stacey abrams forms a support group for america’s competitive authoritarianism problem
Stacey Abrams, apparently the only one reading the democracy index while the Trump administration speedruns the authoritarianism leaderboard.
Stacey Abrams looked at Trump’s second-term "competitive authoritarian" playground and said: fine, if we’re going to be Hungary now, we’re at least getting a coalition out of it. After watching the US get downgraded on the democracy index while the administration experiments with fun new hobbies like starving kids, the elderly, and disabled people during shutdowns to avoid giving them healthcare, Abrams is turning her 10 Steps project into a full-blown anti-authoritarian coalition. Because nothing says "normal country" like needing a national resistance infrastructure just to get back to basic rule of law.
She’s roped in Democracy Forward, Indivisible, MoveOn, Run for Something, UnidosUS Action Fund, Gen-Z for Change, and a bunch of lower-profile civic groups—basically everyone who’s noticed that the regime has checked off at least nine of the 10 classic authoritarian moves: attacking the media, normalizing violence, gutting the government… you know, the usual MAGA to-do list. Abrams’ pitch is that before anyone gets to the cinematic general strike montage, they need boring stuff like organization, coordination, and local infrastructure—because Trump and friends are quietly dismantling democracy through "component pieces" while cable news chases the next shiny outrage.
So while the White House speedruns the “killing democracy” checklist and calls it a win, Abrams is out here building a national “no, actually” network to organize, mobilize, and reclaim something resembling a functioning republic. In other words: the administration is doing fascism with a side of bureaucratic cruelty, and Abrams is trying to make sure the only thing that gets fully normalized isn’t authoritarian rule, but resistance to it.
#killing-democracy#fascism
qatar buys trump a jet, trump buys himself a venezuelan president
Trump’s Venezuela policy, illustrated: a $400m foreign jet, a few backchannel chats, and some attack helicopters for when diplomacy gets boring.
The Guardian reports that before US attack helicopters literally flew into Caracas to grab Nicolás Maduro like he was an overdue library book, Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge were quietly telling Trump world: don’t worry, we’ll totally cooperate after he’s gone. In other words, not a coup, just a prearranged regime-change handover with better PR. Marco Rubio, now playing Secretary of State and national security adviser in the world’s worst one-man show, apparently decided this was the best way to avoid “chaos” — because nothing says stability like a US snatch operation in a foreign capital.
While Delcy was publicly denouncing transition plots, privately she was signaling “Maduro needs to go” and promising to work with US oil interests, which, shockingly, made her much more interesting to Washington. Meanwhile, Qatar — described as a key ally and, more importantly, the proud donor of a $400m luxury jet for Trump’s personal use in an “unprecedented” foreign gift — helpfully opened doors in the White House for her backchannel negotiations. But sure, tell us again how this was all about democracy and preventing a failed state, and not about foreign governments buying access, oil ties, and a president who can be swayed with a flying golden bribe.
Ric Grenell pops up early to cut prisoner deals, deportation flights are carefully coordinated with the same regime we’re about to hit with helicopters, and everyone swears this definitely wasn’t a coup, just a collaborative, multinational kidnap-and-transition experience. Delcy, who apparently loves champagne and private ping-pong coaching, is recast from loyal Maduro apparatchik to acceptable transitional partner the second she promises to play nice with American oil. Because in Trump’s foreign policy, there are no permanent allies or enemies, only permanent business opportunities.
#imperialism#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
turns out ‘american carnage’ meant ‘full nazi cosplay’
The Trump administration, workshopping its new branding strategy: half federal agency, half 1930s propaganda poster, zero shame.
The Trump administration has managed to answer the age‑old question "Could it happen here?" with a resounding "we’re workshopping the merch right now." The Department of Homeland Security kicked things off by recycling a neo‑Nazi cult classic, "Which Way, Western Man?", into its very own ICE recruitment meme: "Which way, American man?" Because nothing says "serious law enforcement agency" like borrowing branding from a Hitler‑loving ideologue and slapping it on a federal poster. The White House then joined the fun, posting a "Which way, Greenland man?" cartoon like it’s running a crossover event between NATO and Stormfront.
On social media, Trump’s agencies are basically doing a live‑action reenactment of a SPLC hatewatch report. The Department of Labor is out here tweeting "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage" – a not‑at‑all subtle remix of "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" – then following up with "America is for Americans," which just happens to rhyme historically with "Germany for Germans." DHS secretary Kristi Noem literally stood behind a podium that read "One of ours, all of yours," a phrase Holocaust historians note sounds suspiciously like collective punishment – but sure, tell us again how they’re just "tough on crime."
