Whose side is Trump on anyway? Worldwide or at home: it is not pro democracy

 While the Trump regime dismantles cybersecurity agencies responsible for protecting the US from foreign intervention in our elections,  it is busy supporting anti-democratic movements and pro-Russian cohorts abroad. From Germany to Bosnia lately, Trump and his close supporters get credit for wins by anti-democratic forces.  The success of the AfD political party winning an election in a German state, Saxony, shook many with the fear that a neo-Nazi-tinged party like AfD (described as a far right party) signaled a resurgence of fascism in Germany. Who did the AfD thank for their win? Elon Musk..  Money in politics in Europe is carefully regulated, and there is no evidence Musk contributed that, but what he did was offer verbal political and moral support, for which the AfD gave thanks.  

Trump continues to play footsie with Putin:

In a country I follow closely, Bosnia, a pro-Russia party won in the Serbian ethnic-friendly semi-autonomous Republika Srpska, and gave credit for their win to Trump. and Putin. Trump sent his advisors to help this Putin ally win. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/us/politics/trump-advisers-republika-srpska.html

Update: 10/10/2026 Not only did Trump send his advisors to aid a Putin ally in Srpska Republika, but he allegedly made a deal with Putin to import diesel from Russia, and blew up the sanctions against Russia in doing. Ukraine responded by blowing up the terminal that would export diesel to the US, pr google AI this am: Ukrainian long-range drones struck and set ablaze the Yug Rusi oil-loading terminal at the Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery in Russia's Rostov region.

Key Details

• Timing: The overnight drone attack occurred on October 9–10, 2026.

• Context: The strike happened just hours after US President Donald Trump announced a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin allowing Russia to supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the US

What the heck is going on here?  The view by a centrist publication, Der Spiegel in Germany, of the US was not only expressing fear of fascism (currently a similarly approved term as the far-right) rising again there, but  it has a brutal view that it has already risen in the US.. From their recent English-language Substack: ""Compared to the situation in the United States, the far right has not made significant inroads in Germany. .... In the US, by contrast, Trump holds the most powerful office in the world – for a second time. He is surrounded by a nationalist circle of advisers, backed by majorities in both chambers of Congress, supported by paramilitary police units, and secure in the knowledge that three of the nine justices on the Supreme Court were chosen by him." 

It is bad enough that Trump has spent the past two years subverting and purging the federal government, the "deep state" of capable civil servants and military, and replacing them only with those who pledge loyalty to him.   His foreign policy has clearly favored the bad actors of the world, the dictators, mostly communists or former communists, whom Trump so openly admires, making it clear he also supports anti-democratic forces elsewhere.  A red carpet for XI and his failure to give Ukraine help are glaring examples. At home,  he is threatening regularly to use the military or ICE to "police" voting in the midterms and to grab as much federal (Trump) control of who and how gets to vote..He has spent the past two years subverting our election system by supporting political gerrymandering and constantly attempting to wrest control of elections from the states he fears lean purple or blue.

Whose side is he on, anyway?  It certainly is not pro-democracy at home or abroad.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.ajc.org/news/what-is-germanys-afd-and-what-does-its-rise-mean-for-jews

per Google AI: The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is not officially classified as a neo-Nazi party, though German domestic intelligence and courts have formally categorized parts of it—and at times the party as a whole—as right-wing extremist or anti-constitutional. [1, 2, 3]https://www.google.com/search?q=recent+rise+of+neo+fascist+parties+in+europe&oq=recent+rise+of+neo+fascist+parties+in+europe&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRifBdIBCjI0MzUwajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBYt3eWoP5eg08QWLd3lqD-XoNA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.rb&ie=UTF-8

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/once-us-was-model-to-world-of-how.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/us/politics/trump-election-security-cisa.html

https://thehill.com/policy/international/6074993-afd-wins-german-election-elon-musk/

From Google AI 

Milorad Dodik's pro-Russia Alliance of Independent Social Democrats claimed a decisive victory in Bosnia's October 4, 2026 local and entity elections, publicly crediting U.S. President Donald Trump's return to power and Russian President Vladimir Putin's support for the win. [1, 2]

Key Details of the Election and Speech

The Leader & Party: Bosnian Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik—who was previously banned from holding political office and was not on the ballot—led the victory celebration for his party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). [1, 2]
The Trump and Putin Credit: In his victory speech in Banja Luka, Dodik stated that thanks to the "new environment" and U.S. leadership under Donald Trump alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, his political movement survived rather than becoming "political corpses".

Chainsaw 1 and Chainsaw 2 : Fulfilling Russell Vought's Project 2025 dreams

 Russ Vought is the engineer behind Musk Chainsaw 1 and Trump Chainsaw 2. Trump's newest threat is to take advantage of the shutdown and to make the shutdown even worse by firing thousands of fed workers, not just furloughing them.. Who is Vought? He was appointed by Trump to run the fed personnel policies as director of the Office of Management and Budget.. He is also one of the engineers of Project 2025 to turn career service employees into political appointees, subject to the whims of hiring and firing by whoever is in the Oval Office (Trump). The purpose is to turn the "deep state" into Trump or ideological loyal to the Heritage Foundation, into Trump's deep state. Project 2025 had planned to institute a plan to end career service protections for the lower ranks of the fed workforce with Schedule F, but that was a slow process subject to court appeals. Chainsaw 1 solved the problem by just closing agencies en masse, and Chainsaw 2 would continue the 2025 goals of replacing non-political career service with their political loyalists

.https://kettering.org/the-schedule-f-threat-to-democracy.../

Donald Trump, unsafe at any speed updated 8/4/2025

 The Supreme Court confirmed on July 23, 2025, that there is no such thing as an independent federal agency. including consumer protection agencies,  and that Trump could fire their board, their policy setters, and administrative rule makers, and replace them with those who were loyal to what Trump wanted. Supreme Court allows Trump to fire 3 Democratic consumer product safety commissioners | PBS News ,   Supreme Court sides with Trump administration in battle over ability to remove agency commissioners - SCOTUSblog  This and other consumer oriented protection agencies can no longer be trusted to give information and issue rules in the public interest and public good, but they now can be influenced to provide rationales and twisted data and facts to suit the President's oratory and tweets. The court ruling clears the way to do the same to any other "independent" agency, firing for any reason, or no reason or without cause.  their boards and directors,  and to replace them with Trump loyalists who will do what is in his political interest. Agencies are to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil if the evil is data, scientific research, and rule-making that makes Trump look bad  All of this is happening in the first six months of the second Trump presidency, a profound whiplash in what once was a 250-year history of prior presidents taking seriously their Constitutional charge to "faithfully execute the laws of the land". 

