At least somebody is taking it to heart

 Things would be different if the Democratic Party elite hadn't pushed Bernie out and given us Joe Biden in 2020.

Opening the country's purse to oligarch(s)

After seizing the [capitol] in a fast-moving late January coup and with universal control of government ministries now seemingly assured by a quiescent parliament, South African oligarch Elon Musk spent his third week in power dismantling the legal constraints that would stop him — already the world’s wealthiest man — from turning the US government into his personal piggy bank.

[...]

Musk — already the world’s richest man — seems set to transform the nation checking account into his own business development fund. The country’s foreign ministry indicated that it planned to buy $400 million of unnecessary and ill-suited vehicles to help prop up Musk’s troubled car company, which has been struggling in recent years due to its shoddy quality. The bombastic Musk, who has god-like ambitions of colonizing space and also runs a large rocket company that does billions of dollars of work with the government, announced that in the coming days his junta DOGE forces would also take control of the nation’s civilian space agency.

[...]

In some of her first moves at the nation’s top law enforcement officer, attorney general Pam Bondi moved to effectively decriminalize large swaths of crimes most commonly carried out by the country’s financial and power elites. Amid spreading signs that the US government would be remade as a kleptocracy at home, she disbanded a special justice ministry task force aimed at investigating foreign kleptocrats, announced prosecutors would no longer seek to punish elites who accepted secret payments from foreign governments nor US companies that paid bribes to do business overseas.

Trump himself moved to fully pardon one former provincial governor who had been previously imprisoned for soliciting bribes in exchange for gubernatorial appointments — a move that clearly will serve as an endorsement of such behavior going forward — and dropped pending criminal charges against two of his own personal staff who had abetted his efforts to thwart federal prosecution after he’d been previously removed from office in 2021. He also removed longstanding supports for government officials that he chose to fire, legally or not.

Perhaps most worrisome, he extended a weeks-long purge of prosecutors and law enforcement who had investigated white nationalist terrorist groups and militias loyal to him personally, further seeming to clear the way for those groups to take up violence in his name.

More broadly, the regime shuttered, disbanded, or disabled one watchdog agency after another.

[...]In a nod to the nation’s powerful class of oligarchs, the regime also indicated that in the coming days it would fire and neuter thousands of tax investigators who had been added in recent years in an attempt to improve compliance by the country’s wealthy, who largely ignore the country’s social contract to pay their share of tax receipts.

Musk personally announced his intention to “delete” the nation’s consumer protection bureau, which has stood in recent years as a roadblock for his own ambitions to force the nation’s citizens to use his website as a national payment system.

[...]

Trump declared that he intended to personally intervene in criminal cases, and apparently wasted little time doing so: Much of the week’s headlines in the capital focused on the regime’s ill-fated attempts to coerce the opposition mayor of the country’s largest city into cooperating with the regime’s politically driven crackdown on illegal immigrants.

[...]

Most of the nation’s internal corruption watchdogs, known as inspectors general — who collectively had at least 32 active investigations underway into Musk’s sprawling business empire — were fired in the regime’s first days.

[...]

While nearly all of the regime’s moves in recent weeks have been subject to court challenges, there were spreading signs that the regime planned to ignore contravening orders from the judiciary — powering through what has long stood as the country’s ultimate check-and-balance on corrupt uses of executive power.

[...]

The bizarre executive power-sharing agreement — with Musk operating as an illegitimate head of government and the senile Trump content to serve out his ramblingly incoherent dotage as a ceremonial head of state — was highlighted it an eye-popping midweek press conference, where Musk, possibly high on narcotics and wearing a “Dark MAGA” hat that referenced the elected president’s neofacist supporters, held court at length in the oval-shaped presidential office while Trump sat near-silently at his desk.

[...]

Together, the moves hung a giant sign that the US, which until now had been known for operating one of the cleanest and least corrupt business environments in the world — a series of structures, enforcement mechanisms, regulatory schemes, and legal practices that had made it the global headquarters for the world’s largest and most successful businesses — was now open to bribery and graft.

[...]

