News of the World: 21 September 2024
Trump goes crypto, Black Nazis, "The Jews," Nuclear Zombies, and an "Interdimensional Alien Invasion"...
Saturday was the day I intended for a weekly news rundown and, despite doing one on Monday and despite interrupting a dive into Donald Trump’s economic “policy,” dammit, Saturday will be the day I do a weekly news rundown…and no one is going to stop me! (Stand and cheer my empty bravado!) So…
Donald Trump is starting a crypto business. We don’t know much about this new venture other than its called World Liberty Financial (WLF). It could be a “crypto stock exchange” or it could morph into something else. It could be a half-assed swindle or it could be a half-baked money grab. We know that Trump has called crypto a “scam,” we know that Trump has no solid convictions about anything other than himself, we know that Trump gravitates towards scams that have proven lucrative for others (see Trump’s “for-profit university”), we also know that Trump is an insecure follower who is desperate to be in the Cool Club (Manhattan developers, NYC moneyed elite, NFL owner, president), we know that Trump is easily influenced by those who flatter him, we know that Trump is the Fecal Midas and whatever he attaches himself to it will be done poorly (child-raising, casinos, side-hustles, the presidency, social media companies), and we know that no one is better at attracting parasites and grifters like the king of them all, Donald J. Trump.
We know all of the above, so no one should be shocked to know Trump’s entrance into one of the sketchiest “business sectors” ever invented was greeted with this news:
Hackers apparently breached the social media accounts of Lara and Tiffany Trump on Tuesday, distributing what the former president’s son said were two fake posts touting a family cryptocurrency venture… Both phony posts referenced World Liberty Financial, a Trump family cryptocurrency project that has yet to formally launch…
The scammers (not the Trumps but the hackers) then used the Trump accounts to post links on Xwitter to a “professional looking” fake site that sold a half-million dollars worth of fake World Liberty Financial tokens to duped MAGA-heads before the hacked accounts were shutdown and the exploit exposed. Useless Son #2 Eric praised Xwitter for taking quick action on the hack, though who listens to Eric? Not anyone asking these very reasonable questions:
· Why weren’t Lara and Tiffany Trump’s Xwitter accounts put on double-triple-quadruple security status or whatever Leon Mush affords himself? While Tiffany’s role in Trumpworld seems to be part hostage/part suckerfish, Lara heads the Republican National Committee. You’d think that between Xwitter, WLF, Trump Org., and the RNC, someone would have the very basic issue of securing social media accounts (in 2024) down. Why didn’t that happen?
· Three weeks ago, when Trump announced WLF, he was warned by crypto and internet security experts that he was entering a very murky world full of apolitical opportunistic sociopaths that were going to try to exploit his venture the minute it launched, and that is what happened. Why didn’t Trump listen? Did he think he was the expert on internet security and crypto, so everything was okay? Did he see potential allies in the scammers and thought “Not me! They won’t come for me!”? Was he, once again, fooled by flattery? Was he lazy? Did he not care? Did he even know about the risks?
· What will Trump do now? Will he contact those who got scammed and make them financially whole? Or will he cold shoulder them, silently telling them that’s the “law of the jungle”? Will he show a minimal amount of leadership or will he turn away from the victims in “disgust”?
These questions beg one more: Will Trump run the country as he has World Liberty Financial? We don’t need a Nate Silver or a crystal ball for that one, we need only to look back. Yes, Trump will run the country as he has WLF, Truth Social, Trump University, Trump Org., USFL, and a pandemic plagued country.
It’s the Jews, it’s always the Jews, which is why Trump insists that if he tanks in the fall, “[t]he Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.” Trump added that the reason Jewish people vote Blue is that they have been “cursed” by the Democrats. Trump dumped these words on Jewish doners during a fundraising get-together and then repeated himself in a speech to the Israeli American Council National Summit (IACNS).
In both speeches, Trump whined that 60% of American Jew being against him even though he was the best American president Israel ever had, often conflating being Jewish with holding Israeli citizenship and assuming that all Jews are in lockstep with Netanyahu and Israeli policy.
Clearly Trump thinks that American Jews “owe” him something. He also views Jewish American support for Democrats as a personal betrayal. Trump has been very clear that those who betray him will pay. While president, he used the Department of Justice to go after his “enemies.” Trump has a history of veiled and not-so-veiled threats. As we experienced with his Proud Boys moment and on January 6, Trump will use thugs to exact revenge (BTW the Proud Boys have not gone away). Add all this up and “[t]he Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss” is obviously a threat. Vote Trump or else.
