The political cult of the entrepreneur

IN OUR era, the meaning of any image depends which side you’re on. Take the photograph of Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai sitting in front of Cabinet members at Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

Caricature liberal elitists, like me, saw it as a portrait of American oligarchy. Trump, his supporters and the tech moguls themselves interpret the picture differently.

Trump, a master of spectacle, put the billionaires there for a reason. His message: “I’ve brought them to heel and harnessed them to the American project.”