The speed with which this has happened appears to be an overall Trump regime strategy to do what they can to grab as much power for the president before any court tells him no, or that it creeps under the radar of journalists and consumers who are focused elsewhere, with everything everywhere happening at once. Why anti-consumer protections easily escape immediate notice is that the public is not aware until too many of them are ripped off, are seriously damaged, or are killed.

 Trump's goal is becoming clear:  to make sure that either embarrassing facts that contradicted his view of anything did not come to light or were ignored.  It is affecting many agencies upon which ordinary people rely, whether it has to do with weather forecasting and impact on global warming, product safety warnings and rules, or the use of expertise to set monetary policy and interest rates.  Killing the messenger or appointing political loyalists to fix a danger to ordinary Americans can no longer be trusted to deliver their expertise based on facts and data, and that is not based on political interests.. Not only are their findings not to be trusted, but the decisions made at the executive and legislative levels could rely on potentially flawed data: garbage in, garbage out. The best analogy to this kill the messenger policy is not original with me, but it is like when a patient gets a diagnosis of cancer, but fires the doctor. See? Cancer went away. 

 Update 8/4/2025  As Argentina, Greece, and even China have found out, distorting data for political purposes is also a danger to the economy.  Data concerning national debt and inflation were ignored or changed to make the leadership look better. Argentia and Greece eventually went bankrupt.  Trump's attempt to force the Fed chair to report the inflation rates he wanted and Trump's firing the data collector of unemployment statistics to get "his" person in place is a clear and present danger to the economy of our country. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/business/trump-bls-firing-economic-reports.html#:~:text=There%20is%20the

The dictator of Turkey tried to mess around with independently supplied data and the central bank (the Fed is US's central bank) and nearly crashed his economy. He reversed himself, and the Turkish economy is healing. A Cautionary Turkish Economic Tale | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

Other consumer protection agencies have been virtually closed down and unable to function, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, designed to handle consumer complaints and to prevent the abuses that resulted in the 2008 crash. What CFPB cuts could mean for consumers

 One agency of particular benefit to consumers.has been the Consumer Product Safety Commission.(CPSC). The agency has issued rules when there was evidence that consumers would be harmed, even when it stepped on the toes and profits of business interests. Musk hated the National Traffic Safety Agency because it reported the danger posed by Tesla that even resulted in death to the end user of a self-driving car.  He took revenge in his DOGE cuts.  Officials Are Fired at Traffic Safety Agency Investigating Musk’s Company - The New York Times.  Consumer Reports Joins Call to Fully Fund NHTSA in FY26 Appropriations Bill

 https://www.newsweek.com/doge-cuts-watchdogs-investigating-self-driving-teslas-2058241#:~:text=Elon%20Musk%20and%20his%20Department,%22autopilot%22%20feature%20and%20others. The Consumer Safety Protection Bureau was established in 1972 in recognition that more than just auto safety scrutiny was needed. 

Auto safety regulation was the result of reports of a certain car model causing deaths, the Corvair, and Ralph Nader exposed it in his seminal  1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed. (My brother owned one of those and luckily survived a crash that totalled it). That kicked off the publication of a book that resulted in the creation of the United States Department of Transportation in 1966 and the predecessor agencies of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1970 (the recall agency)...and eventually the spread to all consumer products with the formation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission...all sworn to protect consumers and not the business interests of the manufacturers. All could hold hearings, tap experts in the field, and look at consumer reports or lawsuits, issue rules, provide feedback at hearings, and then shape their policies and rules in line with their best professional judgment.

Trump's standard for appointees is, above all, loyal to his wishes.  If an agency under his control, independent or not, presents data that makes his political promises look bad, he fires the director, the messenger, who dared to report the data, even when it benefited the companies that favored him. We saw him in action last week when he fired the unfortunate bureaucrat who dared to present figures that showed unemployment was ticking up, when Trump had spent 6 months claiming his tariffs would not cause employment to increase. 

Other agencies have already been kneecapped, including those that formerly protected consumers from dirty air and polluted water. The Trump administration announces reorganization and staff cuts at the EPA :per NPR and shuts down the agency's research arm that was producing scientific evidence of global warming. Trump administration shuts down EPA's scientific research arm. https://www.npr.org/people/146944972/rob-stein  

What can be done to reverse this attack on consumer protection? Not much for now. It is in the hands of the media to report the connection between consumer problems and the failure of the Trump administration to faithfully execute the laws of the land.   Aware of that, voters can elect someone who will restore the intent, purpose, and ability to effectively protect consumers. That "someone" includes members of Congress who have gone along with the Trump anti-consumer agenda. So far as the Supreme Court is concerned, appointments and elections have very long-term consequences and depend upon Senate confirmation of replacements. If a more favorable to consumer Congress happens, any laws will have to be cleverly crafted to stand up to even their right-wing 6-0 dominated Supreme Court scrutiny but at least the oversight committees can do their job to expose and hold the executive branch accountable for failure to execute their laws, and they can refund agencies that have lost their ability to function.

 A personal note: When I was a consumer advocacy agency head in Denver in the 1970s, we showed that fiberglass insulation could cause cancer if the fibers were inhaled. We presented this finding to the CPSC, which required a warning label for consumers self-installing the material to wear facemasks.    The CPSC required warning labels on packaging material that could suffocate kids, or that, if ingested, would choke babies. Either the product was required to have material warning labels or was removed from retail shelves, regardless if the manufacturer was a friend or contributor to the President. When I left the agency, I wrote a book that was published (now out of print but still available at the Library of Congress, Colorado Consumer Handbook, 1982, Johnson Publishing) on the subject of how these new protection agencies could help consumers resolve issues. That book deserves a severe revision now.

