Year: 2024

Trump’s Secretaries of Sexual Abuse

Buck Banks

“If everyone is a sexual predator, then no one’s history of misdeeds matters (or, at least, no one needs to be held accountable). … MAGA Republicans seem to be having their own #MeToo moment, except here, a growing cohort of men is essentially saying: Oh, another man accused of sexual predation? #MeToo—and so what? Being accused of sexual harassment, abuse, or assault is no longer disqualifying; on the right, it has been normalized. It may even be an asset.”

— Jill Filipovic

Musk’s Wealth Hits Record $348 Billion

Buck Banks

$348 billion

“Elon Musk’s net worth hit an all-time high of $347.8 billion on Friday, driven by Tesla Inc.’s ongoing stock rally and a new funding round valuing his artificial intelligence startup xAI at $50 billion,” Bloomberg reports. “Musk’s numerous businesses have been surging in value since Donald Trump’s election victory propelled Musk, the so-called ‘first buddy,’ into the political spotlight.”

After Running against High Prices, Trump Warns Americans That He’ll Raise Prices Across the Board

The chaos is the point

Jon Ponder

In Shock Doctrine, her seminal work on the rise of authoritarnism in the contemporary world, Naomi Klein shows how fascists undermine democracies in order to replace them with authoritarian states by creating and exploiting economic chaos. In the disruptions that ensue, they seize power.

In advance of his inauguration next month, Trump is saying plainly that he is very intentionally bringing economic chaos on day one. As Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. People know themselves much better than you do.”

Salon.com: Donald Trump, who won in part due to inflation that peaked two years ago, campaigned on a policy of making everything from vegetables to televisions more expensive, suggesting a plurality of voters either did not understand tariffs — and the rippling economic impact of raising taxes on imported goods — or simply did not believe the Republican candidate would follow through.

In a Monday evening post on Truth Social, the president-elect reaffirmed that yeah, he’s serious.

[…]

Hurricanes Cost Florida Over $350 Million and 3,000 Jobs (So Far)

Buck Banks

$350 million; 3,000 jobs

Weeks after hurricanes Helene and Milton, Florida businesses and their employees are still paying a staggering toll, reports Tampa Bay Times. According to claims business owners have voluntarily filed with the state, $350 million in damages have been reported statewide. More than half was concentrated in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, covering nearly 2,000 businesses, making them the hardest hit in Florida. As of Nov. 1, damages had forced about 2,300 people across those counties out of work temporarily. Another 700 had lost their jobs permanently.

RFK Jr.: COVID Was a ‘Plandemic’

Buck Banks

“Many people argue that this pandemic was a ‘plandemic,’ that it was planned from the outset, it’s part of a sinister scheme. I can’t tell you the answer to that. I don’t have enough evidence. A lot of it feels very planned to me. I don’t know. I will tell you this: If you create these mechanisms for control, they become weapons of obedience for authoritarian regimes no matter how beneficial or innocent the people who created them.”

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr., quoted by The Bulwark in August 2020.