“The revolution’s about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”
I have never heard such gut-punching opening lines. Lamar is not just a lyrical genius but also profoundly aware of the undercurrents simmering beneath the surface of America whilst remaining totally removed from our modern propaganda-filled social simulacra, giving him an uncanny level of prescience. Go back and listen to ‘euphoria’ again — he predicted everything Drake and his fans would do months ahead of time. His victory over Drake not only put Black music and culture back into the hands of those who created it but also gave Lamar a truly national stage for the first time. And upon taking that stage, those were the first words Lamar uttered. Another telegraphed prediction of the future; this time, not of a pop star’s descent, but of a nation’s. And he is right.
Did you know multiple studies have shown that political revolution directionally correlates with wealth inequality? History has spelt this out time and time again, from the French Revolution to India kicking out the Brits to even the Chinese and Russian revolutions. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t take an entire nation to overthrow the status quo. Researcher Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, has found that once 3.5% of a population engages in a revolution, it always results in total political change.
Did you also know the US is already pretty damn close to reaching ‘revolution’ levels of wealth inequality and public outrage?
No? Well, let’s compare present-day America to the most famous and bloodthirsty revolution ever: the French Revolution.
In France, just before the revolution, the wealthiest 10% of people owned 90% of the wealth, with the bottom 50% of people owning somewhere between 2% and 3%. Cut to America in 2025, and the top 10% own 70% of the wealth, while the bottom 50% only own 2% of the country’s wealth. For comparison, in modern-day France, the top 10% own 47% of the wealth, which is still considered highly inequitable and is, to this day, causing protests. On top of that, the post-pandemic economy, looming recession, and Trump’s policies are set to transfer a gargantuan amount of American wealth to the top 10%.
In other words, the US’s wealth inequality is already horrific but is set to rapidly reach ‘cut off their heads’ levels.
One of the major causes of the French Revolution was the cost of living. The average person suddenly couldn’t afford essential foods due to the King’s policies, taxes, and poor harvests. While food prices, on average, haven’t increased that much yet in the US (only 1.9% in January), Trump’s tariffs on US consumers and scrapping of environmental and agricultural government bodies are set to make the cost of food soar. Fertilisers, seeds, and major ingredients are set to become unfeasible to import, and because there are practically zero local alternatives available, costs of almost all foodstuffs will skyrocket. On top of that, US agriculture is already suffering under climate change, and scrapping the regulatory bodies making the industry more resilient to this issue sets the stage for famine-like harvests in the near future.
This will exasperate the already financially squeezed public.
But a revolution needs people from across the wealth spectrum. Indeed, another core reason for the French Revolution was that factory owners and the bourgeoisie felt like they had no political power and couldn’t trust the king. Likewise, most millionaire C-suite executives (i.e., CEOs, CFOs, and CTOs) are visibly angry at Trump’s trade plans and policies, as they will demolish small and medium-sized corporations and create monopolies. What’s more, Trump’s flip-flop on tariffs is making it impossible for them to plan, severely impacting their businesses.
Source : https://www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/trump-and-musk-arent-ready-for-what