The new GOP mantra: caring for those who cannot help themselves is waste and civilization weakness

The GOP mantra: caring for those who cannot help themselves is waste and abuse. The true believers in Trump have twisted themselves into pretzels to rationalize the immoral cuts to US food and vaccination programs in Africa that will lead to 14 million deaths in 5 years and yanking health care from over 12 million in the US and food assistance from the elderly, disabled, and too poor to pay their medical bills or afford nutritious food. It has been replaced by cheering for the cruelty of family separation and sending those whose only crime was no documentation to offshore torture prisons and alligator-infested onshore gulags, beating those they snatch from the streets without warrants in full view of public videos.  What the hell have they embraced?   Are empathy and sympathy for those who are suffering no longer American values? Sharing our surplus of food and our vaccines is a waste of resources and a form of fraud? Is cruelty now the standard for treating those who do not merit it or are deprived of the process to which they are due to protest their treatment as illegal or inhumane?

 Was it moral and OK that Elon Musk cut US Aid in his chainsaw attack in search of ways to cut government funding so Trump could cut taxes to the ultra-rich?  Not only is USAID dead this month, which is now, but also millions who will die without that aid in the next few years.  No problem in Musk's value system, and he was famously quoted that 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.'"I believe in empathy, like I think you should care about other people," Musk said as part of the same discussion on Joe Rogan's podcast, "but you need to have empathy for, for civilization as a whole, and not commit to a civilizational suicide." ( fact checked on Snopes). So he must mean sharing our abundance as the richest country in the world with the poorest, and funding the methods of distribution is the US committing suicide? 

Christianity should be outraged. In some twisted religious minds, it is not.. In Trump's world of Christianity, empathy and charity are now to be reviled by some preachers. Empathy  is now a dirty word, "walking in others' shoes", is a sign of feminizing churches because women are so vulnerable to appeals for charity,  so it is no longer a Christian value to some professed Christians,  per a report on NPR

  https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5321299/how-empathy-came-to-be-seen-as-a-weakness-in-conservative-circles 

USAID cuts may lead to more than 14 million deaths globally, including 4.5 million children under 5 by 2030, researchers say. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/USAID-cuts-global-impact-14-million-deaths

The Trump administration guts cyber security, favors Russia, endangering national defense,update 5/14/2025

 One of the most puzzling effects of Musk and Trump is the damage they are doing to national security in defending us against cyber attacks from our adversaries in national defense issues. The administration has gutted the cybersecurity agencies charged with protecting us and favored Russia.  Why? There are some theories, but leaving those aside, the practical impact is setting off alarm bells.Update 5/14/2025 And while they are at it, the Trump administration just fired its top CIA analysts because they reported findings Trump did not want to hear: Tulsi Gabbard fires top officials citing intelligence politicization

 From a recent Politico newsletter:

“This administration is unilaterally disarming in the midst of an attack,” argued Sen. ANGUS KING (I-Maine), a member of both the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services panels."

 "There’s no national cyber director or CISA director in place, and oversight of cybersecurity on the National Security Council has been downgraded to a senior director position from a deputy national security advisor under the Biden administration. In addition, the Trump administration directed Cyber Command to stand down operations against Russia — traditionally one of the key adversaries to the U.S. in cyberspace.  https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2025/04/10/cyber-threats-abound-as-trump-guts-cyber-agencies-00284735

Cybersecurity as a national security issue raised by politicians has mostly focused on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's disregard for it as he used hackable, commercially available Signal to disclose what should be secret plans or immediate attacks on the Houthis to a reporter and family members. That is not the worst of it; the entire destruction of national security interests has a far greater impact on the United States.  The media is focusing on one tree while the forest around it is on fire. 

Two critical agencies supporting cyber national security have received funding cuts and demotions in importance. CSIS and CISA.  Per Google AI: The key difference between CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) and CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) lies in their roles and objectives. CISA is a US government agency focused on cybersecurity and infrastructure protection. CSIS is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization providing insights and analysis on national security and international affairs.

 https://www.wired.com/story/cve-program-cisa-funding-chaos/CSIS  Both suffer cuts in funding. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/03/11/trump-administration-halts-funding-for-two-cybersecurity-efforts-including-one-for-elections

https://www.wired.com/story/cve-program-cisa-funding-chaos/

 One example of a role cybersecurity can play as a weapon adversaries can use  in undermining security:https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/inside-new-security-threats-in-the-skies?srsltid=AfmBOopl8MNRLZ6KJK-GNvESr0K49TMGpfn8Ox2bs5MH71IX9EgytXxZ

Another example of how cybersecurity and space warfare can harm national security from , one of the agencies getting gutted in the first 100 days of the Trump regime. https://www.csis.org/analysis/space-and-cyber-warfare-

For an excellent example of how cyber security works and hacks can be detected, a whistleblower detailed in his agency of how the DOGE kids may have done it. Whistleblower details how DOGE may have taken sensitive NLRB data : NPR

The foolers and the fooled...updated April 2, 2025

 The foolers and fooled on Social Security updated to April 1, 2025. Putting together the pieces of why this has become such an issue:

Trump, on the 2024 campaign stump, promised not to touch Social Security. Musk has done what he could to yank the rug out from under that promise. Yes, the size of the benefit checks has not yet been touched. Still, the administration of the whole system is being threatened with plans that would make it moribund, kneecapping the administrative ability to deliver the checks to those who need it the most and keeping down the numbers of future retirees and disabled with new administrative hurdles, limiting who qualify under the law from receiving them..

Oligarchs like Musk have shown little idea of how Social Security works and who it serves. Their ignorance and insensitivity have fueled the fire of outrage at proposals. Democrats are making political hay connecting this issue to oligarchs in the Trump administration, charging that by the numbers, millions must be cut from the budget to offset the tax relief the very wealthy are seeking that reduces income to the treasury. Cutting social security costs is one of the wealthy "pay fors" to at least partially cover their tax cuts. By cutting Social Security's ability to administer its services in order to pay for tax breaks to the rich is a powerful political argument against the Trump regime..Another suspicion is that if the administration is destroyed, Musk would like the contract to administer it, in addition to the $38 billion he already has in federal contracts. That the Social Security program needs to be saved from eventually going bankrupt is true, and it is the largest expense to the federal government, but this cruelty and destruction of its mission is no way to fix it.