Inside the government, it’s somehow worse. An ICE prosecutor, James Rodden, was caught running a social media account praising Hitler and declaring "America is a white nation" – and after a brief timeout, he’s back at work handling immigration cases, because why wouldn’t you give a Nazi sympathizer power over who gets deported. Paul Ingrassia, now acting general counsel at GSA, once texted that he has "a Nazi streak" and showed up at a Nick Fuentes rally, but his lawyer insists it was all just self‑deprecating humor. In other words: when they say the quiet part out loud, it’s a joke; when they enact it as policy, it’s "America First."
Meanwhile, Trumpworld’s favorite apparatchik Stephen Miller delivered a speech so Goebbels‑coded that Snopes – a site normally busy debunking chain emails from your uncle – had to gently note the similarities to Nazi propaganda. Ed Martin at DOJ has been palling around with a 6 January rioter and open antisemite, calling him an "amazing guy" and "extraordinary leader." Eighty years after Hitler’s death, the United States government is running Nazi memes on official accounts, employing Hitler fans as prosecutors, and promoting people who openly brag about their "Nazi streak" – but we’re all supposed to nod politely and pretend this is just another "policy disagreement" and not a regime test‑driving fascism in broad daylight.
#nazi#fascism#killing-democracy
bitcoin jesus and the church of trumpian indulgences
A Trump-era Justice Department official, seen here explaining that tax evasion is only a crime if you can’t afford Chris Kise.
In Trump’s America, the only unforgivable crime is being poor. Roger Ver, the crypto billionaire formerly known as an American citizen, spent eight years dodging a criminal tax case the old-fashioned way: with lawyers, stalling, and living in Mallorca. When that didn’t work, he tried something radical — he went on X, slapped on a crooked flag pin, and begged Donald Trump for help like a man auditioning for a Fox News telethon.
Prosecutors had built Ver up as the marquee case for crypto tax evasion: extradition request, fugitive status, millions allegedly dodged, the whole thing. Then Trump’s second-term Justice Department arrived, and suddenly the law became more of a vibes-based suggestion. Ver hired one of the so‑called "Friends of Trump" — including former Trump attorney Chris Kise — and magically the case was yanked away from career prosecutors and dropped into the warm, sticky hands of Trump’s political appointees.
From there, it was full oligarchy speedrun. A newly installed DOJ leader who used to represent Trump’s family literally asked whether tax evasion should even be a crime — because nothing says "law and order" like questioning whether laws should exist. Ver’s team then helped write their own deal: no guilty plea, no prison, and a $49.9 million payout that basically equaled the taxes he allegedly dodged. Not a penalty, just a slightly delayed payment plan. They even dictated that the agreement couldn’t include the word "fraud," because language matters when you’re laundering reputations.
Meanwhile, Trump’s DOJ quietly blew up the criminal tax division, scattering its work across other offices like confetti at a white-collar crime parade. Tax prosecutions plunged by more than a quarter, veteran prosecutors fled, and rich people everywhere learned an important civics lesson: if you’re indicted, don’t worry — just renounce your citizenship, move to Spain, hire a "Friend of Trump," and you too can experience the miracle of American justice. But sure, tell us again how the real problem is people stealing diapers from Target.
#corruption#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
jared and the real estate guy redraw ukraine
Trump, Zelensky, and the Davos peace process: one man fighting for his country’s survival, one man fighting for his brand, and an envoy wondering where they’re putting the golf course in Donbas.
The Trump administration has discovered that ending a full-scale European war is just like closing on a casino in Atlantic City: you send a property developer and your son-in-law to Davos and Moscow, declare it's all down to "one issue," and hope nobody notices that the "issue" is carving up another country's territory. Enter Steve Witkoff, Trump donor and real-estate pal turned Ukraine envoy, confidently announcing that peace in Europe now hinges on a single, unnamed sticking point — which, purely by coincidence, appears to be the future status of Ukraine's industrial heartland in Donbas. Because nothing says rules-based international order like letting the guy who usually negotiates mall leases decide how much of your country you get to keep.
