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Trump is Willing to Trade Our Children’s Future for a Billion Dollars

The willingness to destroy our collective home in exchange for riches is one of the most extreme examples of greed run amok…

Thom Hartmann May 10

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Image by Cristian Ibarra from Pixabay

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“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed…” – Jesus (Luke 12:15)

“My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy.” – Donald Trump

The Washington Post revealed yesterday that Donald Trump told a group of fossil fuel executives that if they’d give him a billion-dollar bribe, he’d use it to become president and then eliminate all of President Biden’s environmental regulations and prevent any new ones from coming into law.

The industry barons had been grumbling that they’d already spent more than $400 million lobbying the Biden administration over the past year to little effect. They really shouldn’t have a basis to complain: just the three largest oil companies operating in America made $85.65 billion dollars in profits last year, which they could split up among shareholders and senior executives.

Nonetheless, Trump’s brazen appeal for them to grease his palm seemed to shock even these hardened planet-killers.

This comes the same week that The Guardian broke the story that most of the world’s top climate scientists surveyed — all of them among the 843 authors of the IPCC’s most recent report — believe the planet is going to crash through the 1.5° Celsius threshold they’d previously defined as a disaster scenario. Most are now expecting us to hit 2.5° or even 3° Celsius, levels that could make much of the planet uninhabitable for humans. And it’s going to happen a hell of a lot sooner than anybody had anticipated just a decade ago.

It’s gotten so bad that some climate scientist’s are questioning the wisdom of their own families having children.

In other words, Donald Trump and his Republican friends are explicitly willing to trade our and our children’s future for a billion dollars. And they couldn’t have offered this deal to the industry if five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court hadn’t legalized political bribery of both politicians and judges (like themselves and Aileen Cannon) when they overturned the good government laws Congress passed in the wake of the Nixon bribery scandals in the 1970s.

It may have been an unnecessary effort on Trump’s part.

The Saudis and Russians — who both desperately want Trump back in the White House — cut oil production over the past two months by 1.4 million barrels a day with the apparent goal of driving US gasoline prices up past $6 a gallon in time for the election this fall.

Remember the GOP hysteria around gas prices hitting $5 a gallon in October and November of 2022 just in time for the midterm elections, with Fox “News” hosts hyping stickers being put on gas pumps across the country bearing a picture of Biden pointing to the price with an “I did that” slogan?  It almost singlehandedly gave us GOP control of the House of Representatives and was the result of a similar Saudi and Russian production cut.

Now, it looks like we ain’t seen nothing yet.

When he was president, Trump allowed the Saudis to buy the largest gasoline refinery in America (at Port Arthur, Texas); between their oil supply cuts and the possibility they could reduce that refinery’s output this fall (no doubt because of “maintenance issues”) gas could easily puncture the $7 a gallon ceiling by November.

Analysts found that throughout the midterm election year 2022, there was a nearly one-to-one inverse correlation between the price of gasoline, Americans’ perception of the state of the economy, and approval ratings for the Biden administration. As The Washington Post pointed out that year, there was an estimated 91 percent inverse correlation between the price of gas and the popularity of Democrats when they’re in power: as gas prices go up, Democrats’ approval ratings (and electability) measurably and predictably go down.

The willingness to destroy our collective home in exchange for riches is one of the most tragic and extreme examples of greed run amok. Which shouldn’t surprise us: for the past century, the unofficial slogan of the GOP has been “Greed is Good!” as memorialized in the 1987 movie Wall Street.

Will Rogers used to tell the story that when he was a kid the way he learned which visitors to his parents ranch were Republicans was that they were the ones his dad told him to keep an eye on so they didn’t steal anything. Decades may have passed, but the GOP hasn’t changed a bit.

Their standard-bearer this year is the living incarnation of that slogan. As Trump told a cheering audience when he was first running for president:

“I like money. I’m very greedy. I’m a greedy person. I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy — I’ve always been greedy. I love money, right?”

The good news is that there is, increasingly, pushback from the Biden administration and Democrats in the states.

Five Blue states are now looking at ways to hold fossil fuel moguls and their companies accountable for the damage climate change-fueled extreme weather has inflicted on their people. Vermont is leading the way, with legislation that passed their House this week and is now headed to the Vermont Senate, almost certainly carrying a large enough majority to overcome a veto by the state’s Republican governor.

The bill would set up a $2 billion fund to pay for weather damage, funded by a tax of sorts on the fossil fuel industry. New York, California, Massachusetts, and Maryland are all looking at similar legislation this year.

But as long as the Supreme Court’s corrupt 5-4 Citizens United decision stands and Republican politicians and judges are eager to take bribes from the industry, these efforts will be purely remedial, the equivalent of putting Band-Aids on cancerous lesions.

