# A need for chaos powers some Americans’ support for Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the US government
**Date de l'événement :** 15/04/2025
* Publié le 15/04/2025

### Image
![There’s a sizable group of Americans who agree with the phrase ‘I think society should be burned to the ground.’](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/memory-sp-pr.appspot.com/o/prod%2F1y7CgDOTakHDiB3dgoi0%2FprojectsMedias%2FgRnvIfUd5Rn4QeZg6ikM%2Fthumbs%2F1_1600x900.png?alt=media&token=5323e814-f8a2-424f-a27f-78a64eb35942) 

##  
A video of a Las Vegas Tesla dealership that had been set on fire by anti-Elon Musk protesters was posted on March 18, 2025, by an account on X called EndWokeness.   
  
The next day Musk replied to the post, “Some people just want to watch the world burn,” an iconic line from the 2008 Batman film “The Dark Knight.” Alfred, the Wayne family’s faithful butler, says the line to Bruce Wayne – Batman – to describe the motivations behind the Joker’s chaotic acts of violence.  
  
Musk – and Alfred – was right. Some people do, in fact, say they think that society should be burned to the ground. It’s part of a psychological measure political psychologists created called “need for chaos.”  
  
New data from the Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware suggests that those people – the ones who want society to burn – are the ones with more, not less, trust in Musk. They also report more trust in the Department of Government Efficiency, the government entity Musk advises,which the Trump administration claims it created to cut government waste and fraud.  
  
Yet, critics point out that Musk and DOGE’s seemingly indiscriminate approach to spending cuts risks damaging the infrastructure necessary for American innovation.  
  
This desire to watch the world burn doesn’t come out of nowhere.

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**Pour lire l'article complet, cliquez sur le lien ci-dessous :** [https://theconversation.com/a-need-for-chaos-powers-some-americans-support-for-elon-musk-taking-a-chainsaw-to-the-us-government-253420](https://theconversation.com/a-need-for-chaos-powers-some-americans-support-for-elon-musk-taking-a-chainsaw-to-the-us-government-253420)

## Auteur(s)
Dannagal G. Young, Kevin Arceneaux

### Date
15/04/2025

### Type(s) de ressource
`#Texte` 

### Discipline(s)
`#Science politique` 

### Thématique(s)
`#Etat / nation / société` 

### Aire(s) géographique(s)
`#Amérique du Nord` 

### Langue(s)
`#Anglais` 

## Crédits photo
Anton Petrus-Moment / Getty Images

**Licence attribuée à l'article :** `#CC-BY-ND (Attribution, Pas de modification)` 

### Famille(s) de contenu
`#Recherche` 

### Type(s) d'accès
`#Accès libre` 

### Partenaire(s)
**[The Conversation](https://sources.sciencespo.fr/structure/the-conversation_QdYqgYnzKVyePLgMp3g8)** 


### Hébergeur(s)
`#The Conversation` 

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