While Volodymyr Zelensky rides an overnight train out of a half-frozen Kyiv — where Russian strikes have knocked out heat, water, and power in the dead of winter — Trump is in Davos pitching a 20-point peace plan that is "90% ready," just like every infrastructure week. The "deal" on the table involves demilitarising part of Donbas into a "free economic zone" if Russia plays nice, plus a big question mark over who controls Europe's largest nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia. Meanwhile, Trump publicly muses that Putin is "ready to make a deal" but Zelensky is "less ready," which is a polite way of saying the guy whose cities are being bombed is not thrilled with the US president and his in-laws workshopping Ukraine's surrender terms with the Kremlin.
Back in Moscow, Dmitry Peskov says talks will continue on the "Ukrainian issue and other related topics," which is diplomatic code for "we like where this is going." Putin hasn't yet decided whether to grace Trump's absurd "Board of Peace on Gaza" with his presence, but the mere fact that this is a sentence anyone has to write tells you everything about the clown car running US foreign policy. Zelensky is still hoping to sign security and economic guarantees with Trump in Davos, but admits there's "one mile left" to go — presumably the same mile between "sovereign ally" and "chip in a Trump-branded global deal so Jared can claim he solved war." In other words, Ukraine bleeds, Europe panics, and America’s diplomacy is being run like a family side hustle.
#oligarchy#killing-democracy
leopards-at-ice finally nibble on the swing voters
ICE agents politely knocking on democracy’s door to see if it has any last words.
Turns out when you hand Donald Trump the keys to the deportation machine and tell ICE the only speed is "ramming through civil rights," sometimes an officer shoots and kills a woman in Minneapolis—and even a few of the "Biden 2020, Trump 2024" focus group all-stars start to wonder if this might be, technically speaking, bad.
NPR sat in on an online focus group of 14 Pennsylvanians who swung from Biden to Trump and discovered a nation divided: eight think ICE is "getting things about right" after an officer killed Renee Macklin Good during a January raid, while six think the agency has "gone too far." No one, tragically for Stephen Miller’s vision board, said ICE "hasn’t gone far enough." Several voters who watched the video noted the agent was no longer in danger when he opened fire—because nothing says "law and order" like shooting a fleeing driver after you’ve already stepped out of the way.
The blame game is a masterpiece of American cognitive dissonance. Some blame Good, some blame the agent, some split the difference like they’re grading a group project in authoritarianism. One voter helpfully suggests officers should be trained not to "shoot to kill," which is a fun thing to be realizing after years of cheering on "tough" immigration crackdowns. And when it comes to who might be responsible for creating the climate that led to this? Only two voters think Trump bears any responsibility, despite him spending years turning ICE into his personal interior deportation squad and promising mass raids as a campaign centerpiece.
In other words: ICE kills a woman, swing voters are "frustrated with how things are being executed," and somehow the guy who militarized immigration enforcement, ran on mass deportations, and treats due process like a suggestion box in a dictatorship escapes almost all blame. But sure, the real problem is just a few bad apples, not the president who planted the orchard and salted the ground with cruelty.
#anti-immigration#leopards-ate-my-face#killing-democracy
house gop hauls jack smith in for the crime of investigating crimes
Jack Smith arriving on Capitol Hill, bravely choosing to walk into a room full of House Republicans who think the real crime was prosecuting crimes.
Jack Smith, former special counsel and current designated public enemy of Mar-a-Lago, is heading to Capitol Hill to explain to House Republicans why he committed the unforgivable Washington sin of trying to hold a president accountable for crimes. Smith oversaw two federal indictments of Trump — neither of which ever reached a jury because Trump did the most on-brand thing possible and just won back the presidency before the trials could happen. Because nothing says "totally innocent" like needing presidential power as your main legal defense strategy.
In a previously released deposition, Smith committed further heresy by stating the obvious: that Trump was "by a large measure the most culpable" in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and that the January 6 attack wouldn’t have happened without him. Smith’s prepared remarks spell out the radical position that "no one should be above the law" — a cute little civics notion that went out the window around the time 140 cops were getting beaten at the Capitol while Republicans were workshopping the phrase "tourist visit." Meanwhile, Trump is bragging at press conferences about having fired most of the DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the case, listing the purge as an accomplishment, because nothing screams "rule of law" like turning the Justice Department into a loyalty program.
Trump, ever subtle, is calling Smith "deranged Jack Sick Smith" and a "sick son of a bitch," while openly fantasizing about criminally investigating him or kicking him out of the country — in other words, the standard authoritarian starter pack. Smith will also have to tiptoe around the classified-documents investigation, where the FBI found sensitive materials in the ballroom, the bathroom, and the office at Trump’s Florida resort, a.k.a. America’s least secure self-storage facility. The second volume of Smith’s report on that little mishandling-of-secrets adventure is being blocked from release by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who has apparently decided that the best way to restore faith in the judiciary is to act like Trump’s in-house compliance department.
