I think these choices by EM are worrying , but are similar to other choices he has made that don't align with what a lot of people in the UK would agree with .
The worrying thing is that he has influence within the Us Govt and with the president .
By these choices, EM is perhaps seeking to ensure that his family can potentially exert power and control for generations to come . That is not to say that all or even any of his offspring won't rebel : seek alternative vocations when they are grown . I suppose however the more children he has , the greater the chance that at least one / several will continue with his " legacy ".
He also has influence here through various politicians ( although even Farage has stepped back slightly) . Most importantly through X he has the ability to reach 100s of millions daily . Fact checking and truth aren't always a top priority . ...
I checked and he is listed as a special US govt employee , I suppose similar to a consultant BUT he does already seem to be exercising a lot of autonomy with little checks and balances in place .
In the UK , we rely on a separation of powers between the Executive ( Govt ) , Legislature ( parliament ) and judiciary ( courts ) . If one part is acting beyond their powers, the other step in .
I am no expert in this , but we can see situations where this has protected decision making here and perhaps others where it hasn't worked so well .
When these safety checks were put in place , we did not have social media outlets like X etc and it is very difficult for governments in the west to have any influence or checks over these to correct misleading info / targeting of vulnerable people .
I am not naive enough to think that there weren't issues previously with the media in the past . When the tabloids in particular could influence
millions with their slant on politics / politicians and had a lot of sway in voting during general elections here . These papers were also regularly run by very rich and powerful men .
It has always been the case that those who are rich and powerful will seek to align / influence those in government . Sometimes this can be with good / philanthropic intentions, but not always .
So I do think we should all be worried , but I am not sure what we can do on a day to day basis .
I did take some comfort when Trump was re-elected and brought in EM that as they both have massive egos , they were likely to fall out as both will be unable to be right / on top all of the time . I do accept that the US citizens exercised their democratic rights to put Trump in power . There are also checks and balances in their constitution and we can see that the courts have already tried to ( at least temporarily ) block some of Trumps decisions I won't even go there with his involvement in other conflicts etc .
Again I accept that even in the UK and other western countries, political decisions have always been influenced by external economic factors eg investments in oil .
The question here is the amount of unchecked influence that EM has going forward in the US but also around the world . Arguably he always had this , but not at a government level .
I suppose thinking about it , I am not sure I and others should take comfort from an inevitable fall out between Trump and EM . But what happens if they do - where does EM go ? If he is used to exercising lots of power / influence outwith and within govt , will he be prepared to give this up ? Will he then seek to align / be wooed by other nonwestern & undemocratic / dictator led nations ?