By Jeffrey Tucker - January 17, 2026

When Scott Adams died, People Magazine led with a line that dominated most of the media for days: “Scott Adams, Disgraced Dilbert Creator, Dies at 69.” It’s a message for the living: depart from saying what you are supposed to say and you will lose everything. Even in death, your life will be called worthless. This was not eulogy but rather an enforcement action to keep the opinion cartel functioning.

It was in 2015 that the famed creator of the Dilbert cartoon first started speculating that Donald Trump had what it takes to become president. The feeling of shock was palpable. No one else was saying anything like this – more specifically, no one of his status and reach as a cultural influence. In those days, the opinions of The Nation and National Review were identical: this clown cannot be president.

For my own part, I recall feeling appalled by Adams’ statements. At the time, I was firmly in the Never Trump camp, without fully understanding that I was then accepting the most conventional opinion possible at the time. I further failed to understand the complex dynamic operating beneath the surface, namely that a broken system of government/media/tech had long ago stopped serving the cause of freedom and dignity and turned to full-time exploitation in surreptitious forms.

In words, Trump was out there saying that the system was gravely broken and needed to be fixed. This was Adams’ view as well, and he further saw that Trump had the gravitas necessary to pull people over to this view.

Adams of course turned out to be correct about this. It’s difficult to recreate the sense of those times to understand just how disruptive his views were. It was a universally shared opinion at the time that Trump was an unwelcome and deeply dangerous invader into electoral politics.

The establishment figured that the best way to shut down Trump’s effort was to . . .

[SNIP]