#killing-democracy#retribution#lawlessness
trump discovers price controls, wall street discovers panic attacks
Jamie Dimon patiently explaining to Davos billionaires that, no, the president cannot just tweet a usury law into existence… probably.
Donald Trump has decided he can regulate the entire consumer credit market by simply posting about it on Truth Social, because of course he has. The president announced that, effective 20 January, he is "calling for" a one‑year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%, without bothering with minor details like legislation, regulatory authority, or how any of this would be, you know, legal. Markets promptly freaked out, because nothing says "stable business climate" like the guy with the nuclear codes also doing improv monetary policy in his social media replies.
Wall Street’s favorite almost-Democrat, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, popped up at Davos to warn that the plan would be an "economic disaster" that would cut off credit for 80% of Americans, but reassured everyone that JPMorgan would "survive" just fine. In other words: the banks will be okay, your water bill might not. Banking trade groups are screaming that a cap would drive people into "less regulated, more costly alternatives"—which is a very polite way of saying "loan sharks, but with apps." Meanwhile Trump cheerfully admits he’s getting calls from credit card execs who are "friends" that he "treats good," while insisting they now have to "give people a break." So yes, the president is openly bragging that his buddies who’ve been quietly gouging Americans are upset he might slightly limit the gouging for a year.
The end result: investors in Visa, Mastercard, AmEx and even Barclays take a hit, consumers get whiplash, and Trump gets to cosplay as Bernie Sanders for 24 hours without doing any of the boring work of actually passing a law. The banks warn of devastation, Trump warns of rip‑offs, and no one mentions that the real governing here is being done by whatever half‑baked idea happens to cross his feed that morning. But sure, tell us more about how the adults are back in charge.
#full-stupid#money
voters want less chaos, still voting for more chaos
A snowy Main Street in Trump country, where nothing is getting better but at least the authoritarian is "our" authoritarian.
NPR took a winter road trip through Trump country to discover that, shockingly, people who voted for Trump still like Trump. Along the way, they found voters who say prices are killing them, "yay" hasn’t happened yet, and nothing has actually improved in their lives — but the Democratic Party is "broken" and "dead," so obviously the only solution is four more years of the guy who’s already in charge.
In Maryland, Ann Marie Hamilton loves Trump but notes that groceries and electric bills still sting like crazy. In Pennsylvania, waitress Tina Howell says things are actually getting tighter for people, and Trump is too focused overseas — but still insists he’s great and Democrats are not an option. In other words: the house is on fire, but the fire alarm is "too woke."
By the time NPR gets to Whitehall, New York, former Marine Frank Juckett gives Trump a solid B+ while casually comparing his style to Vladimir Putin and praising the idea that if you’re "really good and crooked, things get done." Because nothing says "healthy democracy" like openly admiring a strongman as long as he steps on the right people. Everyone interviewed admits they want less chaos, less drama, and better economics — and then promises to keep backing the chaos engine that’s using federal power to crack down on immigrants and "shake the foundations of American democracy." But sure, it’s all about grocery prices.
The big takeaway: even when Trump’s own voters say it isn’t working, they’re still on board with the power grabs and bullying. The policy results may be a mess, but the authoritarian vibes are immaculate.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump tries imperialism speedrun, yells at allies when they read the patch notes
Donald Trump studies a Risk board, mistakes it for the State Department briefing, and demands tariffs until someone hands him Greenland.
Donald Trump is now speed‑running the collapse of the postwar order by threatening to annex Canada, menacing Denmark over Greenland, and slapping punitive tariffs on allies for the crime of respecting each other’s sovereignty. Because nothing says "leader of the free world" like shouting "gimme your island" at NATO members and then throwing a tariff tantrum when they decline.
Mark Carney, now Canadian prime minister thanks in part to Trump’s helpful "maybe we’ll just annex you" campaign ad, is in Davos calmly explaining that the US is vandalizing the rules‑based order and that "middle powers" need to build new coalitions from the rubble Trump leaves behind. In other words: while Washington is busy live‑streaming its own credibility bonfire, everyone else has to figure out how not to get burned.
