The Billionaire's Endgame: Dismantling Democracy and the Welfare State in the Name of Jesus
Article I, Section 8 "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.” Constitution of the United States of America.
Why do the rich want Donald Trump as President? The obvious reason is the tax cuts, but there’s more to the story. Regarding tax cuts, Trump reduced the corporate tax rate from from 35% to 21% which corporations then used for stock buybacks. After Biden became President, corporations raised their prices not for necessity but for greed, hence the term, “greedflation.” Greedflation accounted for most of the inflation in the last 6 years. As I’m writing this, Boeing - the company whose planes are falling apart (2 crashed, killing hundreds) is refusing to pay a living wage to it’s firefighters; their execs didn’t even know that these employees work 24 hour shifts.
It’s too expensive for just anyone to become President; in fact, it takes a coalition of Billionaires to win the seat. Now that Trump is a convicted criminal, he’s even more appealing to the Oligarchs. From the perspective of the Billionaire class, there is no one better to run the country other than a proven criminal, someone clearly willing to break the law to achieve their selfish ends.
There are many types of “rich” or wealthy in America and around the world, and “rich” is a relative term. There are millionaires, and mega millionaires, but then there are the Super Rich - the billionaire class. I recall when people were posting responses to attacks by Republicans about Biden’s income tax plan; my favorite retort was “if you make mac n’ cheese for dinner, you don’t need to worry about Biden’s tax plan,” or “If you drive a Ford F150, you don’t need to worry about Biden’s tax plan.” The replies were spot on. Most Americans have absolutely no clue who runs the country - many think owning an oversized, overpriced Ford truck makes them middle class or appear wealthy to others.
Americans who benefitted from Trump’s tax plan were the super rich, some call them the “ruling class,” or Oligarchs. The Oligarchs have had to pay more taxes under Biden, and with increased IRS funding, they’re going to have to pay back-taxes, and some may possibly serve jail time for failing to file a tax return because they owe tens of thousands they fraudulently refused to pay - filing a tax return when you make over $13,500 is not optional. The middle and working classes have been boosted by Biden’s presidency, but his attempts to help the 99% has been hindered by Greed-flation (study shows over 1,300 corporations lied about inflation).
Harris is running primarily to counter the anti-democracy, pro-fascist cult of Donald Trump, MAGA adherents, and the wealthy extremists who are funding him. Don’t get me wrong, Harris is well-funded by Corporations, but she operates in the “big-tent” party that includes many caucuses, not just one like in the GOP which is the Billionaire party.
Trump’s new tax plan raises taxes on the middle class and lower class but cuts it for the Oligarchs. His plan to raise Tariffs will cause massive inflation that will damage the poor and working classes and weaken an already shaky middle-class. Even the Economist supports Harris over Trump, but Oligarchs are simply immune to financial problems.
For the Oligarchs, they really don’t need Trump - they have enough money, they always have and always will. They do better under Trump than Biden, but either way, they have no worries. If they start to get low on cash they can make up for in many ways, like buying stocks on margin, or the private banks (federal reserve) can raise interest rates, make more loans, issue bonds, buy more real estate, and so on. They run the show. They have massive investments in every side of the market - when one sector is tanking, the other is rising. Think of the federal reserve, when they raise interest rates, the Ruling Class can cash in because the working class and middle class have to pay more interest to the super rich bankers.
The Oligarchs can easily dump $1,000,000 or more into a 1-mo bond at 5.37% and make $53,700 when interest rates are high (up to a 10 million dollar limit). Meanwhile, 50% of Americans have less than $500 in the bank for an emergency and cannot afford to buy a bond - ~35% have less than $100 in savings.
Some in the Ruling Class have said they want to pay more taxes, here; some are bothered or even worried about the increased wealth-inequality in America and the impact it could have on the stability of the country.
The old rich don’t really care about tax cuts as much as the new rich. The new rich want tax cuts for sure. Many of America’s new super rich are immigrants who prefer fascism and autocracy. The old rich aren’t really greedy so much as interested in maintaining a certain “world order” if you will. Yes, there is a world order; it’s been talked about and written about for over a century. Woodrow Wilson spoke about it. George HW Bush mentions it here. There’s a Wikipedia page about it, here.
