Musk’s triumph amongst the anti-Trump camp

In this summer of noses turned skywards in an attempt to catch a glimpse of a shooting star or a eclipsed sun, there is another non-celestial body that has suddenly taken over our days and evenings – yet one which we find it terribly difficult to discuss under a beach umbrella, as we might do with the tail of a comet or an eclipse at sunset. And yet this non-celestial body has become part of our daily lives and our connections with the world; yet, despite this, every time we find ourselves clicking on those two words – whether on a computer, a smartphone or a Kindle – it is easy to feel two conflicting emotions, halfway between joy and shame. The summer of 2016 will be remembered, not only for the scorching heat, but also for being the summer in which us anti-Trumpers on permanent active duty – ourselves included – found, with a mixture of embarrassment and gratification, a lifeline for our internet networks through connections provided by the devil himself, in places where the power of the state, the private sector and the so-called common good fails to reach: Elon Musk and his Starlink. Head to the islands – the chic ones and the slightly radical-chic ones – and hordes of anti-Trumpers, in search of a signal to connect to the internet or to post on X, ensure that their summer retreats are equipped with a small satellite dish capable of providing a sufficient connection, sought after on holiday as if it were methadone. Head out on a boat, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Mediterranean, anywhere, and hordes of ‘radical chic’ types kiss the bow every time the crew, before boarding, utter the magic words: ‘And then, yes, we’ve also got Starlink.’

Head to the Italian coast, where state capitalism and ‘benecomunismo’ don’t always sit well with the internet, and you’ll come across holiday rentals that, online, on the web and on walls, try to catch your eye with adverts like these. “Capalbio, Luxury Villa, Swimming Pool, Sunsets, Privacy, with Starlink”. “Country house set against the blue backdrop of the Argentiera Park, Monte Argentario, villa for six guests, three bedrooms, super-fast Wi-Fi with Starlink”. “Seaside villa in the Maremma Park – Orbetello/Talamone area, large villa with private beach/sea access, terraces and views of the archipelago, Starlink connection”. “Villa Marina, opposite the Marina di Porto Cervo, five bedrooms, six bathrooms, up to ten guests, high-speed Starlink and unlimited data”. “Luxury villa in Panarea – The Thinking Traveller, with ‘SpaceX Starlink internet connection’”. “Trullo Flamingo – Serranova/Carovigno, recently renovated villa with private swimming pool; high-speed Starlink Wi-Fi among the amenities”. The relationship between a non-Trumpian corner of Italy and one of Trumpism’s most cumbersome allies has provided grounds for highlighting several contradictions even in the recent past, when hordes of post-communists and anti-Trumpers found themselves in the extremely uncomfortable position of having to choose between their unyielding battle against fascism and their very comfortable Tesla. Tesla owners, in some cases – as happened in the Fratoianni household – found themselves in a quandary, as you will recall. Nicola Fratoianni, leader of AVS, in January 2025, described entrusting strategic assets to a private monopolist such as Musk as “wrong and dangerous”. Shortly afterwards, the family’s Tesla came to light, and Elisabetta Piccolotti, his wife and an AVS MP, recounted that she had even stuck an anti-Musk sticker on it.

However, as reported by the Associated Press in July, following a period of stagnation for Tesla, there has been a strong recovery in sales: in the second quarter of 2026, global deliveries rose by 25 per cent compared with the previous year. This could be a sign, the agency wrote, that the political boycott of Musk has begun to lose momentum. Anti-fascist values are important, of course, but evidently not always enough to make people give up a comfortable car that is even zero-emission, or almost so. In Italy, it is true that new Teslas do not sell particularly well, but between 2023 and 2025, the number of used Teslas changing hands rose by 141.5 per cent: from 1,999 to 4,828. Small signs of realism, even of maturity, in a country firmly aligned against Trump, which detests Musk whilst still casting an eye towards Vannacci, and which, however, this summer – and not only then – has begun to make a valuable effort: to continue insulting Musk’s ideas without giving up his electric cars and his Wi-Fi signals – even if only to find the time to write a tweet on X against capitalism, whilst first ensuring, of course, that he has a good connection on a catamaran. Musk is one thing. His inventions are another matter altogether. Separating his professional roles to ensure greater fairness is difficult. Doing so to secure an extra signal bar at the seaside is possible. Long live Starlink.