The culture wars come for The Odyssey – and miss
Musk, then running the U.S. government’s cost-cutting DOGE, enlisted a group of very young male tech experts for his government cost-cutting cause, he referred to them as Spartans. When he launched his America Party in 2025 (whatever happened to that?), he warned of the myth of Spartan invincibility. He has referred to America as “new Rome.” Now-former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, writing for Breitbart News in 2016, compared Breitbart to the Spartans coming for the Athenians – the Athenians being the mainstream media, especially Fox News.
- ▪Musk, then running the U.S. government’s cost-cutting DOGE, enlisted a group of very young male tech experts for his government cost-cutting cause, he referred to them as Spartans.
- ▪When he launched his America Party in 2025 (whatever happened to that?), he warned of the myth of Spartan invincibility.
- ▪He has referred to America as “new Rome.” Now-former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, writing for Breitbart News in 2016, compared Breitbart to the Spartans coming for the Athenians – the Athenians being the mainstream media, especially F
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Open this photo in gallery:With his film 'The Odyssey,' Christopher Nolan has subverted a heroic tale of war into an antiwar epic.Melinda Sue Gordon/The Associated PressShareSave for laterPlease log in to bookmark this story.Log InCreate Free AccountMAGA foot soldiers such as Elon Musk have made a habit of evoking classical Greek and Roman mythology, Sparta in particular, as they imagine a world led by (white) alpha-male warriors being heroic and strong. When Mr. Musk, then running the U.S. government’s cost-cutting DOGE, enlisted a group of very young male tech experts for his government cost-cutting cause, he referred to them as Spartans. When he launched his America Party in 2025 (whatever happened to that?), he warned of the myth of Spartan invincibility.
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