There’s always been a world order, but still, the phrase: “new world order” elicits all sorts of anxiety - it shouldn’t - historically speaking, it’s not so bad. The problem is what does it mean for countries who are not on board with America’s idea of order? Well, it means that if you don’t do what America wants, then you get marginalized or crushed.
If you do not believe that there is an organized ruling class then do some reading; start with The Power Elite by Mills - as dry a book as ever, but nevertheless, it’s the entry level of understanding socio-political-economic structures in our democratic society.
Democracies have a problem. They gravitate towards being civilized, in fact, very civilized. Most Western democracies are civilized places, meaning they have a high tolerance for social and ethnic diversity (including sexual orientation); they have high levels of economic equality as well, universal healthcare, family medical leave, excellent public spaces and well-maintained infrastructure. Most democracies, but conspicuously, not America.
America is the hold out. Less civilized, often brutish, and more often than not, barbaric in the shadows of its history. The poor from European societies came to America for “freedom,” from religious persecution, but mainly for economic opportunities.
After WWII, in Europe, social democratic governments became stronger. The delusions of hyper-nationalistic fascists were on full display in piles of bricks and bodies throughout Europe. People needed safety, stability, peace and cooperation.
Across the Atlantic, America was still young, its buildings and streets unscathed by bombs and bullets, and its political and corporate leaders were hungry for power. The New World order was America’s to design. America was poised to take control of the colonies that Europe could no longer afford. The United States went to work: breaking ground for the Pentagon on September 11, 1941 lead to the creation of the most sophisticated and organized military establishment the world has ever known.
The Ruling Class in America didn’t need to worry too much about social democratic institutions; although unions had grown stronger and were well-established, they had lost much of their political power after Taft Hartley in 1947, and their demands were narrow and the working class was effectively divided by race, gender, and age. White male workers essentially wanted high wages, health insurance, a stable job, and a pension - they didn’t care so much about people outside of their immediate company. Meanwhile, Blacks were kept out of unions, and their political votes were strongly suppressed under Jim Crow laws; white women voted primarily for Republican candidates until 1980, but many women felt pressure, either direct or indirect, to vote for who their father or husband approved; voter apathy amongst the poor and the young was very high - 18 year old’s couldn’t vote until 1971.
During the 1950’s, European nations maintained direct control of the political-economy of many countries, such as the Congo, India, and Vietnam, but their grip was slipping. As the cold war started, Russia began to exert control in countries that buffered their border, and influence countries in Africa, Central and South America, and in Southeast Asia. As Vietnam slipped from the grip of the French, the United States eagerly came in with it’s own imperialistic agenda; this was a worldwide pattern. The Americans of the era saw civil unrest and rebellion in countries like Vietnam as caused by Soviet influence, and the Domino theory was born. It was one of the greatest foreign policy miscalculations in history, for what was really happening in the world wasn’t the spread of communism but the spread of Democracy - something the US promoted as a way of deterring Communism, but actually did not approve of in non-Western countries.
Vietnam was to America as America was to England in 1776 - countries wanted independence and democracy - they wanted their freedom from tyranny. During WWII, Ho Chi Minh helped the US fight off the Japanese; they had thought the US would set them free after the war, but instead, the US helped the French attempt to re-establish Vietnam as a colony. In need of weapons, Ho Chi Minh turned to Russia, but did not wholly embrace Communism. The US false flag operation known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident gave Johnson a blank check to escalate the invasion of Vietnam. In 1965, George Ball warned Lyndon Johnson that the US could not win a war in Vietnam (Ball was the Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs under Kennedy-Johnson). Nixon harnessed the power of a divided working class to further his continuation of the Vietnam war, it was all in vain, chasing sunk costs, benefitting nothing but America’s military industrial complex.
Today, Vietnam is a mixed-economy, somewhat socialist, somewhat free-market, but it is a fast growing economy and if not for the climate crisis, would likely be in the top ten largest economies by 2050.
