — why Christian nationalism is winning, why authoritarianism feels inevitable, why even those who oppose this shift struggle to articulate an alternative — I stumbled across Antonio Gramsci.
Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher from the early 20th century, best known for his theory of cultural hegemony: the idea that the ruling class doesn’t just hold power through coercion and force, but by shaping a society’s worldview so effectively that people accept its ideology as “common sense.” Once that happens, alternative ways of thinking aren’t just defeated — they become unimaginable.
And that’s exactly what’s happening right now. The Christian nationalist project is in full swing, embedding itself deeper into the legal, educational, and cultural framework of the country. But it’s not the only force reshaping America. The rise of technocratic autocracy, led by Musk and his coalition of billionaire disruptors, is just as critical — and in many ways, even more dangerous.
This isn’t just about who holds office. It’s about who gets to define reality.
The Fragility of “Common Sense”
Gramsci’s most critical insight was that raw power — laws, police, military force — isn’t enough to sustain control. Authoritarian regimes don’t just impose their will; they manufacture consent. They don’t need people to love them — they just need people to accept their worldview as inevitable.
This is how narratives become hegemonic:
- “America was founded as a Christian nation.”
- “Immigrants are stealing jobs and destroying our culture.”
- “Crime is out of control; we need more police, more surveillance, and more toughness.”
- “Government institutions are broken beyond repair; privatization is the only answer.”
- “The Deep State is corrupting Democracy; we need strong leaders to save us.”
It doesn’t matter if these statements aren’t true. It doesn’t even matter if they contradict each other. What matters is that they are endlessly repeated, through talk radio, digital platforms, churches, and political speeches, until they stop feeling like arguments and start feeling like reality.
That’s how hegemony works. Once a belief becomes “common sense,” it no longer feels like something you need to think about — it just is. And once something just is, opposing it starts to feel unnatural, even dangerous.
This is what’s happening in America right now. And it’s happening on two fronts at once.
Christian Nationalism and the Seven Mountains of Influence
Christian nationalism isn’t just about religious belief. It’s a political strategy — one that explicitly aims to seize and control all the key institutions of society.
The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and its Seven Mountains Mandate lay this out clearly. Their goal is to ensure that Christian nationalists dominate every major sphere of influence in the country:
- Government — Passing laws that enforce biblical morality and weaken secular governance.
- Media — Controlling news and entertainment to promote conservative Christian narratives.
- Education — Reshaping school curricula to promote Christian nationalist ideology and deconstructing public education one voucher program and one charter school at a time.
- Business — Using corporate power to enforce right-wing values and eliminate progressive policies.
- Family — Reinforcing patriarchal and traditional family structures as the only legitimate model.
- Religion — Expanding the reach of conservative Christian churches into political and civic life, along with defining true Christianity as the Christian nationalist version.
- Arts & Entertainment — Dominating film, music, literature, and cultural production to reflect Christian values.
This isn’t speculation. It’s happening right now.
- The Supreme Court is stacked with justices directly chosen by Christian nationalist think tanks.
- School boards are being targeted and flipped to push biblical interpretations of history and morality, even if not blatantly.
- State laws are being rewritten to codify religious morality into public policy.
- Anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion measures are becoming federal doctrine, not just state laws.
Their strategy isn’t just to win elections. It’s to make Christian nationalism the default — so ingrained in the culture that resisting it doesn’t even feel like an option.
And Musk is doing the exact same thing — but on an entirely different battlefield.
Musk’s Role: The Rise of the Technocratic Autocracy
If Christian nationalism is about seizing traditional institutions, Musk’s project is about reshaping power itself — replacing traditional governance with a new corporate-technocratic model where billionaires don’t just influence policy — they become the state.
Trump’s second term accelerated this transformation. Within days of his inauguration, Musk was installed as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He was given unfettered access to federal data, control over government restructuring, and oversight of critical national infrastructure.
This is more than influence. This is direct rule.
- Musk controls the digital public square. His takeover of Twitter/X turned it into a state-aligned propaganda machine, where right-wing narratives are amplified and dissent is suppressed. Zuckerberg is, of course, doing his part with Meta
- He is dismantling the administrative state. Under the banner of “efficiency,” Musk’s DOGE has gutted government agencies, laying off thousands of civil servants and consolidating power into a corporate-controlled executive branch.
- He has integrated private sector dominance into state policy. Musk’s companies — SpaceX, Tesla, Starlink, and Neuralink — are now woven into the fabric of federal infrastructure, military operations, and economic planning.
Musk isn’t just influencing the government. He is replacing it.
Gramsci would likely recognize this immediately. Once a new system of power is established, it doesn’t need to justify itself — it just becomes “how things are.”
And that’s exactly what’s happening.
How to Break the Cycle of Cultural Hegemony: A Debiasing Approach
To challenge deeply embedded narratives, we need to not just counter bad ideas but disrupt the cognitive biases that make them feel inevitable. Here’s how:
Expose the Machinery (Cognitive Awareness & Debiasing)
- Increase awareness of bias — Teach people how ideas are shaped by media, institutions, and repetition, making them aware of confirmation bias and the backfire effect.
- Make the reasoning process explicit — Encourage people to ask why they believe what they believe and how they came to those conclusions.
- Contrast perception with reality — Present information in ways that make people reflect on their own assumptions (e.g., “How much of the budget do you think goes to welfare?” before showing the real number).
Build Parallel Institutions (Cognitive Reframing & Alternative Information Sources)
- Diversify information ecosystems — The right has built entire networks to reinforce its worldview. The left needs to invest in independent media, education, and think tanks that expose bias and present compelling alternative and truthful narratives.
- Use credible messengers — People are more likely to trust information from those they already see as reliable. Build institutions that engage communities authentically rather than speaking at them.
- Create psychological self-distance — Encourage people to analyze issues as if they were advising someone else, which helps reduce emotional defensiveness and political tribalism.
Reframe What’s “Normal” (Shifting the Overton Window & Narrative Control)
- Normalize pluralism, democracy, and justice — Rather than just defending these values against attacks, make them the assumed default by embedding them in cultural narratives, education, and media.
- Use social proof & visibility — People are influenced by what they perceive as the majority belief. Promote examples of democratic values in action, making them highly visible and aspirational.
- Slow down the reasoning process — Reactionary narratives rely on fear and immediate emotional responses. Encourage reflection by introducing complexity and context, forcing people to engage with issues thoughtfully rather than reactively.
By applying debiasing techniques, we don’t just fight bad ideas with better ones — we break the psychological traps that make people cling to harmful narratives in the first place. That’s how we disrupt cultural hegemony at its root.
The Real Battle: Who Defines Reality?
This is the moment we’re living in. Christian nationalists and billionaire technocrats aren’t just winning elections — they are rewriting the fundamental assumptions of American life.
If we don’t push back now, their worldview becomes the only worldview.
And if that happens, democracy won’t just be under threat. It will be unthinkable.
Gramsci warned us. Now the question is: Are we willing to listen?
