"Trump is fantasizing about a world without regulations or taxes . . . "
Trump may be fantasizing about it, but plutocrats such as Charles Koch, through the offices of their bagman Leonard Leo, are instituting it. By funneling money through Leo's innumerable shell corporations - to a myriad of antidemocratic causes, from the Federalist Society and Heritage Society to the Ginni Thomas and astroturf operatives on the ground. And increasingly the KochLeoMcConnell bought and bent Supreme Court. Turning the Constitution on its head to drain American law of justice. Hollowing out the foundational pillars of equality before the law, equal representation, and separation of church and state. Project 2025 (40% funded by KochLeo affiliated entities) will cement corporate clerical fascism under a demagogue.
Thank you. Your posts are an education in themselves. Thank you also for the links. Let’s keep working to keep the demagogue as far away from the White House as possible!
One way to help Democrats pound the tariff's true nature into average folks' minds is to call it the Hidden Sales Tax From Hell (hidden, because it's almost never a separate line-item on a retail sales receipt). Sure hope some Democratic pol's staff uses that or comes up with a better phrase!
Thank you for this information! What is doubly frightening about the ideological position of 'no taxes, no regulations' is that the world has changed so much, and become so much more complex, that regulations are needed more than ever to protect everyone, including the wealthy! R's seem to be fantasizing about America back when it was an agrarian nation of farmers, but it isn't 1790 anymore. They didn't have toxic chemicals back then, or nuclear reactors, or jet airliners, or processed foods. This is like gun laws that envision the US as still back in the age of muskets and flintlocks. I hope information about the dangers of tariffs and 'no regulations' is out there where the people can see it.... and with a month to go, we'd better hurry!
All well and good. Except I do not believe the general public will take the time to educate themselves on these historical issues. The message needs to be much simpler. Trump tax cuts went to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor and the middle-class. It also ballooned the deficit which shows the hypocrisy of the Republicans arguing that the deficit is too high. Of course the Republican’s solution is to cut back on social programs like Medicare and other welfare programs to lower the national debt at the expense of the middle and lower classes.
I totally agree that the message needs to be simple. Simple and direct, like: 'tax cuts will lead to cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security'. The issue of regulations is a bit tougher to simplify, but it needs to be put out there that without regulation, food and medicines may become less safe because they will not be tested or inspected. Ask if people would fly on a plane that had not been inspected or properly maintained. Maybe just a few examples would help people understand. Also, this: regulations = accountability. No regulations = no laws, no accountability, for business. A lot of people are already suspicious of 'Big Pharma' and have learned about the dangers of ultraprocessed food. So maybe a few examples like that would help get the message out.
I recommend Timothy Snyder’s latest Autocracy and Poverty: Trump and Vance bring them together.
“. .. television hosts ask how democracy is relevant to people who are voting on kitchen-table issues.
That’s easy.
When Trump destroys our democracy, he will also destroy our economy.
Autocracy will bring poverty. . .
Democracy is a method of checking corrupt rulers. When there is no functioning democracy, corruption is unchecked. . . When nothing works, when law does not matter, when elections are irrelevant, the only way Americans will be able to get anything done is by appealing to those who have power. We will have to give bribes to the corrupt and hope for favors from the top. Once we behave like this, we get used to the idea that only the leader can fix things, which is of course what Trump likes to say.”
The example of bribes is by no means Snyder’s most important point, but it got my attention. Paying bribes to get things done is something we have heard about in other countries, not something that is accepted as normal here.
The Ancient Chinese, and Roman Emperors feared Revolts of the Peasants, and Plebeians the most... Desperate People will do Desperate, and often Violent things.... A Healthy Democracy defuses that...
Concentration of power tends to corrupt incrementally. Democracy divides power (over others) along with the responsibilities for maintaining social justice into theoretically equal shares. A democratic republic makes it workable; but only so long a we keep it honest.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
Thank You... A true Democracy is dependent on Healthy Norms, and Participation.. A Healthy Society has a Healthy Circulation of Ideas within the Body Politic... In Western Societies, Ancient Athens is held as an Exemplar... However, Athens became corrupt, and became ruled by Demagogues who manipulated the voting populace for personal Power... In Indigenous Nations, Heyokas had the function to ridicule excesses, and used Ridicule as Weapons as does John Oliver now ...
Exactly -- and a tariff on everything (a hidden sales tax from hell) would grease the road to serfdom, complete with bribes and other barbarities, making make the USA a genuine, first-class s***hole country in short order.
Mark, yes, and I think the change will happen quickly. The people who would have voted in this insanity will whine and moan that they are "left behind, and they will be right, just as Trump's handlers want; they need slave labor and will find it easily because desperate people will take any work if they can keep from starving. They will of course, blame Kamala Harris for their plight or maybe also Biden because they will somehow have forced Trump to do whatever it is he actually does. The Trumpers and Trumpettes don't really follow what is going on in the world and have not noticed what is going on in Venezuela, Afghanistan, Hungary, and other nations that have allowed dictators to take over. It does not work, but ignorant voters who are trained to be angry, resentful, fearful, and hateful on command don't think further ahead than a day or two, or in this case, Election Day.