As of April 1, 2025, the process to switch paper checks to electronic deposits, the elimination of phone service, or the closure of Social Security branch offices has not yet occurred. The outcry, however, is loud and clear, with the fury arising over Musk's proposed plans and the cuts in service to the very people they serve, making this a hot political issue.

Musk taking the chainsaw to the Social Security administration is a gift to Democrats in the 2026 midterms, who can now run on a platform of saving Social Security. It is a government service that affects an extremely large percentage of the US population. 73 million people received social security benefits, most of whom have paid into the system their entire working lives. They are entitled to those benefits because they paid into it with the promise that it would help them cope with retirement. Twenty percent of those over 65 receiving checks depend on them as their sole income.

From a prior post:

A Social Security administrator warned check recipients. "Save up because the next check may be late." Thanks to Chainsaw Musk, the continuing process of stopping the issuing of paper checks, even to the elderly who did not have electronic deposits, was angering. There would be no one there to fix the glitches or deal with old people's challenges with  computer illiteracy. 

The Social Security payment process was disrupted by the number of administrative personnel who took the offer to retire early under the threat that thousands would be fired. Anger and late payment arrival fears erupted.  https://fortune.com/2025/03/29/social-security-benefits-payment-systems-doge-cuts-paper-checks/   When protests arose, there was a classic "let them eat cake" response from a billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick,  who demonstrated he had no clue about how ordinary people live. Lutnick said his elderly mother-in-law would not complain about a late check, but those who complained were fraudsters.  That comment should be a Democrat's attack ad looped and looped again as another classic example of why oligarchs should never be in control of human services because of their total disconnect from how ordinary people live. Both Musk and Lutnick get the Marie Antoinette award of the decade. (A queen of France, when told the people were out of bread and starving, said, "Let them eat cake". That queen lost her head in the French Revolution.)  https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/social-security-lutnick-doge-checks  A late Social Security check will be a politically explosive wake-up call to older Americans. Most people on Social Security have no money to save and put aside for Musk's stupidity, or as some claim, a strategy for Musk to get the contract to privatize the Social Security administration..

To add insult to injury, the insensitive Musk proposal to eliminate service by telephone and instead force the elderly to use their computers to sign up (whose computer savvy is low to none), or go to in-person social security offices, was further angering. At the same time, a long list of social security offices were to be closed. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-social-security-phones-b2714222.html

What motivated Musk to do this? It is, as the bank robber said when asked why he robbed banks? It's where the moneyis, claimed Trump, 125-year-olds are still on the books. Ah, only the unthinking should swallow that tale: Got any example of any of those 125 being mailed a check? Why? TRUMP: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years // And money is being paid to many of them, and we are searching right now.” Keep on searching, fools. And those who swallow this are being fooled. Remember, when your check does not arrive, who is to blame? Trump idiocracy. Here’s how many ‘dead people’ really collect Social Security  PER AP fact checker: The databases may list those p iseople, but that does not mean they are getting paid benefits. Part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which doesn’t use a specific format for dates, per AP and any number of posts and reports. the COBOL code problem was already reported in 2023 in a audit, but there was no evidence found that checks had been sent to any of them.

Democrats are making political  hay connecting this issue to oligarchs in the Trump administration:that by the numbers, millions must be cut from the budget to offset the tax relief the very  is seeking that reduces income to the treasury. Another suspicion is that if the administration is destroyed, Musk would like the contract to administer it, in addition to the $38 billion he already has in federal contracts.  That the Social Security program needs to be saved from eventually going bankrupt, is true,  but this cruelty and destruction of its mission is no way to fix it.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/01/doge-actions-may-cause-social-security-benefit-interruption-ex-agency-head.html

https://fortune.com/2025/03/03/elon-musk-joe-rogan-podcast-doge-social-security-biggest-ponzi-scheme-of-all-time/

Chainsaw cuts in social security make mockery of budget and may be even unconstitutional

 The old mantra of the GOP, cut federal services and personnel because they are bankrupting our country, is on steroids with the indiscriminate mass Musk chainsaw cuts. That has been the GOP rationale for cutting taxes to the rich as far back as the 1930s.  The theory is that the very rich invest money to increase commerce, and the new taxes resulting will bring down the debt and deficits.  The theory continues that the prosperity it fosters will trickle down to the struggling masses.  It has never worked as the theory he promises anywhere in the industrialized world.  It is the same BS as it ever has, except the numbers in 2025 are staggeringly large and the old fiscal conservative GOP has shut its mouth in loyalty to Donald Trump..  Both Democrats and Republicans share guilt for raising debts and deficits, but what the Trump regime is trying to do is dramatically more.  Trump is seeking 1.6 trillion in government cuts to offset 4 trillion in tax cuts. The math itself is revealing. there is a big gap betweewhat at best could be cut and the hit to the treasury would exceed even if t all works as the Trump regime plans.. The 1.6 trillion is to be taken from the hide of social and human and  that benefit lower income brackets, like social security and  Medicaid, under the cover of only cutting waste, fraud and abuse. 

The attorney general of Arizona has launched an information-gathering activity to record consumer complaints about Social Security. The DOGE cuts of staff providing customer service is so severe, the state AG of a state full of retirees is taking action. In a form developed by the AG is the word "unconstitutional".  What could that be?  What could be the basis of a suit? I wonder if a clause in the Constitution could be the one to which the Constitution is involved.  https://www.azag.gov/socialsecurity

Likewise, the AG in Michigan is beginning to gather information and evidence that could lead to a lawsuit by AGs to save Social Security's consumer access and service. Attorney General: AG Nessel Launches Form for Reporting Social Security Disruptions

State budgets will be hard-pressed to make up for other chainsaw cuts to Medicaid. In Colorado, the proposed budget is already showing a deficit, much less make up for the harm the federal Medicaid cuts would do to its citizens. The medicaid cuts could cost 458,000 Coloradans health care coverage, per a recent study as cited in the publication Colorado Politics. State budgets are already stretched so that it would be very difficult to make up the loss due to chainsaw cuts.

