The Deafening Silence on the coming Corruption

[ProfessorPlum]

Americans, in their benighted apathy, have re-elected the most corrupt president in our lifetimes. We have a few months before he is inaugurated and The Theft begins, where Trump takes the hard-earned taxpayers money and starts shoveling directly into his pockets.

All of the people in charge of our nation - politicial leaders, media leaders, law enforcement - seem to be OK with that and willing to just let it happen.

NO ONE is warning Trump and all of his kleptocratic allies that if they are caught ripping off, defrauding, embezzling, stealing from government - OUR MONEY - that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Why do you think that is? Do all of the powers-that-be think that the rule of law is just over in the US? That we should never hope for any justice at all? That all lawbreaking is now just allowed, because the GOP is above all accountability.

It seems that way.

[sop]

1. Corporate media has also normalized corruption.

Apparently, to the victor go the spoils. And there's nothing anyone can do to stop Trump.

[zorbasd]

11. Normalized grotesque GOP corruption

but scandalizes Democrats for wearing tan suites, etc.

[JT45242]

2. All new US attorneys will be required to sign loyalty pledge

Add to the sinister six ruling that the president is king...

Yeah, we expect that the rule of law is dead.

It has been dead for a while. We just didn't admit it.

[jmbar2]

3. Similar to a drone swarm attack

Bannon advocated "flood the zone with shit" strategy. So many parallel attacks that defense is overwhelmed.

Our legal system, system of norms is inadequate to handle so many attacks from so many directions. In theory, stopping them before they even start, through elections, is the traditional strategy. It is obsolete now. The oligarchs are now bypassing elections altogether and just grabbing.

We need to figure out how to combat this type of maneuver. I am at a loss as to how.

[Cirsium]

20. At a loss

I think most people are at a loss as to how to change things from within the system. The debate about that has been going on for a long time. I can remember discussions from the 60's among radicals and dissidents in Detroit with some arguing that we should go into politics and "change the system from the inside." Some did and had some success, Tom Hayden and Sam Brown come to mind. Some radicals from a previous generation in Detroit made similar decisions, Mayor Coleman Young, Rev. Albert Cleage for example.

Again and again in US history, pressure from organizations working outside of the system forced social and political change: Abolition, organized Labor, Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights are examples.

Again and again in US history, working within the system has resulted in being co-opted by the system: corporate green washing and the sabotaging the environmental movement is an excellent example of that.

Let's look to the first approach for ideas and inspiration, and stop looking to the second approach.

[Blue_Roses]

21. Well said!

While I was reading this, I was thinking the same thing. What is the solution to this?

One thing that immediately came to mind is the same people are using the same old methods to handle something bigger than the 1960's. Antiquated and out-dated thinking keeps us stuck. The solution? Bring in new diverse thinkers and actually listen to them. They need to be from all walks of life who have new ways of making their life successful. Simple ordinary, everyday, grocery store, car repair shop, librarian, etc., people.

To be continued...

[CousinIT]

4. The media and Democrats could say a lot more about it. Yet...

..... silence.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

5. +10,000

[Blue Full Moon]

6. They have never been held accountable.

Nixon needed to be punished not pardoned. Biden needs to not pardon trump. He's going to act out let him.

[CrispyQ]

7. Our electoral process has become an industry in itself. A huge corrupt industry.

It was bad before Citizens United but now our process is open to unaccountable money/influence. Until we change that nothing will change, & the people who can change it are some of the beneficiaries of the current corrupt system.

"Do you want $3 of your federal tax to go to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund?" Remember this question on the IRS tax form?

How the $3 campaign contribution check box on your tax form works
https://www.marketplace.org/2021/11/04/how-the-3-campaign-contribution-check-box-on-your-tax-form-works/

The box is a relic of an era when candidates took advantage of public funding. Mayer said that prior to the presidency of George W. Bush, it was actually the norm for most major candidates to take these funds for both their primary and general election campaigns.

more...

During the 2000 cycle, Bush became the first candidate to turn down public funds for the primaries and caucuses.

Since then, the numbers have grown much bigger. Mayer said the amount candidates need to spend now, and the amount they can raise, vastly exceed the spending limits they’d have to agree to.

more...

It’s much easier to raise money now, he added, thanks to online platforms like the Democrats’ ActBlue and the Republicans’ WinRed. The 2020 election cycle was the most expensive in U.S. history, with combined spending in presidential and congressional races reaching $14.4 billion, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of FEC filings.

It's obscene & corrupt. There may be more than a dime's difference between the two parties, but even the dems have to acquiesce to their masters.

[ProfessorPlum]

8. this should be its own post

[CrispyQ]

9. I should have added this paragraph.

While the number of taxpayers who decide to contribute has slowed down, the government still has $400 million in untapped funds that have accumulated over the years.

$400 million over years vs $14.4 billion in one election cycle.

[bronxiteforever]

13. This post speaks for me. The Supreme Court destroyed

our Country with Citizens United. They oligarchs bought the Court first and then all fell in place.
The clown with the flamethrower, elected by a public who should have known better, will burn it down.

Who can say what will come next?

[Old Crank]

10. One would hope that the press would....

well not this press. Especially after not touching anything that might annoy this corrupt manure sack during the election.

[hay rick]

12. Luigi Mangione took action.

I would prefer to see legal means used to stop the kleptocratic looting. If the legal system has been coopted and neutered is acceptance the best option?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

14. What would be the point of prosecution?

John Roberts and SCOTUS granted him immunity.

[ProfessorPlum]

16. his kleptomaniacal cronies don't have that immunity though

[Grumpy Old Guy]

18. Good point

But if it's a federal crime he'll just pardon them.

[ProfessorPlum]

19. good point

I guess it really is game over for any kind of rules/laws for these guys.

[Mblaze]

15. For instance

It is against the law for anyone who contracts with the Federal government to give money to any candidate for President yet Elon Musk, who has contracts through Space X and Starlink, has given $200 million to Trump. It's illegal on the face of it. Nothing but yawns from the FEC or the DOJ.

[GoodRaisin]

17. America is treading water in a sea of corporate corruption.

They have the media and they have the government. It is coming at us from every direction.