"A political shift is certainly accelerating within elite institutions, where the younger generation is trying to establish a new ideological consensus, a new set of standards and boundaries for behavior and opinion, that otherwise would have advanced more slowly, with more contestation, over the next 10 years." Ross Douthat thinks big business, big universities and big newspapers will increase in power and wealth thanks to the pandemic accelerating changes that were happening anyway, while churches, small businesses and conservatives do badly.

In other words he sees a new elite taking over America and ruthlessly getting rid of its rivals. It is reminiscent of Leninism but this is pushed by big business. One third of major brands, says the FT, threaten to boycott Facebook unless it censors conservative opinions more severely.