 https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/medicaid-cuts-could-cost-458-000-coloradans-health-coverage-study-claims/article_2803985b-b1f5-5f94-830a-870ba55d0e82.html?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=COPO%20Afternoon%20USE%20414&utm_content=COPO%20Afternoon%20USE%20414+CID_175994c87ac75c991557de56f4eb8a87&utm_source=campaign_monitor_email&utm_term=Medicaid%20cuts%20could%20cost%20458000%20Coloradans%20health%20coverage%20study%20claims

Musk's attack on the "administrative state" is the opposite of trying to  faithfully execute laws Congress passed, especially given the failure of Musk to document any significant evidence of "waste, fraud, and abuse". Instead, wholesale indiscriminate cuts appear to kneecap social services ability to deliver services  in order to reduce any federal government spending to make the tax cuts to the rich to appear less onerous on the national debt.   

The U.S. Constitution, specifically in Article II, Section 3, requires the President to "take care that the Laws be faithfully executed." This means the President, and the executive branch as a whole, must ensure laws passed by Congress are implemented and enforced.  Per Google AI.

So much has already written about this so  here are a few pertinent sources.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61172

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/tax-cuts-are-primarily-responsible-for-the-increasing-debt-ratio/

https://ncrc.org/cbs-news-50-years-of-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-failed-to-trickle-down-economic-study-says/#:~:text=See%20More-,CBS%20News:%2050%20Years%20Of%20Tax%20Cuts%20For%20The%20Rich,Trickle%20Down%2C%20Economic%20Study%20Says&text=But%20the%20analysis%20discovered%20one,economic%20growth%20and%20low%20unemployment.%E2%80%9D

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/07/us/politics/trump-economic-plans-debt-costs.html

How the Trump administration is clearing the way for corruption, updated to 5/27/2025

 Update: 5/27/25 https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-crypto-corruption-unpunished/    The gist of this story is that Democrats have their hands in the crypto pot, too. 

Updated 4/30/2025) and repeated in The  Trump administration is clearing the way for corruption. Buying influence in Trump's coin gets you a dinner: there is probably nothing more corrupt than this. Trump offers private dinner to the top investors in his meme coin | CNN Politics  Access to the president from foreign and domestic "investors" is sold to the highest bidder and the proceeds go into the president's pocket.  Meme coins are a form of crypto.On April 8, 2025, the Trump administration's controlled Department of Justice closed down its crypto section.  As Trump now raises money for himself, the use of crypto technology like meme coins and cryptocurrency is now freed by him from federal law enforcement scrutiny. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-dept-disbands-cryptocurrency-enforcement-unit-2025-04-08/  The Trump family is also heavily invested in cryptocurrency and their Stablecoin venture which also can convert cryptocurrency into US dollars.  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/politics/trump-crypto-world-liberty-financial.html

Continuing with the original plus updates through 4/28/2205:

Crypto itself it is a favorite of those who want to disguise their transaction since the buyers and the exchanges that facilitate trades and transactions only record the "address" of the participant and not the name. Transactions can be traced but they take time, effort, and skill for law enforcement to trace to actors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency_and_crime#   Per Google AI, cryptocurrency transactions are generally traceable due to the blockchain's public ledger and the reporting requirements of exchanges. While not directly tied to a person's name, transactions are recorded with public addresses and can be traced through blockchain analysis and by linking these addresses to individuals through exchanges or other data. 

For simplistic descriptions of crypto, Google AI has  the best.  Search google: what is crypto

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/trumps-corruption-grist-for-impeachment.html for more on the subject of meme coins and crypto technology and the role in plays in disguising users.

In addition,, the Trump family is heavily involved in their own crypto business. Trump Family Venture Plunges Deeper Into Crypto With New ‘Stablecoin’ - WSJ. Now, Trump has become the fox in the henhouse, in charge of the regulation of his own stablecoin enterprise.  

 Bribery and influence peddling are disguised as campaign contributions or buying Trump's enterprise offerings. Trump Store launched 168 products to profit off presidential transition period - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington   

Conflicts of interest are no longer taboo as Musk has also shown with his $38 billion worth of federal contracts. Trump's tariffs on imported autos will benefit Tesla per Bloomberg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP1a3svt5WERaising eyebrows:

Trump has a close relationship developed over a couple of years with the El Salvador government. They share a similar interest. The Trump family is heavily invested in cryptocurrency and so is El Salvador, though recently they had to abandon using it as their national currency. Both support using cryptocurrency as as a strategic reserve .https://www.americasquarterly.org/.../in-el-salvador...

(4/30/2025) More on the Trump crypto business: https://newrepublic.com/post/194552/donald-trump-shady-crypto-partners-damning-report

The Crypto Election: Crypto, Disinformation, and Presidential Politics | TRM Blog   

/https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-establishes-the-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-and-u-s-digital-asset-stockpile/

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/trumps-corruption-grist-for-impeachment.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/elon-musk-business-government-contracts-funding/

Update 4/12/2025 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/04/11/congress/tariffs-insider-trading-allegations-democrats-00286880  Insider trading in DC by lawmakers and the President is a nagging form of corruption. It is a crime elsewhere. but not there. Insider trading occurs when someone has information of an upcoming event or executive order that a certain stock or the market in general will have a sudden increase in the future and buys the stock now, knowing that they can sell it at a large profit when the stock does soar. Lawmakers and the White House think they can get away with this crime. The issue rose when Trump publicly said it's a good time to buy shares now, and then four hours later he announced a pause in the tariff wars that caused the market to take off like a rocket. Trump is immune, remember, from being charged with a crime thanks to the Supreme Court. His staff or cabinet members are not immune.

4/1/2025  observation:  A warning to Democrats: If Musk becomes such a political liability or his Tesla losses are severe enough, either Trump or Musk himself will remove himself from the political stage. At that point, the "oligarch problem" becomes less of a negative for Trump.   The anti-oligarch attack could be a short term strategy.  However, the entire Trump regime and Trump himself are still fair game.  As complicated as it is, Trump family grift will still be a vulnerable political liability.  For that reason, the Democrats should not put all of their Musk eggs in one basket and still keep Trump himself an an object of disaffection due to widespread nature of his own grift.