Over in London, Keir Starmer is trying the "quiet diplomacy" thing — praising "calm discussion" after Trump threatens tariffs for backing Danish sovereignty over Greenland, then getting called "stupid" for returning the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in line with, you know, international law and prior US approval. Starmer mildly pushes back; Trump responds with more public bullying, because the whole point is to show that treaties, allies, and prior commitments mean nothing next to the vibes of the moment.
The Guardian’s gentle conclusion: this mid‑Atlantic tightrope act is dead. You can’t simultaneously hug the guy who’s wrecking NATO, menacing allies with trade guns, and treating other countries like collectible map DLC, and still pretend we’re in the old rules‑based world. Someone has to "name reality" — that the US president is running an openly transactional, low‑rent imperialism cosplay — or Britain and the rest of the "middle powers" will keep discovering the hard way that quiet diplomacy doesn’t work on a man who only hears tariffs and flattery.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
trump flies to davos to campaign against… minnesota
Trump in Davos, bravely warning billionaires about the grave threat posed by… Somali families in Minnesota.
Nothing says ‘serious global statesman’ like jetting to the World Economic Forum and using your time with world leaders to attack Somali immigrants and the state of Minnesota. While everyone else in Davos is talking about things like monetary policy and climate risk, Trump is apparently running a one-man Fox News segment, recycling his greatest hits about scary refugees and that one midwestern state that had the audacity to elect Ilhan Omar.
Trump “continues to target Somalians and Minnesota,” because when you’ve got nothing on jobs, health care, or inequality, you can always fall back on demonizing Black and Muslim immigrants and implying one of your own states is basically a failed territory. In other words, the President of the United States went to a global economic summit to tell the world that a chunk of his own country is an immigrant-infested disaster zone—and that this is somehow a selling point for his leadership.
This isn’t policy, it’s propaganda. You whip up fear about Somali communities, then point to the fear you caused as proof you were right all along. It’s the same playbook that gave us the Muslim ban, family separations, and a permanent campaign against anyone who doesn’t fit the MAGA demographic profile. But sure, tell us again how this is about ‘security’ and ‘values,’ not about turning a religious minority and an entire state into permanent villains for electoral profit.
#killing-democracy#racism#anti-immigration
tom emmer teaches the freedom caucus to love big, beautiful debt
Tom Emmer explains how you can go from "hell no" to "yes, sir, Mr. Trump" in just one phone call.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has discovered a revolutionary new governing philosophy: massive Trump-branded spending and debt are totally fine, as long as Dear Leader says so. The same "hell no" Republicans who spent a decade shrieking about deficits suddenly found the courage to vote for short-term funding bills, a multitrillion-dollar package, and a giant debt ceiling hike—after Emmer handed them the political equivalent of, "That’s cute, now go tell Donald Trump to his face you’re voting no." In other words, fiscal conservatism died so the cult could live.
Emmer’s proud of it, too. He brags that he only counts Republican votes—Democrats don’t matter, the public barely matters, and the only real metric is whether Trump approves. When his whip counts come back with dozens of "no" and "maybe" responses, the tough cases get escalated to the new switchboard of American governance: Donald J. Trump, personal arm-twister-in-chief. Because nothing says "coequal branch of government" like members of Congress being told, essentially, "You can defy me, but then you’ll have to explain yourself to the guy your base worships like a golden calf in a red tie."
The result: a tiny GOP majority manages to pass spending bills on its own, Schumer blinks, Democrats fold during a 43-day shutdown, and the House Freedom Caucus—those brave warriors against Big Government—quietly votes for the very kind of giant debt-ceiling increase they used to call tyranny. Emmer and Speaker Mike Johnson call it a "revolution." They’re not wrong: it’s a revolution where Congress stops being a legislature and becomes a loyalty test to one man, while the "limited government" crowd lines up to rubber-stamp a "big, beautiful" mountain of Trump-approved debt.
#killing-democracy#oligarchy#full-stupid
trump threatens to annex greenland, reinvent un as paywall
President Trump, JD Vance, and Marco Rubio audition for a reboot of manifest destiny, now with more nukes and fewer brain cells.
Donald Trump is landing in Davos to explain to rattled European allies why the new American foreign policy is basically: "Nice continent you’ve got there, shame if someone annexed parts of it." He’s demanding Denmark hand over Greenland "willingly or not," floating military action against a NATO ally, and slapping 10% tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries unless they cough up the world’s largest island like it’s a timeshare he got upsold at Mar-a-Lago.
