“Today an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Giving those seats to billionaires signals loudly that this is a new era of oligarchy, without even an attempt to feign allegiance to pre-Trump notions of government for and by the people."

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg
/4

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Four of the world’s richest men will sit on the dais next to Trump's motley cabinet nominees. See Reuters, Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg to attend Trump's inauguration. ('The chief executives of Tesla, Amazon and Meta will be featured prominently at Trump's swearing-in, sitting with the Republican's Cabinet nominees and other elected officials.')"

~ Robert B. Hubbell

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg
/5

Joe Biden’s Parting Gift

Janauary 16, 2025

(roberthubbell.substack.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"The four oligarchs will be paraded like prized ponies before the American people: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman. Together, those odd, insecure, and hollow men control Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon/Prime, and ChatGPT.

But those oligarchs are not mere fascinators on the cap of the Inauguration: They own Trump."

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg
/6

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

Robert Reich reminds us that Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg are the three richest people in America; he reminds us of who they are and what they've done; and he concludes,

"The three richest Americans want to decide what the rest of us will know about the coming Trump regime."

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg
/7

How we get rid of the American oligarchy

Friends,

(robertreich.substack.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"I knew that one day we might have to watch as capitalism and greed and bigotry led to a world where powerful men, deserving or not, would burn it all down. What I didn’t expect, and don’t think I could have foreseen, is how incredibly cringe it would all be. I have been prepared for evil, for greed, for cruelty, for injustice – but I did not anticipate that the people in power would also be such huge losers."

~ Rebecca Shaw

#Trump #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg
/8

I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers | Rebecca Shaw

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s desperation to be cool as they suck up to Donald Trump is so cringe it makes my skin crawl

the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

[idalovesearth@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg #Biden
But that's why it's really so important that we have now #mastodon, the #fediverse and #bluesky . It's up to us to gather now before it is too late!

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@IdalovesEarth Yes, I agree.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"There was nothing quaint or old-timey—Bidenesque—about this. It was as direct an indictment of the corruption of money-power as we’ve heard from a serving president in our times. From FDR or Truman? Sure, but that was long ago."

~ James Fallows

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg #Biden
/9

The Speech Joe Biden Is Likely to be Remembered For.

For eight minutes last night, Joe Biden sounded nothing like the president we've come to know. He sounded like another president who also boldly stepped out of character when delivering his farewell.

(fallows.substack.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Last night, after President Biden’s warning, Google searches for the meaning of the word 'oligarchy' spiked.

~ Heather Cox Riichardson

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg #Biden
/10

January 16, 2025

In his final address to the nation last night, President Joe Biden issued a warning that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”

(heathercoxrichardson.substack.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Rarely has the marriage of politics and riches been as naked or unashamed as with Mr Trump. The man who rages against elites has assembled a cabinet with 13 billionaires. Elon Musk, the first person whose net worth has passed $400bn, says that citizens will face 'temporary hardship' as his department of government efficiency slashes public spending.

~ Guardian

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg #Biden
/11

The Guardian view on Biden’s warning of oligarchy: Trump and the malefactors of wealth | Editorial

Editorial: The outgoing president was right, in his farewell address, to warn of the dangers posed by the billionaires around the table

the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

“'I feel liberated,' said a top banker. 'We can say "retard" and "pussy" without the fear of getting cancelled . . . it’s a new dawn.'”

~ Financial Times

The oligarchs and aspiring dictators now ruling us are malformed, half-formed little men when all is said and done, little men of all ages stuck in perpetual adolescence — never having invited themselves to grow up.

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg #Biden
/12

Is corporate America going Maga?

Donald Trump’s election has accelerated a cultural shift in the nation’s boardrooms

(www.ft.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"The elite of Silicon Valley are set to revel in their new clout during a long weekend of inaugural parties."

~ Theodore Schleifer and Kenneth P. Vogel

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg #Biden
/13

nytimes.com

(www.nytimes.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Next week, we will be moving from a president who grew up in a working-class family and has looked out for the middle class during his presidency to one who only wants millionaires and billionaires to be in charge of the departments and agencies of our government."

~ Pamela Hilliard Owen

#Trump #Republicans #oligarchy #EconomicElites #SuperRich #Musk #Bezos #Zuckerberg #Biden
/14

The Presidential Oath of Office

Trump will not honor the oath in any way.

(wearespeaking.substack.com)

[samhkennedy@aus.social]

@wdlindsy His father was an ‘oil businessman’. In those days like today they aren’t middle class.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@samhkennedy "Biden's father had been wealthy, and the family purchased a home in the affluent Long Island suburb of Garden City in the fall of 1946, but he suffered business setbacks around the time Biden was seven years old, and for several years the family lived with Biden's maternal grandparents in Scranton. Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Biden's father could not find steady work.

/1

Joe Biden - Wikipedia

(en.wikipedia.org)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@samhkennedy "Beginning in 1953 when Biden was ten, the family lived in an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, before moving to a house in nearby Mayfield, Delaware. Biden Sr. later became a successful used-car salesman, maintaining the family in a middle-class lifestyle."

Oil businessman? "The father of presidential candidate Joe Biden worked as a clerk-typist for the American Oil Company Bulk Plant along Hill Street in Spring Garden Township."

/2

Investigating history: That time Joe Biden's dad lived and worked in York

The father of presidential candidate Joe Biden worked as a clerk-typist for the American Oil Company Bulk Plant in Spring Garden Township.

York Daily Record (www.ydr.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@samhkennedy You really have to twist and deny the undisputed facts to claim that Biden did NOT, as Pamela Hilliard Owen says, grow up in a working-class family.

Meanwhile, there's Trump, who, as she also says only wants millionaires and billionaires to be in charge of our government.

Unless you agree with that objective, why would you want to attack Biden and not focus on Trump?

/3