Continuing with the original post. Stablecoin (a cryptocurrency) is supposed to be backed one-for-one with real dollar assets, which can be converted and exchanged for real money.  Crypto is virtually unregulated. Stablecoins provide very effective ways to launder money and to use it for influence peddling anonymously.   Stablecoins can be converted to hard cash mostly through unregulated exchanges.  It is suspected that money laundering has been handled by such exchanges.  These exchanges had been under scrutiny by US law enforcement. Under Trump, the investigations have been limited or suspended.  SEC ends investigations into crypto firms under Trump administration   Trump’s Crypto Venture Introduces a Stablecoin - The New York Times

 Eyebrows raised:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/trump-kleptocracy-autocracy-inc/682281/

 https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/business/crypto-mogul-trump-coins-civil-fraud-charges/index.html

It’s a Powerful Force in American Politics. Your 401(k) Depends On It. It’s Complete Nonsense.   

  MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: When it comes to corruption, Trump is now the fox in the henhouse

Oligarchs like Musk are already enriching themselves by protecting their government contracts or influencing public policy in ways that empower themselves more.  Conflict of interest is no longer a dirty word, nor is bribery a dirty word, as Musk tried to do by offering money rewards to loyal voters in Wisconsin. .Wisconsin AG seeks to block Elon Musk's million-dollar giveaways ahead of state Supreme Court race .Whistleblowers have lost their protection from retaliatory firing. Inspectors general have all been fired.

  MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The only whistleblowers left is the free press...guard it well updated   

Trump and Musk have huge conflicts of interest. Who’s policing them? | Vox

Trump's attempt to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau blocked by court. Federal judge blocks Trump from dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | AP News

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: When it comes to corruption, Trump is now the fox in the henhouse

The anti-oligarch tour's success should not be a surprise: Tracking its rise

 https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/12/new-resistance-opportunity-arises.html updated 3/23/2025

New resistance opportunity arises: Rule by oligarchs and class warfare updated through 3/23/ 2025 from its beginning in December, 2024

Update: 3/23/2025

Disturbed because of the growing crowds supporting the Bernie Sanders/AOC anti-oligarch tour? The rowdy, disruptive attendees at the GOP town halls? When MAGA controls the White House and the majority of Congress and proposes to end democracy as we know it, and Musk is empowered to take a chainsaw to government regardless of human casualties, that is darn radical from the extreme right, so do not be surprised as the left responses in radical terms, too. Extremism begets extremist responses. You should not have been surprised. Biden, by the way, hardly a radical, saw it coming, and kicked it off.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5334488/bernie-sanders-fight-oligarchy-tour-trump-musk-doge-democrats

Update 3/31/2025: The accusation from the right wing is that those attending GOP townhalls are dominated by rowdy anti-trump crowds, are organized by left-leaning political organizers and are paid to attend, so it does not represent the voters is more than just being dismissive or smearing the attendees to explain why this is happening to their MAGA wing. Don't be fooled, exhorts Trump. First: prove the accusation that those attendees are paid. (Evidence is missing, so prove it.) Second: where are the MAGA counter crowds at the same events? (Not those that only allow screened MAGA attendees to the GOP townhalls). Those town halls are also open events, but MAGA could attend and push back. They do not. Why? Is it a lack of organization on MAGA's part, or a lack of enough enthusiasm for what Trump is doing? Or is it that anger is a greater motivator

for political action? If it is the latter, that should be a warning sign for the GOP in the midterms and they are fooling themselves.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5210406-trump-protesters-rail-against-rep/

One issue that has not gotten as much attention as it should is how corrupt the Trump regime is and the open corruption that oligarchs like Musk represents and fosters. Update: 4/1/2025 The  Trump administration is clearing the way for corruption. Corruption is being legitimized in various ways. Bribery and influence peddling are disguised as campaign contributions or buying Trump's enterprise offerings. Trump Store launched 168 products to profit off presidential transition period - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington   In addition,, the Trump  family is heavily involved in their own crypto business. Trump Family Venture Plunges Deeper Into Crypto With New ‘Stablecoin’ - WSJ. Now, Trump has become the fox in the henhouse, in charge of the regulation of his own stablecoin enterprise. Conflicts of interest are no longer taboo as Musk has also shown with his $38 billion worth of federal contracts. Trump's tariffs on imported autos will benefit Tesla per Bloomberg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP1a3svt5WE

Posting 12/17/2024 continuously updated. through 3/23/2025...reposted...to track its rise. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5210406-trump-protesters-rail-against-rep/

New resistance opportunity arises: Rule by oligarchs and class warfare updated through 3/23/ 2025

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/whats-big-deal-about-democracy-who-cares.html

Update: 1 16 2025:  Biden's farewell address: his warning about oligarchs' rule destroying democracy: Biden delivers farewell address, warns of 'oligarchy' taking shape in America | AP News

Update: 2/112025 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5129353-gop-support-for-musk-influence-with-trump-falls-dramatically-poll/

Update: 1 27 2025.  The left thinks Biden should be indicted for letting the billionaires get rich during his term, so he calls them oligarchs. Here is where this "indictment" went off the rails. Yes, the ultra-rich billionaires rose, but it took more than 4 years. That is not the issue: the issue is what the billionaires are doing, which is to take over the political power of the nation, having already conquered the economic power. When they merit an office in the West Wing and whisper daily into Trump's ear, that is when they leap from just a billionaire to oligarchdom. In fact, they are even more powerful than the oligarchs supporting Putin, who simply kills them off if they misbehave. The oligarchs put Putin in power, and once there, Putin kicked them out of his government. That may be the fate of the oligopoly under Trump, too. However, Trump is still consolidating his power and needs their help. Our version deserves the title of oligarch because of their political roles, which lifts them above the other extremely rich. They are robber barons, ok. Not just deserving that indictment as monopolists and vulture capitalists, they have branched out by trying to get more tax relief and do away with environmental and consumer protections and social programs to balance off their assault on the treasury. They stand ready and willing to buy any politician who stands in their way. The political power they now have is what needs to be indicted, along with Trump giving them the seat of honor at his table.

