"$277 million.

William Lindsey :toad:

"Elon Musk, the richest man on Earth, spent more than $250 million of his own money to help elect Donald Trump, who is a privileged son of a real estate tycoon who inherited and squandered hundreds of millions of dollars. Musk’s tech-bro buddy, David Sacks, another racist billionaire from South Africa, has been tapped by Trump to be the 'Czar of AI and Crypto.'”

~ Wajahat Ali

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites #broligarchy #DavidSacks #Ramaswamy
/2

The United States of Broligarchy: How Billionaires Took Over Our Government and Rigged the System

Trump's uber-wealthy administration reflects the culmination of a "master plan" by broligarchs, dark money, and corporate interests to control the government and tilt policies for the 1%.

(thelefthook.substack.com)

William Lindsey :toad:

"Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, another rich man who acquired millions through unethical business practices, are now leading DOGE, an agency tasked to make government more efficient and less bureaucratic.

Musk, Sacks, and Vivek join other billionaires and one-percenters chosen by Trump in top administration roles for a presidency that promised to take on the establishment, drain the swamp, and represent the 'economic anxiety' of the Rust Belt…."

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites
/3

William Lindsey :toad:

About the role Elon Musk has now played in the electoral process, buying himself a presidency, Jay Kuo says,

"We’d never seen anything like it before."

Yes, the rich have always bought power. But the staggering amounts of money Musk has expended to buy a presidency, and the blatancy of what's going on now are new.

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites
/4

The Musk Rat

A stark warning over Elon Musk’s huge campaign contributions and his finger on the social media scales for Trump

(statuskuo.substack.com)

William Lindsey :toad:

We're told we should hold our tongues and not say what's quite obviously true but unpalatable to our media moguls and many American voters:

The reason so many buy the pretense of Trump to be the champion of the downtrodden is that racism and misogyny are powerful drugs, and powerfully stupefying ones.

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites
/5

Jay Thoden van Velzen ☁️🛡️:lolsob:

@wdlindsy nobody understands in the Valley why this coked up, washed up bullsh-t artist got anywhere at all

Strypey

@wdlindsy
> The reason so many buy the pretense of Trump to be the champion of the downtrodden is that racism and misogyny are powerful drugs, and powerfully stupefying ones

That's your takeaway? Still?

So how do you explain the reason so many continued to buy the pretense of the Democrats to be the champion of the downtrodden? Even after Clinton brought in more regressive corporatist policy than Reagan, and the Dems have been eating out of the same 1%er hands as the GoP ever since?

@Npars01

William Lindsey :toad:

@strypey @Npars01

Be excellent to each other!

William Lindsey :toad:

@jaythvv I myself surely don't understand.

Strypey

@wdlindsy
> Be excellent to each other!

100%. So how do we get centre-right parties cosplaying as "left" to adopt this mantra, in place of 'be excellent to the donor class'? So we can drag them back at least as far as the centre-left.

MASTER PLAN, Ep 6: The Maverick Vs. The Corruption Machine

After John McCain got caught up in a corruption scheme, he went to war with his own party to try to make sure it never happened again.

The Lever (www.levernews.com)

@Npars01

William Lindsey :toad:

@strypey @Npars01 I have shared publicly here in recent days and yesterday that I just lost a family member and am grieving.

Do you think you're being excellent to me as you issue these confrontative postings to me, one following the other?

This does not feel to me, the recipient of your postings, as if it's behavior rooted in your desire to be excellent to me.

Strypey

@wdlindsy My apologies, I hadn't seen those posts and I'm sorry for your loss. Thanks for your impressively measured responses, given that context.

FWIW I'm making no effort to be confrontational, just honest. About a topic I consider existentially important. But I totally understand that robust political debate is not going to be what you're up for right now.

Nicole Parsons

@wdlindsy

Please spend this time of loss and grief with family and friends.

Know that your Mastodon posts are valued, but know that you and yours are the priority now.

Take care of yourself and accept my apologies for intruding on you at this time.

William Lindsey :toad:

@Npars01 Thank you. I'm very grateful to you. I'm definitely trying to give myself time to process this loss and my grief. I tend by nature to be a "doer" and find it a bit hard to slow down, but I know that's very important and am working at it.

William Lindsey :toad:

@strypey Thank you for understanding. I do not mean to be truculent, but am processing quite a bit right now.

Steve Woods

@wdlindsy All hail #Kakistocracy!

PS: Have you seen that the Felon of the Year is trying to obtain presidential immunity for acts when he was *not* president?

See https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/16/trump-hush-money-case-immunity-denied

William Lindsey :toad:

@wood5y All hail Kakistocracy, indeed. That's what it's all about, when all is said and done. Thank you for the link — yes, had read this … interesting … news.

Strypey

@wdlindsy
> I do not mean to be truculent, but am processing quite a bit right now

Firstly, my very best wishes to you and yours, as you work through this challenging transition.

Secondly, I'm not sure how to say truculent means, or exactly what it means, but what a fantastic word! Hats off to your word power : )

Looking it up right now ...

Strypey

Truculent, pronounced like truck-you-lint;

"from Latin truculentus (“fierce, savage”), from trux (“fierce, wild”)."

truculent - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Wiktionary (en.m.wiktionary.org)

That's definitely me : P

@wdlindsy

William Lindsey :toad:

@strypey