Competing Moral Visions

At this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, held just one month into Trump’s second term, Attorney General Pam Bondi took the stage to inform the audience that Trump’s cabinet officials were the best of friends. “We’re all on the phone together all the time,” Bondi gushed, calling Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin “a dear friend” and Elon Musk her “buddy.” Bondi was clearly attempting to quell rumors of discord; the day before the conference began, Steve Bannon had called Musk a “parasitic illegal immigrant.” In the preceding weeks, a debate about H-1B visas had driven a wedge between two of the key constituencies that helped carry Trump to victory: the ultranationalists and the tech reactionaries.