msn.com

Joe Biden’s Indictment

The former president’s unexpectedly powerful farewell address rightl
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/03/29/1088886554/how-putin-conquered-russias-oligarchy

Update: 1 /14/2025

I picked up a disturbing line in last Monday's Rachel Maddow show: " We have already lost our democracy. " . My follow-up question is: Can we get it back, and how can we? Ideas, comments? My own thoughts are that on November 5, 2024, 49.9 of voters handed over governance to this country to an autocracy, fed and influenced by oligarchs, and enabled by his Supreme Court to give him immunity from prosecution for criminal acts while performing his official duties.On January 21, 2025, Trump will finalize the takeover by signing 100 executive orders, mostly concerning the implementation of Project 2025, an attempt to place all power in the hands of the executive branch, and reduce the influence of the two other branches by appointees and threats, including violence. The business community is already falling all over themselves bending their knees, ending DEI, and ending fact-checking, mostly out of fear of the abuse of power, from the DOJ and regulatory agencies.

 

Continuing the original 12/17/2024  post:Trump's reliance on oligarch contributions to his campaign and his fawning, and surrounding himself, his cabinet, and his advisers with the current crop of the ultra-rich is ripe for a resistance campaign issue for the midterms. Trump's rule by an administration filled with billionaires that he is planning for his next act is a gift to Democrats as they plot strategy for the midterms in 2026 to get back those working-class voters they lost in 2024. Democrats can and should make a bigger deal of class warfare. It is low-hanging fruit, obvious and visible, and Democrats have a tradition and a credible track record of supporting the middle class ' pocketbook interests.

From my blog posting 1/13/2025 :If we have lost our democracy,  can we get it back? Preserving and restoration of democracy is not an effective pitch to motivate voters. We just got a lesson in that. In fact, at the risk of stating the obvious, what works is understanding and illustrating what voters feel in their lives and directing messaging to their real-life concerns. If democracy is mentioned, it should be that democracy will and can be the best vehicle to reflect and fix the problems important to "ordinary people" rather than an out-of-control kleptocracy and corruption of a Trump autocracy.

The problem is that in 2024, the fear of the loss of democracy was not taken seriously, not understood, nor urgent, and not relevant to everyday life, in spite of the Democrats making Trump's threat to democracy a major campaign issue. Experience is the best teacher if the connection between who and what is at fault can be made and voters are made aware of how they have been hurt. If and when Trump fails to deliver on such promises as rolling back grocery prices, keeping gas at the pump affordable, stopping inflation, and making health care and general living more affordable, will those swing voters, the non-racist motivated ones, be receptive to the message and will the pendulum swing the other way. The trust in Trump, that whatever he does that is good for him is good for you and me too, is a bond that needs to be broken. Trump will continue to win the race-sensitive part of the MAGA block with his anti-DEI, Project 2025 White nationalist agenda, and cruel immigration policies.

GOP priorities regarding tax policy are designed to make the rich richer by extending the tax cuts the rich love. Either they blow the hole bigger than now in the deficit or cut social programs that benefit the middle class and the working poor. Health care, social security and Medicare are targets, among others. This one issue alone is ripe for class warfare. The burning question Democrats need to ask at every opportunity is "How does that benefit whom" and they need to then be ready to point out their alternatives. The GOP has been handed a gift: recovery from COVID-19, putting the breaks on inflation, and jobs for everyone who more or less paid enough to keep up with inflation. Now, let us see what they do with that.

This is a good summary of the GOP's legislative agenda:  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/119th-new-congress-to-do-list-priorities   If this is it, I see nothing in it that will improve the lives of "ordinary Americans". In the meantime, both the executive branch and Congress run by the GOP support and promise policies, including tariffs and immigration, guaranteed to stoke the flames of inflation again. The GOP has to get it right before the midterms for those who say they voted for Trump because of the economy. How the GOP will offset negative fallout will be carrying out their white Christian agenda as planned in Project 2025, which has little to do with Congressional action but relies on executive orders.   Expect every possible failure by the Trump administration on economic policies to blame immigrants who are black and brown or foreign.  So far, this racist, hate approach, fear, and blame the "others" has been a winning strategy for every wannabe and current strongman dictator from Putin to Orban to Erdogan to Trump.  

The most damaging blow to democracy was Citizens United where contributions could be hidden by corporations in lobby and interest groups and political committees. We used to be able to see who contributed. Now they are hidden thanks to the absurd Scotus opinion corporations are people and have rights Musk was brazen. Nothing hidden there:$ 277 million. https://www.msn.com/.../elon-musk-put-277-million-into...       If there is one change that would help democracy survive as it was meant to be, it would be to undo the Citizens United opinion.  The other would be to undo political gerrymandering, another bad Scotus opinion. This permits those with money to determine the outcome of representative bodies by threatening to provide enough money to "primary" someone who steps out of line. Musk just did it. Republicans dismiss Elon Musk's threats after bill rejection

This is not just a USA problem, but a world one. Update 1 20 2025: Billionaire wealth surged in 2024, says Oxfam as world leaders meet for Davos

Update 1 16 2025: Those who own the message media can control minds.  The oligarchs are well on their way to doing it: 

Democracy has an oligarch problem updated 1/13/2025

Mark Zuckerberg Drops DEI And Fact Checking - Search News

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/a-30-million-campaign-to-free-social-media-from-billionaire-control-is-now-underway/

Donald Trump has threatened to shut down broadcasters, but can he?

How Hungary's Orbán uses control of the media to escape scrutiny and keep the public in the dark | The Associated Press

Elon Musk, a person who could fit the definition of an oligarch, has recently become Trump's alter ego. Now that Elon Musk seems to be running the transition and Trump sits in Mar A Lago nodding his head, Musk deserves real scrutiny. Do we really want that powerful influence over Trump by Musk, who is revealing himself as a neo-Nazi sympathizer? He just congratulated the AFD party in Germany for its recent showing and called it the savior of Germany, a party widely recognized by many as a neo-nazi party. It should not come as a surprise.  Trump has given American neo-Nazis a public platform since taking over Twitter (now X).