Don't Forget the Dark Siths like Elon Musk... In Butler Pennsylvania, 5-Oct-2014, Elon was Campaigning with DJT... I would Speculate that Politics is Elon's next Hustle... ADDENDUM: DJT in return for Elon's presence at the Butler Rally... On 'Truth Social DJT wrote: "When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidised projects, “whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘Drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it…” DJT treats other People as Expendable Commodities, and does not share the 'Spotlight' well...
How long until Trump proposes changing the name of Denali to "McKinley"... same way he opposed changing the racist names of military forts and taking down statues of Confederate Civil War "heroes"?
The reason that Denali was "officially" called McKinley for so long was Representatives and Senators from Ohio blocked every attempt to correct the name. It was the National Parks that restored the name first.
And my great-grandmother was 3 months pregnant. She named her third son William McKinley Flarsheim. I’ve learned more about President McKinley than most people because my name is William McKinley Flarsheim II.
The Gilded Age. A thin veneer of lipstick on a capitalist pig? Sounds about right.
"Trump is fantasizing about a world without regulations or taxes . . . "
Trump may be fantasizing about it, but plutocrats such as Charles Koch, through the offices of their bagman Leonard Leo, are instituting it. By funneling money through Leo's innumerable shell corporations - to a myriad of antidemocratic causes, from the Federalist Society and Heritage Society to the Ginni Thomas and astroturf operatives on the ground. And increasingly the KochLeoMcConnell bought and bent Supreme Court. Turning the Constitution on its head to drain American law of justice. Hollowing out the foundational pillars of equality before the law, equal representation, and separation of church and state. Project 2025 (40% funded by KochLeo affiliated entities) will cement corporate clerical fascism under a demagogue.
John Oliver on the courts
https://youtu.be/j3w8-d_fnqE?si=gLXavnH-irJxIxeo
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/supreme-court-leonard-leo-consumers-research-safety-1235115686/
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/supreme-court-big-oil-leonard-leo-climate-change-trial-1235031027/
Eli Merritt on demagogues
https://youtu.be/5Z7gXOu6DX4?si=zigHn4FYQAJ3dwKb
https://www.propublica.org/article/jd-vance-alex-jones-leonard-leo-teneo-maddow-video
Thank you. Your posts are an education in themselves. Thank you also for the links. Let’s keep working to keep the demagogue as far away from the White House as possible!
The Museum of Political Corruption celebrates presenting its Nellie Bly Award to ProPublica for its investigative reporting on the Supreme Court.
https://museumofpoliticalcorruption.org/
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nellie-bly-award-2024-honoring-propublica-tickets-1010146574597
What an ingenious website: the museum of political corruptioin. Thanks, lin*.
James, lots of exhibits in this museum. And yes, thanks lin* for all the sites.
One can also appreciate the snark in the (fictional) "DJT Library". "Exhibits" such as "The Wall of Criminality".
https://djtrumplibrary.com/
Lin, thanks for the information and the links.
One way to help Democrats pound the tariff's true nature into average folks' minds is to call it the Hidden Sales Tax From Hell (hidden, because it's almost never a separate line-item on a retail sales receipt). Sure hope some Democratic pol's staff uses that or comes up with a better phrase!
Indeed!!!!!!
Thank you for this information! What is doubly frightening about the ideological position of 'no taxes, no regulations' is that the world has changed so much, and become so much more complex, that regulations are needed more than ever to protect everyone, including the wealthy! R's seem to be fantasizing about America back when it was an agrarian nation of farmers, but it isn't 1790 anymore. They didn't have toxic chemicals back then, or nuclear reactors, or jet airliners, or processed foods. This is like gun laws that envision the US as still back in the age of muskets and flintlocks. I hope information about the dangers of tariffs and 'no regulations' is out there where the people can see it.... and with a month to go, we'd better hurry!
All well and good. Except I do not believe the general public will take the time to educate themselves on these historical issues. The message needs to be much simpler. Trump tax cuts went to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor and the middle-class. It also ballooned the deficit which shows the hypocrisy of the Republicans arguing that the deficit is too high. Of course the Republican’s solution is to cut back on social programs like Medicare and other welfare programs to lower the national debt at the expense of the middle and lower classes.
I totally agree that the message needs to be simple. Simple and direct, like: 'tax cuts will lead to cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security'. The issue of regulations is a bit tougher to simplify, but it needs to be put out there that without regulation, food and medicines may become less safe because they will not be tested or inspected. Ask if people would fly on a plane that had not been inspected or properly maintained. Maybe just a few examples would help people understand. Also, this: regulations = accountability. No regulations = no laws, no accountability, for business. A lot of people are already suspicious of 'Big Pharma' and have learned about the dangers of ultraprocessed food. So maybe a few examples like that would help get the message out.
