For years I’ve been pointing out around here the foundation for a fascist takeover of a free society is a government/corporate partnership. The United States has been inching its way in that direction since the day Lewis Powell sent his now infamous “memo” to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce back in 1971 laying out the strategy republicans have used to combat the “New Deal” of FDR and the “Great Society” of LBJ. Slowly but surely even democrats have been getting sucked in allowing “we the people” to evolve to where we are – a right wing government leading a society full of oligarchs.
Donald Trump along with the authors of “Project 2025” are attempting to strip even more “power” (?) from U.S. government institutions and, assumedly, transferring that “power” to corporate interests. I mean, we’ve been witnessing this slow walking “coup” over the previous 50 years – since, especially, the administration of Ronald Reagan. The attacks on unions will, once again, increase. The attack on education seeming as if it’s going to reach peak is almost obvious – with the threat to disband the Department of Education and to “grab” the endowments of the major universities – acting as if daring the Congress or the Courts to stop them.
Stopping unions and dumbing down education are two fundamental ways to destroy functioning democracies. But, of course, as usual, there’s more. I read the other day where Comcast is planning to spin off MSNBC and CNN – likely as the result of their fear of what Trump is intending to do to block his perceived “enemies.” Their chicken s@#t solution is to simply make the issue “go away.” Of course, Trump won’t be mad at them if they get rid of anything resembling “progressive.” One thing Trump has proven – America is full of chicken s@#ts. Sad!
Read any book on how democracies devolve into fascism and you’ll see what’s happening in America right now. You have oligarchs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. etc. lining up seeking Trump’s favor. Of course, they could care less about Trump, actually, what they care about is how much MORE money can they accumulate? Trump is attempting to turn the U.S. into another Russia and these oligarchs are simply fine with that because, well, (at least for the time being) Trump is their “buddy.” That is, “for now.”
Trump has promised to pardon some of “America’s worst” – people who attacked police officers as they attempted to “hang Mike Pense” (as Trump said, in essence, Pense had it coming) and, do you really think these thugs won’t be willing to do Trump’s bidding? They’re a bunch of traitors, along with Trump. Several of them were convicted of one of the most heinous crimes in America, (or any other democracy) seditious conspiracy. That means they were convicted of attempting to overthrow our government. Like I said, TRAITORS – including Trump.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Trump isn’t the initiator of all of this. The creeping movement toward fascism started well before Trump. Trump simply is the convenient “vehicle” getting those behind this “movement” to the “mainstream.” We’re talking about right wing corporate interests, white nationalists, “Christian” nationalists, and those Americans who’ve been sucked in to the right wing propaganda networks. Like Fox “News,” “Newsmax,” and various other right wing outlets/platforms willing to LIE in order to make money. After all, America is full of “uneducated voters” – Trump’s favorite.
Republicans have been working on this transformation of America since David Koch ran for Vice President on the Libertarian “ticket” back in 1980. Anyone paying attention has watched as the so-called “top 1%” has grown almost exponentially since Reagan took office while their taxes have dropped in about a third (my guess). I remember when I was a child in the 1950’s the top tax rate on individuals who made over a certain amount was around 90%. Since Reagan, that top tax rate has come down and our deficits and national debt have gone up. TRILLIONS has been purged from America’s Middle Class up to (trickle up economics) those at the top leaving large swaths of America wondering “what happened.”
I’ve not only witnessed this “transformation” during my adult life (I’m 77) I’ve also witnessed democrats continually failing to FIGHT BACK. Joe Biden did the most, that I can remember, to “turn this ship of state” with his plan to build our government from the “bottom up and middle out.” Biden’s major shortfall: messaging. Democrats either don’t/won’t “toot their own horns” or, more likely, don’t have the courage to run on their own fundamental beliefs/achievements. That’s why I’ve NEVER been a democrat.
Of course, people like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and a bunch of other Silicon Valley BILLIONAIRES along with Wall Street bankers didn’t like what they were witnessing – despite the FACT America’s economy, as I’m writing this, is the strongest economy in the world. Trump has “hired” Elon Musk to trim BILLIONS from America’s economy – with Musk promising “short term pain.”
Where do you think Musk/Trump are planning to cut? Do you think they’ll cut from the bloated American Defense budget – which would include the BILLIONS promised to Musk’s Space X? Do you think they might want to cut back from the “Trump tax cuts” which increased the deficit a couple TRILLION in his last administration? Of course not!
The cuts will come from programs like Medicare and Medicaid, school lunches, Head Start, the Children’s health network, the bludgeoning of U.S. institutions (like the aforementioned Dept. of Education), etc. etc. One thing we can be sure – Musk and his cronies WON’T be the ones experiencing this “short term pain.”
Trump has promised to repeal “Obamacare” (i.e. The Affordable Care Act) Republicans have attempted to do this something like 60 times. Should they succeed, not only will MILLIONS lose health insurance, but, also, the deficit/national debt will go up even more. Not to mention the health consequences on those who lose their insurance. Plus, of course, it was the Affordable Care Act which prohibited insurance companies from discriminating due to “pre-existing conditions.” Have stuff wrong with you? You’re on your own. Under those circumstances EVERYONE suffers and pays MORE.