He is under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to comply with the SEC rules in his purchase of X. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/14/sec-sues-musk-alleges-failure-to-properly-disclose-twitter-ownership.html  In the newTrump regime, we should be watching what happens with this suit and whether it is dropped.  

Some (writing opinions) even think Musk wants to rule the world. This would explain his meddling in other countries' affairs.  We used to dismiss a person  who pulls the world's strings as nothing but a paranoid delusion. That thought the Musk would attempt to be such a force is frightening. Elon Musk seeks to install himself as global dictator – and 'so far it's working': expert

Update: 1 14 2025 In reaction to rumors that Musk is considering buying TikTok and Zuckerberg caved into Trump and stopped fact-checking on Facebook, this is very important; non-profit media is launching an effort to keep social media out of the hands of billionaires. In the meantime, like never before, social media should be treated as people's opinions but not as a source of credible facts and data. My policy is to list the sources of my facts and data cite and what is influencing my opinions on my blog or on social media postings. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/a-30-million-campaign-to-free-social-media-from-billionaire-control-is-now-underway/

 In 2024,  Democrats raised the fear that oligarchs would damage democracy (https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/10/democracy-has-oligarch-problem.html) and instead made combatting MAGA's extreme positions on choice and minority rights and other cultural issues their prime issues.Harris did her best to talk about grocery and gas prices and the high cost of housing and presented some constructive ideas to deal with it, but Trump, the ever real estate promoter and con man, sounded more credible, pointed to low prices pre COVID to make America great again  though he had no plans.  We know how that turned out. We also know he can't deliver, already saying" it is too hard to do it." Now, in Trump.2  it appears that the middle class and working families will also be the victims of the oligarch influence over Trump. 

The rule of billionaires in this second Trump administration is likely to be Trump's Achilles heel. Dems can take aim at those super-rich to the extent that billionaires 1) do not know what wage earners have to do to make ends meet and 2) don't care because they only see public policy good that increases their wealth in tax policy and deregulation. 3) Billionaires often see offsetting the cost of their tax cuts and the damage of doing that by cutting social security health care, feeding the poor, etc, that make the middle-class and working poor's lives easier. Therein lies the reasons Dems can and should engage in class warfare as a contrast to their policies that help wage earners and, the middle class and the needy. They have a track record of advocating, supporting, and protecting the middle class that the GOP does not have. Trump's billionaire appointees plan is a new opportunity ripe for attack not available to Democrats in 2024.

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/resistance-is-not-enough-democrats-have.html

Trump has tapped an unprecedented 13 billionaires for his administration. Here's who they are - ABC News.

Post 2024 election, the billionaire contributions to Trump continued per this meme, data unverified but worthy of attention: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18SyzrraVK/

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BILLIONAIRES AND OLIGARCHS  Are all billionaires oligarchs? I have my own take on that. Oligarchs are those who participate in an oligarchy. is an interesting evolution of the usage of the word oligarchs that has roots in economic terms, in how many limited numbers of companies control a "market', or specific sectors of the economy. 

Oligarchs also wield more power than just in business. They are politically involved and control more than one power center, such as the media and political positions, informal or formal.  An oligarch is now most frequently associated with political power.  Not all billionaires are oligarchs, but an oligarch is usually a billionaire or at least a multi-millionaire.

 However, Putin's regime is supported by what Russians call oligarchs...very rich Russians who act on Putin's behalf (or meet unfortunate deaths if they do not). It has become more of a political term than a business/market term.   The term oligarch resembles the US. It has become a political description of a billionaire tied up in political power that resembles the Russian counterparts. I see it in that context. 

. 

 Is Trump an oligarch? If not, he is at least an aspiring one. He acts like one and surrounds himself with bonafide ones to such an extent that at least he appears to treat them as his peer group. Recently, in the passage of the continuing resolution for keeping the government open and his failure to get what he wanted (ending the debt ceiling), he looked like he bowed to his peer, Elon Musk, and Musk's attempt to blow up the bi-partisan deal reached earlier. 

This is a potential issue, and to the extent those like Elon Musk and others hurt ordinary Americans, it needs to be followed closely. It also depends upon the messaging skills of Democrats to make the connection, to date, at best, poor.  The opportunity is there. Not only is it a class clash, but it also has practical consequences that will hurt Americans in their gut of pocketbook issues. If what the oligarchs do appears to be self-serving, wealth-building while the rest of us take it on the chin can become a major issue.  It is especially ripe if what appears to ordinary people is that those like Musk who proposes hurting and cutting out federal programs such as Obamacare and Social Security, consumer protections from abusive business practices and unsafe products are the oligarch's way of offsetting the tax cuts and regulatory requirements.

Is Elon Musk an oligarch? He fits my definition of an oligarch, and he is an example of one who attempts to influence political policy and candidates to benefit him.  Musk controls many sectors, including automotive EVs. social media via Twitter/X , and space exploration.He seems to think at this moment that he also controls Congress, the executive branch, and the GOP.  MAGA seems willing to dance to his tune.  The significance of the House vote on whether to shut down the government or fund it on December 20 was that even Elon could not control that.  Trump looked like he, too, was dancing to Musk's tune, following his lead on the budget ceiling, which both Musk and Trump failed to get it included in the final version.

 .

Musk proposes to cut out the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau so he can avoid regulation when he turns X( formerly Twitter) into a consumer bank and service site. He also wants to destroy reports of Tesla crashes. Bad for business. (per an expose by Rachel Maddow 12/16/2024) and  Trump team set to end key vehicle safety rule opposed by Elon Musk's Tesla: report     So now the oligarchs are proposing to cut the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau over outrage that $35 late fee is being reduced to $5 in the waning days of the Biden administration.  The yelp from the finance companies over this outrageous money/profit generation that screwed consumers is heard on FOX.  Whose side is MAGA on? The finance companies or their loyal consumers? Obviously, those getting screwed by this are the consumers; those demanding this profit center are the finance companies.  Let's see how this one plays out.https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/cfpb-has-been-an-absolute-disaster-ej-antoni-explains-what-doge-should-cut-first/

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-bans-excessive-credit-card-late-fees-lowers-typical-fee-from-32-to-8