Well said
You have identified the true "Deep State".
Helped to pull the cover off "Dark Money."
Wow, now THERE is an idea we need to put out there!!
Don't forget Thiel.
I recommend Timothy Snyder’s latest Autocracy and Poverty: Trump and Vance bring them together.
“. .. television hosts ask how democracy is relevant to people who are voting on kitchen-table issues.
That’s easy.
When Trump destroys our democracy, he will also destroy our economy.
Autocracy will bring poverty. . .
Democracy is a method of checking corrupt rulers. When there is no functioning democracy, corruption is unchecked. . . When nothing works, when law does not matter, when elections are irrelevant, the only way Americans will be able to get anything done is by appealing to those who have power. We will have to give bribes to the corrupt and hope for favors from the top. Once we behave like this, we get used to the idea that only the leader can fix things, which is of course what Trump likes to say.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/autocracy-and-poverty?r=m52qv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
The example of bribes is by no means Snyder’s most important point, but it got my attention. Paying bribes to get things done is something we have heard about in other countries, not something that is accepted as normal here.
The Ancient Chinese, and Roman Emperors feared Revolts of the Peasants, and Plebeians the most... Desperate People will do Desperate, and often Violent things.... A Healthy Democracy defuses that...
Concentration of power tends to corrupt incrementally. Democracy divides power (over others) along with the responsibilities for maintaining social justice into theoretically equal shares. A democratic republic makes it workable; but only so long a we keep it honest.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
Thank You... A true Democracy is dependent on Healthy Norms, and Participation.. A Healthy Society has a Healthy Circulation of Ideas within the Body Politic... In Western Societies, Ancient Athens is held as an Exemplar... However, Athens became corrupt, and became ruled by Demagogues who manipulated the voting populace for personal Power... In Indigenous Nations, Heyokas had the function to ridicule excesses, and used Ridicule as Weapons as does John Oliver now ...
Exactly -- and a tariff on everything (a hidden sales tax from hell) would grease the road to serfdom, complete with bribes and other barbarities, making make the USA a genuine, first-class s***hole country in short order.
Mark, yes, and I think the change will happen quickly. The people who would have voted in this insanity will whine and moan that they are "left behind, and they will be right, just as Trump's handlers want; they need slave labor and will find it easily because desperate people will take any work if they can keep from starving. They will of course, blame Kamala Harris for their plight or maybe also Biden because they will somehow have forced Trump to do whatever it is he actually does. The Trumpers and Trumpettes don't really follow what is going on in the world and have not noticed what is going on in Venezuela, Afghanistan, Hungary, and other nations that have allowed dictators to take over. It does not work, but ignorant voters who are trained to be angry, resentful, fearful, and hateful on command don't think further ahead than a day or two, or in this case, Election Day.
Recalled invited a bunch of big oil CEOs over and solicited $millions in bribes.
Don't Forget the Dark Siths like Elon Musk... In Butler Pennsylvania, 5-Oct-2014, Elon was Campaigning with DJT... I would Speculate that Politics is Elon's next Hustle... ADDENDUM: DJT in return for Elon's presence at the Butler Rally... On 'Truth Social DJT wrote: "When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidised projects, “whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘Drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it…” DJT treats other People as Expendable Commodities, and does not share the 'Spotlight' well...
lin, I so enjoyed the John Oliver video and I know that you were ecstatic when he brought up Leo’s name several times. I sure was!
Thank you for all this information.
I love your educational posts, Lin*!!!
As I recall from my readings, McKinley was assassinated.
And the name of the highest US mountain was changed from McKinley to Denali.
No, the name was changed from Denali to McKinley and finally restored to Denali. Many never called it by the name of some lower 48 politician.
I believe Denali is the original/native name. It was changed for a while and then changed back, mostly because of native activism.
How long until Trump proposes changing the name of Denali to "McKinley"... same way he opposed changing the racist names of military forts and taking down statues of Confederate Civil War "heroes"?
The reason that Denali was "officially" called McKinley for so long was Representatives and Senators from Ohio blocked every attempt to correct the name. It was the National Parks that restored the name first.
Right here in Buffalo.....!
Bill, he was indeed. My grandfather was close by.
Did your grandfather pull the trigger?
Why would you think this comment is funny?
Have you no sense of humor?
Please. Political violence in America, especially now, is no funny matter.
Classic reply from a gaslighter.
The comment
is Not funny.
And my great-grandmother was 3 months pregnant. She named her third son William McKinley Flarsheim. I’ve learned more about President McKinley than most people because my name is William McKinley Flarsheim II.
luckily for us
Mike, as always, the point is to enrich those at the top while making the middle class and the poor poorer.
It’s already Pitchfork Time.
¿My two word description of candidate Trump? 🤔
¡Awful, awful! 😡
¿My two word description of Senator shady Vance? 🤔
¡Awful offal! 🤢
Is it possible he could time travel there, and be someone's stable cleaner?