Definition: Capitulation
- The act of surrendering or giving up.”Lack of food and ammunition forced the capitulation of the rebels.”
- A document containing the terms of surrender.
- An enumeration of the main parts of a subject; a summary.
The reason I’m thinking of the word “capitulation” tonight (and it’s late – I’ll have to finish the thought later – is because the level of my horror as I watch the country I love descend into what can only be defined (by me) as hell. I just see one person/entity after another, in essence, bowing down to Trump. There seems to be a flood of capitulation – i.e. surrender – to the evil Trump is flooding America with. And, the leading “actors” in this “deplorable” play are a bunch of billionaires.
For years I’ve been pointing out the foundation of fascism is a “government/corporate partnership.” This has been an evolving issue in America since the early 1970’s with Lewis Powell’s infamous “memo” to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce laying out the scheme we’re seeing in what may be the “final act” as our incoming president elect has aligned himself with a group of groveling billionaires and has created an atmosphere of intimidation for those who would ignore him. (whew, that’s a mouthful)
The list is long and growing and I’ll obviously not get to all of them in this post. Oh, where to start? I guess, the first place I’ll go is Jack Smith. And, I’ve kind of cooled off on this one, but I believed he SHOULDN’T have dismissed the charges against Trump, forcing Trump to order his Attorney General to do the dirty work. However, now as I watch the (latest) soap opera of the Trump fiasco, I’m realizing had Smith followed my instincts his report would NEVER have been made public. As it stands, apparently it’s going to be released in the next week – unless, somehow the SCOTUS steps in and messes things up (AGAIN). The ideal outcome, for me, would have been the charges held in abeyance – until Trump would be out of office in 2029. I have forgiven Smith for – well, it appears, doing the “right” thing.
Next: Christopher Wray, the head of the FBI, announced he would be resigning at the end of President Biden’s administration on January 20th. This one bothered me along the same lines as my initial reaction to Mr. Smith. However, I’ve yet to discover any reason to change my mind on this one. I believe Wray SHOULD have forced Trump to fire him. He could only be fired for cause, so it would have been interesting to find out what reason Trump would have made up in order to get his own lackey in charge of the nation’s top law enforcement bureau.
Next: Poor old Elon Musk felt as if President Biden and the democrats were “mean” to him. Regulating things like his social media platform – OK, trying to regulate it. Apparently, the $15 BILLION or so in government contracts weren’t enough for him. I mean, this man has an insatiable urge for MONEY. That became painfully (from my viewpoint) apparent when he dropped a “cool” $275+ MILLION, along with who knows how much mis/disinformation on his Xwitter platform in order to get Trump elected. Since the election estimates are Musk’s fortune has expanded by well OVER $100 BILLION. I must admit, nice work if you can get it. But, at what cost for the rest of us?
Next: Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Washington Post and LA Times respectively. Clearly, they looked at their own self interests and decided to intervene in the editorial sections of the Newspapers they OWN. Both men blocked their editorial departments from endorsing Kamala Harris. Now, do I believe had they not done so she would have prevailed – absolutely not. Their influence was miniscule compared to Musk. But, sympolically, it was just another reminder that America’s “mainstream media” is a for profit enterprise and is controlled by charlatans who are more similar to Trump than many of us would like to think. Bezos was the FIRST to congratulare Trump on his “win” and, from what I’ve heard they’ve both “donated” “seven figures” for the inauguration – which, now, is apparently up to $200 MILLION (for one day).