From 1945 to 1975, the United States established itself as the world’s most prominent super power. Interventions in other countries peaked on September 11, 1973 with the Nixon assisted coup of Salvador Allende which lead to General Augusto Pinochet taking over the country; for the benefit of US Corporations and to establish a neo-liberal economy, Pinochet murdered nearly 3,000 people, jailed 80,000 and tortured thousands of others. From 1945 through 1975, Countries fought for independence from Western Europe, but America came in to take their place, often creating a more administrative form of colonialism that exists even today, based on central banks, a strong US Dollar backed by oil trade.
From 1945 to 1990, thirty-five countries claimed independence. Although these countries may have taken aide from Soviet Russia, they were not necessarily Communist. Most were Socialist or other mixed economies, but most importantly, they believed in the right to have their own nation and their own rules, whatever those may be. Now that the Cold War was over, America and the West needed another approach to replace Colonialism.
Some history: The Bretton Woods Agreement was established in 1944 in New Hampshire, at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference and was attended by representatives from 44 Allied nations. The agreement established the framework for the post-World War II international monetary system, including the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which later became part of the World Bank Group. This was the basis of a “New World Order,” where after WWII, the United States was in a position to establish itself as one of the world’s two super powers. After the fall of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991.
Colonialism was replaced by Globalization. Globalization was the incorporation of other nations into the American economic system based on American economic ideology - a Central Bank with the US Dollar as the Global Reserve Currency. If countries wanted to participate in the global economy, they have to use US Dollars. Over 20 countries simply use the US Dollar as their official currency. Other countries convert their currency to US Dollars for trade, for example, nearly all Oil is sold in US Dollars under the Bretton Woods Agreement. There are four primary reserve currencies: US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, and the British Pound Sterling, but the US Dollar remains the primary global currency. Attempts at undermining the Dollar’s position has failed; the latest attempt, BRICS, failed but was never a real threat to Dollar hegemony. Crytpo-currency is not an option because it has to be converted into Dollars or another type of currency; like precious metals, you can’t buy groceries with a piece of gold.
In his speech, on September 11, 1991, President George HW Bush mentions the “New World Order,” which was his acknowledgement of the point in time in which the United States became the world’s only super power - the first time in world history such an event occurred.
The New World Order required US control of Oil reserves in the Middle East. By design, the world relies on Oil for everything; the technology of every system has been built around Oil to the point where people long seemed shocked that alternatives even exist! The West has always exerted control over global oil reserves, but after the Iranian revolution in 1979, and the defiance of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the threat to US hegemony seemed real and growing - or at least that was the excuse for use of force. By 1999, pressure to exert more control over the Middle East had grown amongst policy circles in the US. Israel was also concerned about the growing military power of Iran. A power policy organization called The Project for A New American Century was established and attempting to influence President Clinton to intervene in Iraq and Iran. However, less hawkish policy wonks like Zbigniew Brzezinski held sway. Brzezinski is the father of the Mika Brzezinski on MSN with Joe Scarboro. Brzezinski was the National Security advisor to Jimmy Carter and developed the Carter Doctrine in 1980 (The Carter Doctrine stated that any threat to access to Oil in the Middle East would be considered an attack on the US itself) which was reinforced by Reagan and used by George HW and George W Bush, in part, to justify military intervention in the Middle East.
Prior to becoming President in 2000, George W Bush had already wanted to oust Saddam Hussein. The attacks on September 11, 2001 provided him with a cover for justifying the attack, which of course was later found to be based on lies delivered to the UN by Secretary of State Colin Powel, and thus an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation. George W Bush finished what his father had started in January of 1991 (Of Captains and Kings, Taylor Caldwell). George HW Bush also relied on propaganda to justify his attack on Iraq. Many Americans seemed shocked to learn that Colin Powell had lied to the UN to justify an illegal invasion of Iraq. The reality is that Colin Powell has a history of protecting American imperialism going back to Vietnam; in fact, Powell may have been chosen by Bush for this very reason - his loyalty to the US over international law.
From 1970 through 2001, the idea of the Unitary Executive gained traction. George W Bush was perhaps the first US President to test this concept, but Donald Trump is the extreme form of this idea - an elected Dictator. Project 2025 is the merging of the Unitary Executive with Christian Nationalism.
