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1. Embed this notice
   William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:39 JST William Lindsey :toad:

   A thread that's a snapshot of America as it makes itself great again in anticipation of Trump's inauguration:

   "Since Trump won re-election — this time with the popular vote — many of the most influential people in America seem to have lost any will to stand up to him as he goes about transforming America into the sort of authoritarian oligarchy he admires. Call it the Great Capitulation."

   ~ Michelle Goldberg

   #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #EconomicElites
   /1

   https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/opinion/trump-tech-leaders-support.html

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:34 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "And it always pretends to be something other than what it is."

     ~ Adeel Mangi in /5 above

     E.g., it pretends to be about "working-class" "economic anxiety," when it's really about economic elites rigging the political system to facilitate the flow of wealth from the bottom sectors of society to those who are already grossly rich — and exacerbating social hostilities and hatreds based in race, gender, national origin, religious affiliation, etc., to enable this transfer of wealth.

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:35 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "America experienced another school shooting on Monday that killed two and wounded a half dozen people in Madison, Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the nation remained fixated on sightings of 'mystery' drones (and planes and stars mistaken for drones)."

     ~ Robert B. Hubbell

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #violence
     /6

     https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/drones-vs-guns

     bhaugen repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:36 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "Our country faces an incoming tsunami of bigotry, hatred, and discrimination. It targets Muslims, Arabs, Jews, Black people, the LGBTQ+ community, and many others. And it always pretends to be something other than what it is. These forces are fueled not only by their proponents, but equally by the collaboration and silence of the spineless."

     ~ Adeel Mangi

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #corporations #WhiteChristians #cruelty
     /5

     https://www.lawdork.com/p/adeel-mangi-letter-third-circuit-nominee

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:37 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "In a clearly choreographed series of announcements over the course of late last week, one tech CEO after another announced they were contributing $1 million to the Trump inaugural committee."

     ~ Josh Marshall

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #corporations #TechBros #media
     /4

     https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-great-fluffening-of-2024

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:37 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "It’s a world where fringe media outlets are ascendant, a new wave of religious leaders are mixing politics and prayer, the global right-wing is rejoicing, and more established press are being subjected to a new level of restrictions and derision."

     ~ Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #WhiteChristians #WhiteChristianNationalism
     /5

     https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-ultimate-maga-global-and-domestic-right-gathers-ready-for-a-new-trump-era

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:38 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "It’s clear as day that corporations, the wealthy, and our institutions are unwilling to exercise even the slightest resistance to Trump this time around. They are anointing him our Pharoah for life in exchange for clemency and higher profits."

     ~ Wajahat Ali

     So much for "working-class" "rage" based in "economic anxiety" as the force driving the Trump machine."

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #corporations #TechBros #media
     /3

     https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/abc-news-bends-the-knee-to-trump

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 22:33:39 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "We are beginning to see this all over the American political-economic system — giant corporations and hugely wealthy people going out of their way to appease King Trump even in advance of his coronation. They are paying him off to maintain or enlarge their profits."

     ~ Robert Reich

     Funny, isn't it, how the "working class" and its "economic anxiety" suddenly exits the state, no?

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #corporations #TechBros #media
     /2

     https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-did-abc-cave-in-to-trump

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     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 05:32:31 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     “We’ve watched as billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg travel to Mar-a-Lago and make million-dollar donations to Trump’s inaugural committee, clearly hoping to avoid his wrath. If they don’t have the courage to stand up to him, and established news organizations seem to be acting out of fear, what does it mean for the rest of us?”

     ~ Paul Waldman

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #media
     /12

     https://open.substack.com/pub/paulwaldman/p/trumps-new-strategy-to-terrorize

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 05:32:32 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     “The real scandal of our media tycoons: they’re rich, powerful, and increasingly antagonistic to the journalism they fund.”

     ~ Andrew Egger

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #media
     /11

     https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/the-real-scandal-of-our-media-tycoons

     Christine Lemmer-Webber repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 05:32:33 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "The percentage of kindergarten students with vaccine exemptions reached an all-time high in Arkansas and across the nation in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

     ~ John Lyon

     As Lyon reports, the rate of vaccine exemptions for school children in Arkansas has risen steadily from 2015-6 up to now — in Trump-voting, solidly red Arkansas, one should note.

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #vaccines #disinformation /9

     https://achi.net/newsroom/exemptions-from-childhood-vaccines-reach-all-time-high-in-arkansas-nation/

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 05:32:33 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "When Americans think of dictators they always think of some foreign model. If anyone turned up here in a fur hat, boots and a grim look he would be recognized and shunned…But when our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American."

     ~ Dorothy Thompson in 1937

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA
     /10

     https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nazi-town-usa-dorothy-thompson-most-famous-female-journalist/

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 05:32:34 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "Stat of the day: Number of people killed in US gun violence in 2024 reaches 16,006 after Wisconsin school shooting."

     ~ Jem Bartholomew

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #violence
     /8

     https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/17/first-thing-russian-general-killed-in-moscow-blast-as-ukraine-claims-responsibility

   • Embed this notice
     William Lindsey :toad: (wdlindsy@toad.social)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 05:32:35 JST William Lindsey :toad:

     in reply to

     "America’s CEOs are in a race to crawl as far up Trump’s ass as fast as possible."

     ~ Dan Pfeiffer

     But don't forget the drill: it's really all about the "economic anxiety" of the "working classes" which the Democrats have ignored.

     #Trump #MakingAmericaGreatAgain #MAGA #EconomicElites #corporations #TechBros #media
     /7

     https://www.messageboxnews.com/p/why-americas-ceos-are-cozying-up