It's The Oligarchy, Stupid

We're staring down the barrel of the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. Let's get on the same page.

Amid all the finger pointing happening these days about what happened in 2024, I’m not at all shocked that the corporate media continually fails to mention Citizens United and the political wealth gap left in its wake.

Why?

Because the corporate media is part of the oligarchy. And the oligarchy would love nothing more than for the majority of us to be arguing amongst ourselves about anything but - while they laugh all the way to the soon-to-be uninsured crypto bank.

Everything that’s gone wrong can be traced back to the ultra-wealthy.

Let’s start with the bought-and-paid for Supreme Court. Only a handful of our elected representatives have raised alarm bells about it. Senator Whitehouse comes to mind, with his long-fought battle against the influence that dark money has had on shaping the highest court in the land.

Propublica is a stand-out organization for uncovering the massive amounts of favors dealt to the most conservative justices through benefactors like Harlan Crow. The independent investigative journalists stayed on top of reporting the insufficient and evasive financial disclosure forms submitted by the likes of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

We’ve watched as the beer-chugging boofer and credibly-accused rapist Brett Kavanaugh had his loans forgiven. We took note when Mitch McConnell, who took gobs of Russian money for re-election, blocked an Obama nominee and then jammed through Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement just days before an election. We saw Justice Kennedy wag his finger at Donald Trump after his unusual retirement shortly after it was found that his nephew helped the Trump Organization secure multiple high-risk loans through Deutsche Bank.

Once they captured the court, what followed was a steamrolling of precedent; Roe v Wade, the Chevron Doctrine, presidential immunity, affirmative action, and soon Humphrey’s Executor - to name just a few.

We could have legitimate arguments about the pace of Merrick Garland’s investigations, but what is undisputed is that there were two trials scheduled well before the 2024 election that were cast aside by this corrupt Supreme Court. First, with its immunity ruling, then by Justice Thomas casually mentioning that Aileen Cannon could probably dismiss the documents case because Special Counsels are unconstitutional (they’re not.)

Add the Fischer decision - which gutted the obstructing an official proceeding statute, and Trump v Anderson allowing an insurrectionist to run for office counter to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment - and there you have it. Oligarchs put on the bench by oligarchs, all but ensuring the legal installation of an oligarch.

Next, we can look at the corporate media. Thanks to decades of consolidation, the news we get is decided by a handful of the ultra-wealthy. They now want you to believe we lost in 2024 because we were tricked by Biden aides rather than the overwhelming evidence that low-information voters were duped by Trump’s propaganda - propped up by the corporate media. And they’re continuing to rake in the money off that argument.

Or let’s look at the Billionaire Bailout Bill - slashing Medicare, Medicaid, food aid, and climate protections - all in the name of making room for the largest transfer of wealth in our history by way of massive tax cuts for the wealthy. Add to that the multi-billion dollar contracts that will be awarded to the man who bought himself a president; Elon Musk. After stealing our tax dollars by cutting earned benefits we paid for, they’ll still leave a $4T hole in the deficit, causing Moody’s to downgrade our credit rating as a nation thereby eating further into working people’s pensions.

Meanwhile, they’re telling us to find the “Joe Rogan” of the left. The only problem is Joe Rogan is part of the Oligarchy - after being awarded a $100M contract off the backs of working artists on Spotify. You think you’re going to find someone trying to fight the oligarchy that would actually be willing to become part of it?

Or how about the donor class that threatened to withhold millions in donations to down-ballot democrats unless we swapped our candidate out 100 days before the election? Doesn’t it seem odd that those same people are now making money hand-over-fist while egging us on to fight about the reason?

And don’t get me started with social media. They bought and destroyed Twitter, used Meta to generate conflict among the lower classes through division, then spread as much propaganda as they possibly could with the help of foreign adversaries.

Everything wrong in America can be traced to Citizens United and the oligarchy.

Lobbyists trashing health care, keeping prescription drug prices high, funding the NRA, Putin’s war in Ukraine, Trump letting Sinaloa Cartel family members into the US, private prisons raking in billions on the backs of mass deportation, the idiotic global tariff shakedown, union busting, the privatization of everything from VA health care to schools to policing to the post office. ALL OF IT is about the money. Even elections themselves.

When James Carville said “It’s the economy, stupid” in 1992, he didn’t think the electorate was smart enough to understand WHY the economy sucks. But we understand.

It’s the oligarchs.

And we’re coming for them.

I’ll see you at the No Kings rally June 14th, and at the polls.

~AG

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Pool