Republicans, also cowed into silence and acquiescence by years of Trump bluster and MAGA threats, have made clear they will serve as a rubber-stamp. Opposition Democrats skirmished briefly on the floor of the Senate, but they quickly capitulated—deciding, for the third weekend since Musk took over, that it was important to not work through the weekend. In fact, senior Democratic officials quickly left town entirely — making the bizarre choice that it was more important to show up at the glitzy international confab known as the Munich Security Conference to reassure allies that they intended to defend democracy someday, than it was to actually do so at home.

  Dooomsday Scenario

Where we are

 

Why Greenland?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

A fool and his money are soon parted

President Trump’s pre-inauguration candlelight dinner for wealthy donors took a turn for the chaotic due to last-minute placecard swapping, according to a report.

Attendees told CBS News that the Washington, D.C. event—which was oversold even though a donation of at least $250,000 was required to get a pair of tickets—was also blighted by long lines outside that left the uber-rich invitees waiting in 30-degree temperatures for up to 90 minutes. “It was a clusterf---,” one guest said.

[...]

“It didn’t matter who you were,” grumbled one person who’d contributed millions to Trump’s super PACs and campaign, though some diners said certain high-profile guests were escorted to the front of the line.

Things didn’t get much better when attendees were able to get in out of the cold, sources told CBS, as some placecards had been moved around at the eleventh hour as guests sought to get as close to Trump and his top allies.

[...]

Some guests also said they left the event to get food elsewhere because the dinner’s main course hadn’t been served to all the tables until after 10:30 p.m. Others found the venue’s bar had closed by the time they got into the main hall.

  Daily Beast

I don't know why you would expect anything else from a Trump operation.

Almost 2,000 guests attended the dinner in honor of Trump, who sat at a table alongside Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were at a nearby table with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.

Oh, so sad. Zuck is apparently not quite forgiven for his past snubs.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Trump 2.0 - Oligarchs

Infighting and jostling for top position may wreck the Techbro oligarchy. (If we're lucky.)

Trump announced (and tried to take credit for) Open AI’s partnership with SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX to invest $500 billion in a massive AI infrastructure project called Stargate. One of their main competitors happens to be Elon Musk. He responded with several posts trashing the idea and Open AI’s Sam Altman. Musk: “They don’t actually have the money. SoftBank has well under $10 billion secured. I have that on good authority.”

Altman responded: “Wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already underway? This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll put the country first.”

So Musk ends up trashing Trump’s hype show by claiming the whole thing is a scam and they don’t really have the money to do what they are saying, proving that Musk will always side with his own companies over Trump. It will be interesting to see how this bromance between Musk and Trump plays out if that continues.

  Meidas Touch

Aside from ousting the co-chair of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, there are other indicators that this pseudo-agency is going to be chaotic.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) posted this on X about House DOGE committee Chair Marge Greene: “MTG specifically told (my friend) James Comer that she won’t allow any Republican women on her subcommittee.” I asked him if this was true or if he was just being snarky. He said it was 100% true. Doesn’t surprise me at all - Marge does not get along with other women at all. She doesn’t even look at her old friend Boebert anymore.

But Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) is on the committee and he says he’s ready for battle: “I’ve been tapped to represent House Oversight Dems on the new DOGE committee chaired by Marjorie Taylor Greene. Let’s be clear: this committee is designed to destroy federal agencies and the social safety net so that billionaires can enrich themselves. They ain’t ready for us.”

Good luck.

Bending the knee

I don't know if even Stalin or Hitler got supplication this fast.

Eyeroll

And lightning didn't strike?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Bill Gates wants a seat at the oligarchs' table

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The oligarchs on display

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Oligarchy and tariffs

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Gee, what a surprise

Vivek Ramaswamy said that it is likely that the DOGE committee run by himself and Elon Musk will recommend that the $6.6 billion loan to Tesla competitor Rivian be revoked. The loan is being made so Rivian can build a new plant in GA. Not too much of a conflict of interest here. Maybe GA Gov Brian Kemp will have something to say about this.

  Meidas Touch

And what difference would that make?

Sarah Kendzior has been trying to tell us for years that this was coming.

Sarah Kendzior:  Intermission

American oligarchy

Not with MAGA, it won't.  Trump wants to see himself as one of the chosen few elite capitalists.  He thinks he's like these super rich people (only better - obviously more powerful).  And his MAGA cult thinks he's their messiah.  They will not leave him.  They love it when he tells them, "We're the elites."  Of course he doesn't specify who "we" is.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.