If elected Donald Trump will be America’s first elected king, and this would be no accident. For example, Hitler came to power not from his charisma, but from donations. In 1933, the Nazis received an extremely large boost in funding from the billionaire industrialists of the era: Krupp, IG Farben, and other Oligarchs, as well as other forms of assistance from American corporations, including Standard Oil (Exxon), GM, Ford, ITT (ATT), and many others.
Trump is precisely the sociopath willing to carry out the most sinister plans, someone willing to see people suffer and starve, someone willing to go as far as it takes, even if it means acts of genocide. It also gives America and the international community someone to blame for carrying out the horrific deeds that they want done, should a fall-guy be needed. Remember, Trump was willing to let an American journalist be cut to pieces and his body dissolved in a vat of acid to avoid being held accountable for his dealings with a foreign nation; he was willing to bribe a prostitute with corporate funds to the tune of $130,000. He stole our national secrets and sold them to our worst enemies. He made fun of Gold Star soldiers and the disabled. The Oligarchs who fund Trump see themselves as less guilty than the people who vote for him. The Oligarchs have plausible deniability, but at this point, it is safe to say that Trump voters do not. Trump voters must know by now, from all the press, that he supports Neo-Nazis and that MAGA is a revived KKK slogan. If Trump jails women for aborting a rapist’s fetus, or if he sends more bombs to Palestine, allows Putin to destroy Ukraine, lets China subsume Taiwan, or crashes the American economy, Trump voters directly share in the responsibility for those consequences.
The pursuit of power by the super-rich, exemplified in their support for Donald Trump, extends beyond tax cuts and economic self-interest. It’s about systematically dismantling the welfare state - programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public school funding, and the redistribution of wealth through progressive taxation—all of which threaten the accumulation of unfettered wealth and influence; these programs represent the safety nets that keep millions of Americans from falling into poverty, while ensuring a baseline of health and education for all. These systems have also prevented our economy from entering into another Great Depression by providing stable sources of income during recessions. The destruction of these institutions would leave the working and middle classes in an economic freefall, eliminate their economic mobility and deepen our already wide wealth inequality.
To maintain and justify their new autocratic system, the Oligarchs have embraced Christian Nationalism as a tool for control. Like Roman Emperors, they intertwine religious identity with political power to cultivate a sense of divine authority and moral justification for their actions. Christian Nationalism, with its emphasis on conservative, patriarchal values and a rejection of pluralism, democracy, and equality becomes the ideological glue that binds their authoritarianism with a new national identify. It shifts the focus from economic inequality to a "culture war," where faith, nationalism, and fear of outsiders take precedence over the material concerns of everyday Americans.
We can already see this dynamic playing out in countries like Hungary under Viktor Orbán or Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko. In these nations, populist leaders have consolidated power by attacking democratic norms, aligning with religious institutions, and demonizing minorities and political opponents. Orbán, for instance, has used "Christian values" as a means to justify attacks on press freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and migrants, while simultaneously ensuring that Hungary's wealthiest oligarchs maintain control of the country’s resources. Similarly, Lukashenko rules Belarus with an iron fist, suppressing opposition and cloaking his regime in nationalist and religious rhetoric, all while enriching a narrow elite class.
A Christian Nationalist agenda in the United States, supported by oligarchs, would follow a similar pattern. Under Trump, we saw early signs of this: his administration’s close ties to evangelical leaders, efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, and attempts to erode the separation of church and state. The super-rich benefit from this framework because it deflects attention from their growing wealth and control, making it easier for them to weaken democratic institutions without significant backlash. In this vision of America, dissent is silenced in the name of “moral order,” and loyalty to the leader is equated with loyalty to God and country.
The phony fears of immigrants and LGBTQ+ electrify the uneducated voters who are then stripped of their own economic and political power by the Oligarchy that they installed. Ultimately, this alliance between the super-rich and Christian Nationalism is about more than policy. It is a strategy for maintaining an autocratic system where the elite can exercise power without accountability, shielded by a veneer of religious righteousness. As this movement gains traction, the fundamental question is whether Americans will see through the façade of culture wars and recognize the real threat to their democracy and economic security—or whether the nation will follow the path of Hungary and Belarus into a new era of oligarchic rule under the guise of Christian Nationalism.
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