This list wouldn’t be complete (I know, I said it would be incomplete) without Mark Zuckerberg. If you’ve read much about Facebook (and now Meta) you know, as I’ve come to the conclusion, that Zuckerberg is all about the money flowing in from his platforms. I say that as “plural” because if some entity threatens Zuckergerg’s “empire” he simply buys it up – making sure he can avoid the competition. And, sure enough, mean Joe Biden – well the FTC in his administration – had filed an anti-trust suit with the idea of breaking Meta up. Not surprisingly, Zuckerberg – supposedly a democrat – was on his knees at Mar a Lago shortly after the election and, you guessed it, a “cool” MILLION for the inauguration. (fact: There were other prominent – former – democratic donors in Silicon Valley who really – it seems – want those “Trump tax cuts” extended – or maybe they just go with the “winner”)
I have to add: If you’ve read about the former Cambridge Analytica – affiliated with Steve Bannon, Richard Spencer, and Jared Kushner – you know about how easy it was for them to pilfer the personal data of something like 57 MILLION Americans back in 2015-2016 out of Facebook’s “waiting arms.” They organized this data allowing for TARGETED mis/disinformation by the Trump campaign in 2016 (what I call the real “fake news”) along with the Russians – who they shared this data – and, according to Seth Abramson in “Proof of Conspiracy,” also shared with the Saudi’s, the Emerati’s, the Israeli’s, and the Egyptians (I might have forgot someone – I am 77 after all) who were all trying to accomplish the same thing with the same ill gotten data – getting Trump elected – and, of course, it worked. I don’t have any doubt it worked again in 2024 – although Musk and Zuckerberg opening up their platforms (willingly) to the “stuff” coming from these authoritarian, fascist countries who HATE America’s democratic republic was/is problematic. (To say the least)
Back to Capitulation: I’ll just add a couple names I’m not that familiar with, but it will make clear the “thing” that is happening – which is we are just a few days from being in a fascist reality. Sam Altman is the CEO of “Open AI” which, I believe is the company behind “ChatGPT” (disclosure, I know little to nothing of AI – quite honestly the possibilities scare me – other than what my son has shared – he took a university class in “AI”). I understood Altman to be a democratic donor but, apparently, he’s seen the light and, sure enough, another “cool” MILLION for Trump’s inauguration. What’s the saying, can’t beat em, join em. And, you can count on this: Trump and his minions will ABUSE AI.
I know what you’re thinking, and you’re absolutely correct. BILLIONAIRES buying politicians is BAD no matter which party or candidate they’re donating to. I do have to say the net worth of BILLIONAIRES like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Altman, Larry Ellison, and a BUNCH of others has skyrocketed since Biden took office. What’s not to like. But, I’ll say it once more – the fact America has turned into an OLIGARCHY is disastrous no matter who occupies the “Oval Office.” It should be clear how they responded to a President working from “the bottom up.” How do we get this money out of politics? I’m just a retired sixth grade teacher, I have no idea. What I do know – we MUST figure this out – if it’s not already too late.
I’ve been writing about this for MANY years, as I mentioned above – the foundation of a fascist society is a corporate/government partnership. It appears to me we’re there and the “swamp” Trump is always talking about will soon be the members of his cabinet and his closest advisors. (Remember, Trump works with LIES and PROJECTION – the tactics of the Third Reich) And the BILLIONAIRE class is demonstrating they’re good with “whatever” as long as they can continue getting even RICHER. Democrats have claimed they only take money from small donors, but there’s lots of evidence some of these BILLIONAIRES who are now lining up behind Trump have funneled a LOT of their largess in the direction of democratic politicians in the past. As many I know are saying, “the system is broken.”
Here’s the problem to me – the difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump couldn’t be more stark. And, as I’m beginning to understand some of the underhanded ways people are able to share information I’m realizing more and more how serious the problem is “we the people” are facing. One thing I know is it won’t get fixed by people who decide to become apathetic. I watch Los Angeles on fire and it make my stomach feel queezy thinking “we the people” just put a “climate denier” into the “White House.” If I wasn’t pretty much immobile I’d participate in the Women’s march on January 18th. Lot’s of people I know (old white people) are talking about what country they’re going to relocate to. The next couple of years will be very interestingg, and likely for me, very taxing. With the number of influencial people CAPITULATING to Trump, it seems to me, the challenge is much greater than most of us can even imagine. Remember, if you fall into apathy you’re capitulating. Stay tuned…..
Final Thought: Prior to the Washington Post (I canceled my subscription after Bezos overruled his Editorial board), the LA Times, and Facebook (they opened up the platform to whatever ugly stuff will get the most views and screen time – worse than before Trump was running again – disclaimer, I don’t do Facebook, Xwitter, or any of them) aligned themselves with Trump our “liberal media” was owned by something in excess of 90% by conservative, for profit, corporations. I’ve heard, for example, that Comcast is going to spin off MSNBC – who knows what that means? But, when one “faction” has control of the Courts, the Congress, The “White House,” and the “fourth Estate” the THREAT to our democratic republic is real. This is the exact scenario our founders were attempting to prevent with their brilliant plan of “checks and balances.” Over the past 40 years, the democrats have allowed republicans to slowly gain a stranglehold on ALL the levers of government. They don’t seem to understand what’s at stake. Reminds me of when Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government we had and his response was “A republic – if you can keep it.” To me, Donald Trump has already inflicted more damage on our republic than Hitler did back in the 1930’s and 40’s. We still have a republic – will we be willing to do enough to keep it?