Because nothing says "defending Western democracy" like forcing fellow democracies to choose between economic blackmail and the threat of invasion, Trump is also eyeing Canada as a potential 51st state. Canada, normally content to worry about moose and housing prices, is now reportedly drawing up plans for how to respond to a hypothetical U.S. attack. Meanwhile, Greenland’s prime minister says an invasion "can’t be ruled out"—a sentence that used to belong in alternate history novels, not NBC News.
To sell this, Trump posted an image of himself planting an American flag in the tundra next to a sign reading "Greenland, US Territory, Est. 2026," with JD Vance and Marco Rubio standing behind him like the world’s saddest cosplay of manifest destiny. Former EU ambassador Gordon Sondland helpfully explains that Trump’s goals are "laudable"—militarize the Arctic, hoard rare-earth minerals, and "box out" Russia and China—he’s just "rough around the edges" and bad at explaining it. In other words: the plan is imperialism, but the branding is sloppy.
And because the grift is never optional, Trump is also rolling out his "Board of Peace"—a $1 billion buy-in club that looks suspiciously like a paywalled replacement for the U.N., complete with invitations to Vladimir Putin and assorted authoritarians. Democratic leaders like Macron are politely declining, preferring that conflict resolution not require a cover charge. But sure, threaten to annex Greenland, destabilize NATO, start a trade war with Europe, and build a billionaire peace club with Putin on the guest list—what could possibly go wrong.
#imperialism#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
treasury genius declares entire nato ally ‘irrelevant’ to defend greenland land‑grab
Scott Bessent explains that Denmark is irrelevant, NATO is optional, and Greenland is basically a Black Friday doorbuster for empires.
Trump’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent has discovered a bold new diplomatic doctrine: if a NATO ally objects to your plan to annex part of their kingdom, just declare them irrelevant and threaten their neighbors with tariffs. At Davos, Bessent brushed off Denmark’s role in the US debt market as trivial, then used that as an excuse to wave away Danish objections to Trump’s Greenland takeover fantasy. Because nothing says respect for the rules-based order like trying to bully a small democracy out of its territory while calling them economically meaningless.
As Europe talks about the rule of law over brutality and promises an “unflinching response” to Trump’s tariff threats on eight countries opposing his Arctic land seizure, Bessent calls their statements “inflammatory” and scolds Emmanuel Macron for not minding his own collapsing budget. In other words: Washington is openly mulling economic punishment of allies for not backing an imperial land grab, then accusing them of overreacting.
Bessent also begged Davos elites not to show “reflexive anger” and instead wait patiently for Trump to arrive three hours late and explain why the US should own Greenland, confidently predicting everyone will be “persuaded.” Meanwhile, he saved his pettiest bile for California governor Gavin Newsom, calling him “Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken” and ranting that Newsom is too “smug” and “economically illiterate” to understand anything. The guy fronting a 21st-century annexation scheme at a billionaire ski conference accusing others of hobnobbing with the global elite is… a choice.
So to recap: the US is trying to strong-arm Europe into accepting a territorial grab, dismissing a key NATO ally as disposable, dangling tariffs as punishment for disobedience, and screeching about “fake news” when banks point out this might have consequences. But sure, tell us more about how everyone else is the bully.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
trump moves to ‘independent’ fed, asks to speak to the manager
Jerome Powell walks into the Supreme Court to find out if the Federal Reserve is still a central bank or just the interest-rate wing of Trump 2028.
The Supreme Court is taking up Donald Trump’s latest hobby: seeing how many American institutions he can bend until they snap. This week’s contestant is the Federal Reserve, where Trump is trying to fire Governor Lisa Cook — a Biden appointee and the first woman of color on the Fed board — over what his people call mortgage fraud and what normal people call an "isolated notation" on some paperwork. A federal court already told him no, but why respect 14‑year terms and central bank independence when you can just ask the Supreme Court to turn the Fed into another Mar‑a‑Lago loyalty program?
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice — now apparently the Department of Rate Cuts and Retaliation — has opened a criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, nominally about office renovations but quite transparently about his failure to "follow the preferences of the president". Because nothing screams “sound monetary policy” like prosecuting the guy who won’t tank interest rates fast enough to juice your re‑election portfolio.
Trump’s lawyers are arguing that he can boot a Fed governor basically at will, while Cook’s team is pointing to this thing called the Fifth Amendment and the whole "for cause" requirement Congress wrote into law back when we still pretended to care about independent institutions. Even the Supreme Court has previously hinted that the Fed is structurally special and might deserve extra protection, but now they get to decide whether the central bank stays quasi‑independent or becomes just another agency where Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency fires everyone who can do math.
