Our democracy is under relentless attack and we are in a full-blown crisis.
But as attention continues to focus on Donald Trump, what gets lost is that extremely powerful and wealthy individuals are funding and orchestrating the entire thing.
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jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/a-test-run-t…
Trump gets all the attention because he's a buffoon, a personality, and he is profitable for the media to focus on.
But Trump is a weapon, a battering ram for wealthy and powerful forces that have been systematically destroying democracy for ages.
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Trump is a spectacle and imbued with a singular talent for recklessness that exposed the fragility of our systems.
The powerful people who want to destroy democracy watched him and learned their efforts were coming into full fruition.
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What we must start paying attention to are the people making use of Trump and the GOP.
Billionaires obsessed with dismantling government as a public good, privatizing everything, and eliminating any impediment to expanded power and profit.
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Through the use of foundations and organizations, the wealthy have invested their money in creating an infrastructure that challenges all legal and political obstructions to their wealth.
It is a vast attack on regulation and democracy that some people have no idea exists.
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When Trump came into office, he had no real agenda. It was supplied by Right Wing think-tanks funded by these billionaires.
They gave him instructions he followed to a T. Those same groups have worked relentlessly to dismantle government to increase those donors' profits.
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Trump is a perfect weapon for these people. He appeals to the voters they need to gain power and delivers the radicalizing message necessary to carry out the work.
But behind the "populism" of MAGA, is a carefully planned and orchestrated system to benefit the wealthy.
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There is a direct line between MAGA and the "Tea Party Movement," a conspiracy theory-ridden project funded, directed, and weaponized by wealthy donors to move the country further right and embrace libertarian economic policies.
They're essentially the same thing.
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Just like the "Tea Party Movement," MAGA is an attempt by Right Wing billionaires to capitalize off racism, misogyny, and paranoia to push the country further right and to achieve political and economic goals.
It's an operating system hiding the influence of the wealthy.
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And, just like what happened with the "Tea Party," the GOP faced a decision. Either embrace MAGA or be destroyed by it.
The choice was easy. Republicans jumped full bore into it and used Trump and MAGA to get the legislation they wanted.
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Even Republicans who understood Trump was a dangerous buffoon went along, largely to get budgets and tax cuts and judges they desired.
It was a useful veneer that the wealthy used for political gain. But it also exposed further opportunities for radicalization.
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Trump is a grifter, a fraudulent salesman, but ideologues desperate to dismantle liberal democracy recognized him as an opening for their plans.
Illiberal seeds planted for years began to bloom as these ideologues pushed forward their authoritarianism.
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Capitalizing off Trump, illiberal authoritarians brought international movements home, using conspiracy theories to prepare the base to believe they faced extinction or "replacement" if they didn't destroy democracy.
It is a building threat.
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And, much as the "Tea Party" consumed the GOP and changed it, a new trend is taking hold of the Republican Party.
This "National Conservatism" is illiberal in nature, authoritarian, and it is gaining favor by the day in the wealth class that funds all of this.
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The truth is that all of this is incredibly good for business. Neoliberalism prefers authoritarianism and detests democracy.
The push further and further Right is as predictable as it is tragic. And the ground is prepared for some truly grotesque developments.
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What these wealthy and powerful forces found in 2020 and 2021 was that the country had been fully prepared for the destruction of democracy.
The base was ready. The infrastructure was being finalized. The GOP was fine with it, and the guardrails were nonexistent.
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The Big Lie of the "Stolen Election" was the perfect framing to pass laws that either disenfranchised voters or created the necessary infrastructure to change results.
It was a dream scenario for an extreme minority hellbent on controlling politics.
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Meanwhile, the conspiracy theories that kept Trump surging forward also prepared the base for violence, coups, and kept them so terrified of "evil plots" they would do almost anything, including taking over their local governments and schoolboards.
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In the case of the "CRT panic," the wealthy used their think-tanks to spread conspiracy theories and capitalize off them, radicalizing local supporters to prepare their public education system for privatization and curriculum designed to benefit the wealthy.
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It's not a coincidence that this always leads back to the same people. They fund all of this. The think-tanks. The fake movements. The plans to challenge elections and laws and bend it all to their will.
This is the great untold story at the heart of all of this.
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Donald Trump is a buffoon. A clown. But he's been an incredibly useful clown in exposing where the system was vulnerable and in delivering the preferred propaganda.
The wealthy and their organizations used him and continue to hide behind him.
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Trump's status as a lightning rod for attention and scandal is an incredible shield for the wealthy and powerful who have systemically carried out this plan for decades.
We have to see what they're doing, how it connects, and how it's all playing out.
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