Millionaires and billionaires, pioneers in robotics, nanotechnology, crypto-currency, AI and private space explorations, financiers of the campaign and prominent in the new administration, are leaders in the technologically improved eugenics. Where might they lead us?

In the late 19th century, a pseudo-science emerged to “scientifically” validate the age-old proposition that human progress depended on the reproduction of genetically superior people who were easily identifiable by their wealth and power. By the turn of the century, the American Breeders Association became the first scientific organization in the U.S. to propose eugenics as the solution to improving society.

Progressive academic, medical and political circles in the U.S. supported the claim that genes determined physical characteristics from one generation to the next as well as intelligence, mental health, behavior and morality. Indiana passed the first eugenic sterilization law in 1907.  Thirty-one states, Maine included, followed suit, supported by the U.S. Supreme Court in Buck vs. Bell (1927), which found that forced sterilization did not violate the Eighth or the 14th amendments.

The revelation of the Holocaust’s connection with eugenics forced progressives to abandon it, but beliefs that genetics determined all aspects of our humanity lingered on with the support of foundations closely linked to the Trump administration. With MAGA’s fear of declining birth rates, one could assume that increased immigration would be a viable solution, but that is not the position of the Trump administration.

“You have good genes, you know that, right?” Trump said during a rally last year to predominantly white followers in Minnesota. “You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different?” He then raised the issue of threats to homeland security. “You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” He added that “they are poisoning our blood,” referring to undocumented migrants.

It turns out that 34% of Americans and 61% of Republicans polled by the Brookings Institution and Public Religion Research Institute agree. Closing the border to inferior genes and Trump’s desire to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship would be a cost-effective option to eliminate millions of “inferior” genes from the pool. But what to do with those who are already here?

Over the years, the Supreme Court has limited the scope of forced sterilization on unwilling or incapable individuals, but not entirely, as Buck has not been overturned. Forced sterilization continued sporadically and as recently as 2020, the inspector general of Homeland Security found forced hysterectomies on migrant women at the for-profit Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia and other facilities over a three-year period. Eliminating bad genes through sterilization in the U.S. would be time-consuming and would generate legal pushback, but might help with undocumented migrants who have limited legal protection.

Enter Elon Musk, the poster boy for pronatalism, a pro-birth political and personal ideology for which increased reproduction is the most important issue of our time. Vice President JD Vance has jumped on board, becoming the cheerleader for increased birth rates and advocating for the return of one of Musk’s DOGE wunderkinds, who resigned after describing himself online as racist and a eugenicist.

Eugenics has become MAGA mainstream. Musk’s financial support of right-wing political parties throughout the world and Vance’s recent verbal support of the AfD, a German authoritarian, anti-immigration party, illustrates the reach of their agendas.

Musk’s vision is not only more babies, but the most superior children that technology can produce. He biologically supports the movement, having fathered at least 14 children with four women. Pavel Durov, a French billionaire, claims to have fathered 100 children through his pro bono IVF clinic, fulfilling his “civic duty.”

The self-proclaimed “Father of IVF” and opponent of universal health care, Donald Trump, goes beyond protecting access to in-vitro fertilization with either government or insurance companies to cover the cost.

What’s their plan? Will immigration be limited to people with good genes? Will medical insurance cover the cost of designer babies? Will marginalized people be coerced into sterilization?

What we do know is the current direction of procreation is in the hands of a leader who proclaims his decisions are above the law when defending the country from threats to our security.