In other words, the president who already used DOGE to purge tens of thousands of civil servants is now test‑driving whether he can personally reprogram monetary policy by threatening the jobs — and freedom — of anyone at the Fed who won’t turn the US economy into his campaign ATM. But sure, tell us again how this is about mortgage paperwork and not about turning the Federal Reserve into the Federal Re‑Elect Donald J. Trump Committee.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
elon’s efficiency wizards allegedly turn social security data into a voter fraud toy
Pictured: the look you give when you realize you let Elon Musk’s "efficiency" startup rummage through Social Security and then maybe hand it to election truthers.
The Justice Department quietly told a federal judge that Elon Musk’s beloved Department of Government Efficiency — DOGE, because of course it is — may have taken Americans’ Social Security data and gone full MAGA fan fiction with it. After a judge in Maryland slapped DOGE with a temporary restraining order in March blocking access to SSA data, an unnamed political advocacy group allegedly slid into the DOGE team’s DMs asking them to "analyze state voter rolls" to "overturn election results in certain States." In other words: take data collected to run Social Security and see if it can help overthrow elections, all in the name of "efficiency."
One DOGE staffer even signed a "Voter Data Agreement" with this mystery group four days after the restraining order was issued, because nothing says "we respect the courts" like immediately doing the one thing the court is worried you’ll do. DOJ says it’s not clear yet whether personal info was actually handed over, but SSA admits DOGE geniuses were funneling data through Cloudflare — a third-party server explicitly not approved for SSA data — right up until a week before the TRO. SSA only discovered this months later, long after DOGE had shut down early in a blaze of whistleblower allegations about dumping millions of people’s records into a "cloud environment that circumvents oversight," which is a very polite way of saying what if Equifax, but with Elon in charge?
Remember: the Supreme Court heroically stepped in last June to reverse that pesky restraining order and let DOGE back into the Social Security data vault, after the agency solemnly promised it just wanted to "modernize technology" and "maximize efficiency." Judge Ellen Hollander had already warned DOGE was on a fishing expedition for a voter fraud epidemic that doesn’t exist, risking millions of people’s private info to find a needle they don’t even know is in the haystack. The Trump administration has now made a couple of Hatch Act referrals like that’s going to fix the part where a privatized, billionaire-run shadow agency allegedly tried to weaponize federal benefits data for election games. But sure, tell us again how this was all about cutting waste and improving government services.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
trump ai policy: move fast and break democracies
Michael Kratsios in Davos, patiently explaining that the only real AI risk is not letting Peter Thiel’s portfolio companies run the planet.
Michael Kratsios, Trump’s chief tech whisperer and proud Peter Thiel alumni, has arrived in Davos to explain to Europe why actually the problem with AI isn’t unaccountable, world-scale systems run by a handful of companies — it’s the EU’s attempt to regulate them. He calls the EU AI Act an "absolute disaster" and brags that Trump’s "light-touch" approach is the winning formula, because nothing says "responsible governance" like handing the steering wheel of civilization to venture capitalists and hoping they’re feeling vibes-based ethical that day.
Kratsios touts the White House’s AI Action Plan as "probably the most robust" pro-innovation strategy in the world, which in practice means: strip out "red tape" and "onerous regulation" from agencies, undo Biden’s 2023 AI safeguards, and make sure nothing slows down the deployment of systems that can turbocharge disinformation, automate discrimination, and nuke what’s left of privacy. In other words, it’s the usual Trump formula: deregulate everything, then act shocked when it explodes — but cash the checks first.
The plan’s crown jewel is a new American AI Export Program, where the Development Finance Corporation and Export-Import Bank will kindly offer financing so other countries can go into debt buying "the American AI stack" — chips, models, apps, the whole surveillance-and-dependence starter pack. Kratsios frames this as helping them build "sovereign AI systems," which is a cute way of describing structural dependency on U.S. tech giants underwritten by U.S. taxpayers. But sure, tell us more about how international AI oversight is the real "overreach."
And just to keep the revolving door polished, Kratsios glides in from a leadership role at Scale AI — the data-labeling unicorn that conveniently snagged a $14.3 billion Meta investment — to now shape federal AI policy that will supercharge demand for exactly the kind of infrastructure and services his old world lives on. Surrounded by fellow VC titans like David Sacks and Sriram Krishnan in the White House AI inner circle, the message from Davos is crystal clear: America will "lead the world in AI" by turning public institutions into a salesforce for Silicon Valley, dismantling guardrails, and calling it freedom.