These tragic realities highlight the extraordinary stakes of this year’s election, which will not only determine the future survival of American democracy but also the destiny of most all life on Earth. The GOP’s embrace of greed isn’t just a moral issue any more: it’s now threatening us all.

Double-check your voter registration and reach out to wake up everybody you know. Given how rapidly extreme weather is amplifying, causing death and destruction across America (and the world), your own family’s survival may depend on it.

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I live on the “left coast” and was up early today (4/25) so I managed to listen to many of the arguments involved in the appeal of Trump’s claim he has “absolute immunity.” Now, as someone who has little to NO faith in this SCOTUS I was not surprised with what I heard based on my interpretation of the questions posed by the various judges. Here’s what will surprise me: If the judges simply decide the case in front of them. Basically, to me, the judges who claim to be “textualists” or “originalists” seemed to be looking for ways to expand the issue to areas which were NOT part of the case in front of them. I believe at least three justices (Alito, Kavanaugh, and Thomas) were looking for possible ways to DELAY the January 6th D.C. case to allow Trump to throw this out if he manages to somehow CHEAT his way back into the “White House.”

I mean, it’s been obvious for quite some time this court is on the side of our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING four times indicted (ex) president simply by their willingness to, at a minimum, help him stall this procedure. What also seemed obvious to me was several of the justices searching for ways to decide MORE than what is included in this indictment/appeal. There will be no “yes or no” decision by this court – just as they did in the Citizens United v FEC case they will go well beyond the issues of this appeal in order to appease their own political bent. Yes, I’m predicting this and I certainly hope I’m wrong, but they seemed to be searching for a way to strip Jack Smith of his ability to proceed with this case.

If they do what I fear I hope Mr. Smith then decides to prosecute the “unindicted co-conspirators” along with all the others involved in the conspiracy to overthrow our elected government on January 6th, 2021. That, of course, would include the wife of Clarence Thomas – who very possibly could be the deciding vote on this case in favor of the judges looking for an off ramp for Trump in his CLEARLY illegal attempt to pull off a coup d’etat. To me, there is NO WAY judge Thomas should have been sitting on the bench for this case. He should have been recused due to the actions of his wife.

I’m getting similar feelings I had during the Colorado case where Trump had been purged from their ballot based on Section three of the 14th Amendment which prevents anyone who took an oath to the constitution and participated in or gave support to anyone who participated in an INSURRECTION from holding ANY office in the federal government (or any state). The Colorado Supreme Court found that Trump participated in an INSURRECTION and was, therefore, ineligible to be on the Colorado ballot as a candidate for president. The SCOTUS, as myself and many others imagined they would, found a way to “stray” from their “textualist/originalist” bent because it didn’t fit their ideological view. They made a POLITICAL decision. They appear to be leaning to do the same in Trump’s January 6th indictment.

This Court is creating a serious image problem for themselves. We all saw on TV the INSURRECTION. We watched and listened to Trump urging his supporters to “go to the Capitol and fight like hell or you won’t have a country anymore.” Those of us who pay attention to all this have heard Trump PUBLICLY reiterate that “VP Pense did have the right to overthrow the election” (or words to that affect) when Congress decided to amend the statute defining the VP’s role in counting the Electoral College votes – a purely ceremonial role. It could not be more obvious that Trump was pressuring Pense to turn away legitimate Electoral College votes in order to count the so-called “alternate electors” from several of the “battleground” states.

At a bare minimum I believe the SCOTUS will send this case back to the District Court for a determination regarding “official acts v personal acts” – a decision which will be subject to appeal and then the appeal process starts all over again – which would mean the Supreme Court’s part in that would be decided sometime NEXT YEAR. I believe the court is going to expose itself as benefactors of Trump and they could care less about the “blow back” they will receive. I’m sure they believe all the negative publicity will blow over by the time their next term begins. And, who knows? It might.

I’ve written before about Lewis Powell’s “memo” to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce back in (I think – I could look it up but I’m too lazy) 1973. He was arguing that us “peons” – ie “working class Americans” had gained to much power and America’s corporations should “turn the tables” in favor or America’s “Oligarchs.” Soon after Powell was appointed to the SCOTUS by Richard Nixon and by 1980 “conservatives” had received the message and it was fully implemented by Ronald Reagan and his right wing/racist administration. Challenge #1: Destroy the union movement in America. See: The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) which Reagan, in essence, had destroyed when Air Traffic Controllers went on strike back in 1981. By my calculation, that was when unions took a “nosedive” and so did the wages of working class Americans.

One of the central tenets of the “conservative” movement has been preventing as many people as possible from voting – especially people who might vote for democrats. As time has evolved since Reagan became president the Court has tilted strongly to the right – in 2000 it actually chose GW Bush to be president when, by all accounts, the rightful “winner” was Al Gore. In fact, in that situation the Court acted with “all haste” – like, as I remember it, in a manner of days (not months/years) to “crown” GW Bush and Dick Cheney to reign on “we the people.” I’m sure republicans were more than pleased when Mr. Gore simply accepted the decision in order to prevent a rebellion.