Not to mention, people who have health insurance can keep their children on their plan until their children are 26 years old. For young people trying to get their lives started, this is a key part of that process. It’s hard enough for young people to pay for housing and the other expenses of starting a family without having exorbitant medical bills. To give an example of where we’ve come, back when I was young and raising a family, I had no medical insurance at the time of the birth of my two daughters – both by C-section. The first one, in 1975 cost $3000 (Including the surgeon who was brought in to do the surgery) and the second one, in 1977 cost $5000. It took me about two years to pay off both debts. I can’t imagine the same thing in today’s environment.
Then there’s the issue of women’s health – which many focus on the issue of abortion. I’ve pointed out here the first pregnancy I was involved with ended in a miscarriage, which took me only a few months to pay off – the cost (1973) was about $200. I often think about, what if I lived in the heart of Texas and the same thing happened today? Yikes!! I would do what would be necessary to save the life of my wife, but, at the time, I didn’t have the money to travel to another state for treatment which could be life threatening – as we’ve all seen by the number of women who are dying because of Trump’s abortion ban.
Final Thought: I keep trying to figure out how we got to this place. And, the answer is always the same. Republicans are a bunch of LIARS. That seems to be a pre-requisite for anyone who wants to be a significant part of that party. And, as stated above, there’s a long list of OLIGARCHS in America who are just fine with that, as long as they keep accumulating MONEY. When it gets right down to it, I believe Elon Musk, the richest OLIGARCH, was the reason Trump LIED his way back into the “White House.”
Musk used his social media outlet Xwitter to spew mis/disinformation aimed at specific groups of people which helped, in the closing two or three weeks of the campaign, to swing the vote in Trump’s favor. Take, for example, his ILLEGAL scheme of offering $1 MILLION each day to voters in Pennsylvania – on the surface for signing a petition – but, in actuality to vote for Trump. To me, this was key in swinging young people toward Trump in the last couple of weeks of the campaign. Do you believe Musk will be held accountable for this scheme by Trump’s DOJ? Of course not!
Just think about how stupid that is, from the standpoint of those young people. First, if Musk succeeds in causing “temporary pain” in his new role in government, who do you think it will affect most? Of course, it will be young people who are the most susceptible to recessions, which, of course, is what Musk is planning to cause. Taken in concert with Trump’s promise to “deport” MILLIONS of Americans who are undocumented and to place tariffs on goods coming from key American trading partners – the DAMAGE could be historic. One thing’s for sure, People like Musk and Trump will be the one’s to PROFIT from the DAMAGE.
Joe Biden is leaving Trump with the greatest economy in the world. Record numbers of jobs have been created during Biden’s four years as president. He got several bipartisan bills passed including “first steps” in dealing with the glut of guns in America and with the issue of Climate Change. To me, for young people, there should have been no issue more important than Climate Change or gun violence – yet, it was hardly a topic during the campaign. In addition, the Supreme Court will now likely be guaranteed to be a rogue right wing court for the next 40 years. Why was that not a more significant part of the campaign? (Obviously, it would have had to come from the democrats)
The Court and Climate SHOULD have been the two most important issues, from the standpoint of young people – yet, the cost of a gallon of gas seemed to be more important (ironically, one of the key Climate Change issues). And, by the way, the price of gas has been higher than it is now MANY times in my lifetime – especially when you factor in inflation. The inflation young people were complaining about resulted from emergence from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. America’s young people proved, at least to me, that the issue of critical thinking is a “work in progress.”
When I studied how the vote went I could come to no other conclusion than Elon Musk was key in getting Trump elected. He invested between $100 and $200 MILLION in the scheme. And, keep in mind, Musk is an immigrant who came here ILLEGALLY. He was supposed to be a student, but NEVER enrolled at Stanford. Like Trump, he was born with a “silver spoon” and, like Trump, is a narcissistic, racist autocrat. Musk was raised in South Africa during the Arpartheid era and seems to favor that form of government here – and, with the pile of MONEY necessary to achieve his vision. Yikes! Stay tuned!
I have to add: When Musk and Trump are finished “torching” the economy, it will be Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Thiel, and their ilk who will be the ones who “swoop” in and “clean up the scraps.” We’re headed for one of the “darkest” periods of American history – which, is filled with dark periods. I still maintain, Trump, Musk, the other OLIGARCHS who participate in this assault on America’s foundation, AND the members of Congress who have/will been/be complicit in the scheme will ultimately end up right next to Benedict Arnold in the history books. It’s going to take a lot of “pain” to get to that point – and, not the type of pain Musk is proposing. Read Marx “Communist Manifesto” along with Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Lord help us!
Too lazy to find out about Musk using “Google?” Well then, click HERE – I’ve done it for you! You can also click HERE.