#forever-grifting#oligarchy
trump’s caribbean oil pirate adventure enters sequel territory
US warship enforces Trump’s new foreign policy doctrine: if it floats and carries oil, it’s now under new management.
The Trump administration has now seized its seventh Venezuela-linked oil tanker in the Caribbean, because nothing says "rules-based international order" like parking a mini-fleet off someone else’s coastline and jacking their ships. U.S. Southern Command bragged about apprehending the Motor Vessel Sagitta "without incident," as if the incident isn’t the part where the president unilaterally declares a "quarantine" on other countries’ oil and the Navy plays hall monitor for Exxon’s vision board.
This all comes in the middle of Trump’s month-long campaign to "control" Venezuela’s oil flows, which, in normal English, translates to: we’re taking your stuff and calling it freedom. After Trump’s attempt at diplomacy failed (shocking), he just ordered U.S. forces to fly into a sovereign country, kidnap its president and his wife in an overnight raid, and drag them to New York. Because if there’s one thing this administration hates, it’s other people violating borders.
Now Trump is openly promising that the U.S. will control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely, while pitching a $100bn "rebuild" plan that has environmentalists and even U.S. oil giants side-eyeing it like a three-card monte table. In other words, it’s Iraq-but-dumber: a half-baked occupation-lite, dressed up as humanitarian reconstruction, enforced by warships, and justified by saying only "properly and lawfully coordinated" oil gets to leave Venezuela — which conveniently means "approved by Trump and his donors." But sure, tell us again how this is all about democracy and not just a smash-and-grab resource heist in broad daylight.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
historian politely describes soft coup as ‘extreme presidential power’
A historian gently explaining on live TV that the presidency has mutated into a semi-legal monarchy, while everyone nods like this is fine and normal.
NBC brings on historian Douglas Brinkley to politely translate what everyone else has been screaming for years: Trump’s first year in office wasn’t just chaotic, it was a case study in how to stretch presidential power until the Constitution starts making that weird cracking sound. From emergency declarations as a lifestyle brand to running foreign policy via rage-tweets, we’re told we’ve entered an “era of extreme presidential power” — in other words, the part of the movie where the lights flicker and the soundtrack gets ominous.
Instead of checks and balances, we got Republican leadership treating Congress like a presidential fan club, the courts playing whack-a-mole with unlawful orders, and Trump discovering that if no one actually stops you, you can just keep doing the thing. The historian frames it as a structural shift in the modern presidency; translation: future presidents now have a handy Trump-sized precedent for ignoring norms, bulldozing institutions, and treating the rule of law as optional fine print.
So yes, historians are calmly labeling it an era of extreme power, as if this is just another chapter in a textbook and not the part where the democratic experiment starts speed-running its own failure mode. But sure, let’s call it “robust executive authority” instead of what it looks like from orbit: a slow-motion stress test of whether American democracy can survive one man’s need for attention and control.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump’s doj discovers minnesota on a map, immediately launches crackdown
Pictured: The exact moment the Trump DOJ decided that governing Minnesota is now a federal crime.
The Trump Justice Department has apparently finished its busy schedule of losing court cases and is now moving on to its favorite hobby: punishing blue states for not being cruel enough to immigrants. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other state and local officials as part of the administration’s shiny new "immigration crackdown"—because nothing says "law and order" like using the DOJ as a blunt political weapon against jurisdictions that don’t worship at the altar of ICE.
In other words, instead of focusing on actual crime, Trump’s DOJ is chasing mayors and governors whose main offense is not enthusiastically helping deport their own residents. The message is clear: comply with our anti-immigrant agenda or enjoy your subpoena. It’s the same old playbook—brand normal governance as "lawless," send in the feds, and hope the chilling effect does what the Constitution inconveniently won’t let them do directly.
So now Minnesota joins the ever-growing list of places where the federal government is trying to make basic decency toward immigrants legally suspect. Walz and Frey are being treated like mob bosses for the crime of not turning their cities into junior border patrol outposts. But sure, tell us again how this is all about "public safety" and not about building a nationwide system where the president can sic federal law enforcement on any state that refuses to join his deportation cosplay.
If you were wondering what it looks like when the federal government weaponizes subpoenas to intimidate local officials into abandoning sanctuary-style policies, congratulations: you’re watching it in real time. Rule of law has left the chat; retribution-by-subpoena is running the group now.
#killing-democracy#anti-immigration#lawlessness