That court decision led to the invasion of Iraq (and, very possibly 9/11 due to Bush’s willingness to ignore the warning signs), the 20 LONG years of incompetence in Afghanistan, and, of course, the financial meltdown of 2007 – 2008. When the Obama/Biden administration took office the “mess” they inherited was of historic proportions. However, Donald Trump left the “messiest” mess for the incoming Biden Administration I can remember in my lifetime. To me, the burgeoning of the national debt began under Reagan via the so-called “Trickle down” (I’ve always said “trickle up”) tax policy which has led to “tax cuts for the rich” in every republican administration since (except, I believe, George HW Bush).

When you look up articles about the budget deficit and the national debt it becomes clear what you’re reading is tilted one way or the other depending on who’s writing it. By my observation Clinton and Obama both left office with an annual deficit considerably less than the one they inherited and, it appears, so will President Biden, whenever it becomes time for him to finally (and actually) retire. What Biden inherited was catastrophic due to Trump’s selfish incompetence in managing a “once in a century” pandemic. (Although, it seems the possibility of future pandemics looms large)

My point is this: Decisions by the SCOTUS are of immense importance. The decision to crown Bush/Cheney, for example, not only let to a financial meltdown, it led to the loss of THOUSANDS of American lives via the ILLEGAL invasion of Iraq – where something like one half of the Iraqi population was displaced and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s died due to the Bush/Cheney invasion. This would NOT have happened had the Court simply allowed the recount of votes in Florida to be completed. I will go to my grave believing Al Gore was the rightful winner of the 2000 American presidential election.

And, since then the Court has continued its drift rightward to the point where what we witnessed during the arguments regarding Trump’s ABSURD claim of “absolute immunity” seemed to gain a sympathetic (and pathetic) audience with – by my count – at least four of the justices. When these justices – who claimed in their confirmation hearings that “hypothetical” situations are irrelevant when it comes to deciding issues regarding the constitution – began throwing around hypothetical possibilities of retribution by sitting presidents toward their predecessor I wanted to vomit. The discussion seemed to be focused on many imagined possibilities of mischief, but not on the actual appeal before the court.

As I’ve said, this should have been obvious when the court decided to take this appeal in the first place and then schedule the arguments for the LAST day of the term – something like 9 weeks later. This was the court participating in Trump’s strategy of “delay, delay, delay.” Will they make a decision based on the merits of the appeal? Well, I surely hope so – granting this appeal will render them as being insignificant going forward – they would be approving America as a dictatorship (and “we the people” would have one more election to stop this attack on our constitution). I don’t think there’s any way they can simply overrule the District Court’s determination this claim (absolute immunity for the president) is preposterous – “we don’t have a king” – and the DC Circuit court’s agreement with the District Court.

However, as stated above, my gut instincts tell me they’re going to throw it back to the District Court based on some creative imagination of what our constitution SHOULD say, which is all Trump needs to put this off until sometime in 2025 – unless he’s re-elected. Trust me, there are more right wing decisions which are anti-democratic coming from this court, likely at the end of June. I don’t follow everything they decide to take up, but their track record is horrible to someone like me, but, likely to someone who agrees with Lewis Powell, this court is “right on.” Yikes!!!

Final Thought: I have to add, the fundamental source of fascism would be when corporations and government are acting in “partnership.” The following is a quote attributed to Benito Mussolini: “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”  There are questions as to whether or not he actually said that, but, as you can see – in today’s America the “oligarchs” (corporate “power brokers”) are pretty much aligned to Trump’s “slow moving coup.” And REALLY wealthy Americans, like Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg are building fortresses in remote areas for when the “you know what hits the fan.”

I’m not arguing against corporations, I’m just pointing out when they get to the point where their self interest causes them to “partner” with government for the purpose of implementing policy which is detrimental to “we the people” then we are a de-facto fascist state. There’s a reason why “big business” is realigning itself with Trump despite his CLEAR intentions to, in essence “tear up the constitution.” The corporate interests are simply “creating shareholder value” the “commons” be damned. They seem to believe the promise to “cut taxes” is the true political “selling point.” The idea of democrats actually instituting a “wealth tax” is considered, by the corporatists, as “socialism.” Government investing in its people, to them, is “socialism.”

That all being said, the next several elections, well beyond my remaining lifetime, will be critical in turning back this right wing attempt to undermine our democratic republic. The “checks and balances” imbedded into our constitution are under severe threat by a right wing segment of our population which has railed against “progress” since, well, the beginning of this nation – especially since the “New Deal” of FDR. The Court has been “rigged” and, thus, it’s possible Trump will succeed in making sure our elections are “rigged.” And, of course, they’ll be “rigged” in his favor. Stay tuned.,,,,