In related news: What to make of “Black Nazi” Mark Robinson, the maniac currently running for governor of North Carolina as a Republican, a man who once called Martin Luther King “Martin Lucifer Koon,” a man who Trump called MLK on steroids, a man who has such a long history of stupidity and meanness that there were doubts he’s win his race to be Lt. Governor (unfortunately, he won)? Here’s what to make Mark Robinson:
Mark Robinson is what passes for a Republican in 2024. While his language is extreme, it is not a departure – in words or style – than what swill we hear and read in right-wing media. Nothing he’s said hasn’t been said or intimated by Republicans such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, JD Vance, Donald Trump, and many others, including those like former Iowa congressman Steve King, who was hounded out of office for saying things which would win him the House Speakership today. Forget all the handwringers and the anonymous conservatives who are critical of MAGA: This is the Republican Party.
And, so, Trump rushes to North Carolina to do…what? He gave a speech, he rambled, and he never mention Mark Robinson even though Robinson was hand picked by Trump to run for NC gov. Damage control? How? By drawing attention to a state which the Republican could lose thanks to Trump’s hand picked “Black Nazi”?
Let’s visit another disaster site, Three Mile Island. The Washington Post reports that Constellation Energy, TMI’s owners, have struck a deal with Microsoft to provide Microsoft and only Microsoft with energy to support their AI operation. The Post writes that “[t]he four-year restart plan would cost Constellation about $1.6 billion…and is dependent on federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks earmarked for nuclear power in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.”
Yes, if this scheme is realized, we the taxpayer will be paying for major upgrades to a nuclear power plant owned by a private corporation which will sell the energy to a private corporation. The Post says that “[t]he power from the plant will not go directly to Microsoft facilities but into the overtaxed regional power grid that serves 65 million people across 13 states and D.C., called the PJM Interconnection” – which means that Constellation and Microsoft will be using a partially-publicly financed energy transmission system intended to facilitate the flow of electricity from a thousand different companies to tens of millions of people. PJM is already struggling with lack of capacity and a growth of demand. Microsoft’s TMI energy is sure to put more strain on the system, which Microsoft and Constellation will demand be eased with more of our money.
Big Tech supports this scheme because of course they do. The Tech Bros say that the “Three Mile Island case is an example of how Silicon Valley’s outside-the-box thinking will help stabilize the power grid for everyone.” Yes, just like Uber and Lyft “stabilized” the transportation system, short-term rentals “stabilized” the housing market, Facebook “stabilized” personal relationships, Xwitter “stabilized” political discourse, GrubHub et al “stabilized” the restaurant industry, crypto “stabilized” the economy, streaming “stabilized” the entertainment industry, etc.
Wait? What’s this with “stabilized”? I thought Big Tech was all about “disruption” and “breaking things”? Which is it? Or is it both: Break the public so that the private will benefit. Abolish what we hold and own in common so that individuals and only individuals are supreme. Abandon mutual aid for survival of the fittest, wealthiest, and most powerful. Ditch empathy and cooperation for the bully culture of might makes right and fuck you all I have mine. Forgive me if I sound like I don’t trust these people.
Finally, Alex Jones is still around, and the man who was once/is at the center of MAGA politics is back to…lizards, well kind of. Jones doesn’t specifically mention lizards in one of his latest spasms. Instead, he warns us about, uh, something:
The devil's gonna operate through all the possessed people he's got. It's a program. If you're exposing these satanic interdimensional forces, the special operations of this interdimensional alien invasion, that's how they come through. Just think of them as aliens, and then, then you can sell all these people, because that's what they are from their perspective, but they're demons, they're interdimensional creatures.
Remember, while this is a newish spin on Jones’ apocalyptic shilling, the fantastical extremity is nothing new. Back in 2016, while Alex Jones was ranting about an alien invasion of Florida and juice boxes turning kids gay, he was also being pimped as “the Republican king maker.” So, what changed? Very little. Though Jones has been sidelined by lawsuits and a few Republicans wanting to project “not-crazy,” he still has big influence in the party. There’s Mark Johnson and the MAGAettes. Trump paramour Laura Logan spills the same crap, though with an even more racist spin. JD Vance is a big fan. And there’s Donald Trump.
I’ll be back on Monday with more on Trump’s economic concepts of plans.
