Kansas Crimson

This week we got word that two of the world’s most consequential billionaires have decided to pay tribute—literally—to Donald Trump. Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are each gifting $1 million to Trump’s “inauguration committee.”

A president’s “inauguration committee” or “inauguration fund” is a slush fund, pure and simple. In theory, it is used to cover expenses relating to the inaugural celebrations. In practice, it’s dark money. The inaugural fund is required to disclose who gives money to it, but is not required to disclose what the money is spent on. And in cases where there is a surplus—where it raises more money than it spends on the inauguration festivities—it is not required to refund or dispose of the money in any particular way.

In other words: It’s pure tribute. The inauguration fund is a way for rich people to funnel money to the incoming president that he can then use however he sees fit, completely unfettered and under cover of darkness. The inauguration fund is no different than feudal lords approaching the new king with gifts of rubies, or mobsters showering a new mayor with envelopes of cash.

It has always been thus. Trump didn’t invent the corruption of the inauguration fund. But he is an innovator and his genius was to turn the inauguration scheme from ritualized tribute from supporters into a protection racket aimed at opponents, too.

Bezos and Zuckerberg have had troubled histories with Trump.

During his first term Trump explicitly targeted Bezos’s main businesses (both Amazon and Blue Origin) because he did not like the coverage he received from Bezos’s media holding (the Washington Post).¹

Trump’s beef with Zuckerberg was mostly in relation to his unhappiness with being deplatformed from Facebook for spreading election-related lies and calls for violence. In response, Trump has threatened to send Zuckerberg to prison. For life.

“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison—as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump wrote in his book Save America, which was published in August.

Zuckerberg and Bezos responded to Trump’s threats to themselves and their businesses by literally journeying to Mar-a-Lago and figuratively handing Trump envelopes of cash while publicly praising the incoming president.

There is no way to view this except as a protection racket. They are paying Trump and praising Trump in the hopes that Trump will make sure nothing unfortunate happens to their nice little businesses.

You may be thinking to yourself, “But this is so brazen! Everyone can see exactly what’s happening!”

That is the point. Trump has reached the position—elected by a plurality of his fellow citizens, immunized from all criminal activity by the Supreme Court—where he wants the protection racket to be out in the open. He wants everyone to see it.

Because these are the new rules and he wants to be sure that everyone whose life could be touched by his government—meaning: everyone—understands this reality.

And that, so long as they pay, they’ll be fine.

twocoach wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 8:29 am We will be more under the thumb of billionaires with Trump than ever.

Good job, MAGA. You managed to do the complete opposite of what you claimed you were all about.

Overlander wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 9:55 am

twocoach wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 8:29 am We will be more under the thumb of billionaires with Trump than ever.

Good job, MAGA. You managed to do the complete opposite of what you claimed you were all about.

Is the swamp drained yet?

twocoach wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 10:16 am

Overlander wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 9:55 am

twocoach wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 8:29 am We will be more under the thumb of billionaires with Trump than ever.

Good job, MAGA. You managed to do the complete opposite of what you claimed you were all about.

Is the swamp drained yet?

Yes, what the billionaires consider "The Swamp" (GOP politicians with a spine, regulations that keep billionaires from ripping off Americans even more than they do, audits to make sure billionaires aren't ripping off the government even more than they do) has been drained.

They replaced alligators with orcas and Great White sharks, two of the most efficient killing machines alive. So much winning.

Head of [Russian state media arm] RT Margarita Simonyan, a decorated state TV propagandist and Kremlin insider, has spilled not only Russia’s hopes and dreams for Donald Trump’s second term in office but also Moscow’s strategy for suckering him in.

She believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has an irresistible sway over Trump and will extract the desired outcome—but only if they meet face-to-face, without any influence or interference from other American power brokers, à la Helsinki, where the two men held discussions in secret.

The head of RT is convinced that a personal meeting between Trump and Putin will totally reverse the course taken by the Biden administration, including the sanctions that banned her propaganda network from American airwaves. Speaking on the program The Right To Know, Simonyan predicted that the incoming Trump administration would attempt to establish good relations with Russia and lift multiple sanctions. According to her, RT has good reason to believe that under Trump, it will return to the U.S. cable networks.

Simonyan explained that the ban cost many Americans their jobs and that alone should prompt Trump to reverse course. She noted, “These are American citizens and not the immigrants that irritate Trump. These are real Americans with real values that Trump and Elon Musk are defending.” The RT boss expressed her belief that this simplistic “explanation” should suffice for the incoming administration to lift the sanctions against Russia’s premier state TV outlet. Simonyan said, “I think there is no way Trump doesn’t understand this—and if he doesn’t, it’s just because the word didn’t get to him yet, in which case we’ll make sure that it does.”

At the same time, Simonyan admitted that she dreams of Russia becoming more like China in terms of totalitarian government censorship that will allow Moscow to control its domestic info-space while banning Google, YouTube, and other foreign platforms from Russia.

Simonyan scoffed at Trump’s promise to achieve peace in Ukraine in 24 hours and shrugged off his interest in a peace deal as part and parcel of American politics. She aligned the intellectual level of American politicians to Soviet kindergarteners and ascribed their disagreements to childish spite. Simonyan mused, “If Biden is for war, then Trump is for peace. Otherwise, how will he set himself apart?”

Simonyan and other prominent state TV propagandists are not impressed by the proposals allegedly put forth by Trump’s team. The idea of European peacekeepers that would monitor a potential ceasefire has ruffled feathers in Moscow, prompting state TV host Vladimir Solovyov to threaten them in advance: “We will kill all of you.”

According to state TV experts, Russia remains disinterested in any peace deal that would not involve Ukraine’s unconditional capitulation.

Peacemaking proposals aside, Trump’s cabinet picks continue to thrill Putin’s mouthpieces. Simonyan noted, “I would endorse most of what [Vivek] Ramaswamy says.” She readily admitted, “These people who are being announced as potential members of his team certainly bring us lots of joy. Most of these people are constant guests of RT’s broadcasts. Until RT was shut down, they were our constant guests. For example, Tulsi Gabbard, who keeps being hounded about this right now, “Ah, you love RT, you constantly shared their clips, you constantly went there.” Well, she did come to us all the time, it’s true. It’s not something you can conceal—and she is not the only one.”

Many prominent propagandists and experts eagerly anticipate Trump’s impending arrival. Experts on Vladimir Solovyov’s show, The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, urged the Kremlin not to withdraw Russian troops from Syria. Even that situation is expected to shift in Russia’s favor under Trump. Russian experts predicted that under the new US administration, “life will become easier, significantly easier.”

In general, the head of RT reported that Trump’s potential appointees fill her with optimism. Simonyan boasts about her ability to predict the future using logic. She recounted predicting a big war between Russia and Ukraine in December 2021 and later collecting multiple bottles of champagne from everyone who bet against her premonition—which might have been boosted by her close ties to the Kremlin. Journalist Maxim Yusin noted, “It’s either due to your logic or reliable sources of information—perhaps both.”

Leaning into her self-proclaimed reputation of a soothsayer, Simonyan promised, “Either way, we will win. You’ll see.”