In his newsletter today, Professor Timothy Snyder offers a new glossary of terms to use in the coming next few years: 1. Mump regime. Musk plus Trump. Mu…mp. The real centibillionaire and the fake rich person in the proper order. 2. Mump oligarchy. The regime is an oligarchy, rule by the wealthy few. Trump is the oligarchs’ spokesman. He might stay or go. The oligarchs will remain. 3. Mump as illness. Physical illness: we are made sick and scammed blind (think of RFK Jr and Ramaswamy). Mumps is one of the diseases that will return without vaccines. Mental illness: Musk’s idea of prosperity is that he hurts you and you thank him. See my work on sadopopulism. 4. In Mumptopia, Americans spend our time in front of screens, instructed whom to hate and worship by algorithms curated by immigrant software engineers. We die pointlessly young on an overheated Earth with the word “Mars” on our lips. The Mump mage performs a ritual rocket dance, leaping a few inches over our graves. 5. Mump not MAGA. The MAGA folks somehow did not realize that they were giving power to a an illegal immigrant South African centibillionaire. This is not their regime. 6.
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1924-2024. What an incredible hundred years he lived through. Since they are required to fly for 30 days, the flags will be at half-mast on inauguration day, as it should be.
So much for the Great Bipartisan Hope: The House committee charged with helping the U.S. confront China risks losing momentum and falling into irrelevance amid partisan infighting on the panel, legislative dysfunction and signs of significant disagreement with Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The House China Select Committee — established two years ago to craft strategies and shape legislation to fend off Beijing — has had a rare reputation for bipartisanship and getting bills passed. That reputation may not last much longer. Already, partisan agendas have started to affect which legislation the group tries to push through. And the incoming Trump administration, while pledging to be tough on China, is expected to bring different priorities — making it difficult for the panel to get Trump-friendly Republicans on board with its proposals. As we saw with the continuing resolution chaos before Christmas, the problem was getting the Freedom Caucus rebels to vote for a bill that had been negotiated with Trump’s blessing (even though he pretended that he didn’t know about it) all because Elon didn’t like it.
The legal beagles Mark Joseph Stern and Dahlia Lithwick at Slate fielded a question from a reader asking if Trump could really run for a third term as he often hints at doing? Bannon made some news the other day proclaiming that he was going to. Lithwick points out that the clear meaning of the 22nd Amendment says no. It says: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. It seems pretty clear to me. Of course if everything goes completely sideways, he stages a successful coup and the constitution is no longer relevant, who knows what he could do? Stern addresses one scenario the reader had posed: Tracey does point out one potential loophole in her letter: I think it’s clear that Don Jr. could run for president in 2028, with Donald Trump as his vice presidential candidate. And if they win, at 12:01 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2029, Don Jr. can resign and Donald Trump will become the president.
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – December 29, 2024
By Tony Wikrent
Strategic Political Economy
A Newly Declassified Memo Sheds Light on America’s Post-Cold War Mistakes
[Slate, via Naked Capitalism 12-27-2024]
He’s global: The tech entrepreneur and close adviser to Donald Trump Elon Musk has taken a stunning new public step in his support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), publishing a supportive guest opinion piece for the country’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper that has prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest. The commentary piece in German was launched online on Saturday ahead of being published on Sunday in the flagship paper of the Axel Springer media group, which also owns the US politics news site Politico. Musk uses populist and personal language to try to deny AfD’s extremist bent and the piece expands on his post on the social media platform X that he owns, on which he last week claimed that “only the AfD can save Germany”. Translated, Musk’s piece said: “The portrayal of the AfD as rightwing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you?
Sergei Cristo, the whistleblower behind the new podcast series Sergei and the Westminster Spy Ring, warns about the real threats from abroad
. 2.Macro Musings Blog 7.Naked Capitalism 16.The Undercover Economist 20.Lars Pålsson Syll Lars Pålsson Syll’s blog illustrates his critique of the conventional economics paradigm together with other heterodox economic views. Engaged with the issues of economic methodology, monetary theory and the shortcomings of neoclassical economics, Syll seeks to overturn orthodoxy and calls for more profound […]
Sununu: [Musk is] so rich he’s so removed from the potential financial influence Donald Trump sold himself as so rich that he couldn’t be bought. He would spend $600 million of his own money to win the presidency. “I mean, part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich,” he told ABC in 2011. And in the fullness of time, the man sold NFTs of himself and Trump sneakers and Trump Bibles and Trump scents. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) reassures CNN’s Dana Bash that Elon Musk is incorruptible like that. He’s got both hands in the Trump 2.0 administration, sure. But he’s not “doing it for the money.” He’s not into making money for the money but for the betterment of all mankind. Musk loves mankind from which “he’s so removed.” It’s people he can’t stand. How dare we ask him to pay more in taxes to benefit them? Three years ago, Paul Krugman wrote (gift link): Elon Musk doesn’t think visionaries like him should pay taxes the way little people do. After all, why hand over his money to dull bureaucrats?
. A picture is worth a thousand words, but music paints a thousand pictures in your mind … Like so much of Arvo Pärt’s music, this masterpiece gives a sense of connecting with a world beyond the world. Breathtakingly beautiful and emotionally overwhelming, it manages to convey the profound serene beauty and mystery of our […]
Random notes Before we issue a sure-to-be-ignored word of caution to MAGA, let’s set the scene. I get that, with the reelection of King D, MAGA types just might be feeling their oats about taking back America from, you know, THOSE PEOPLE. The Daily Show‘s Ronny Chieng discourses on patriotism and education. He was born in Malaysia (like you’d care), but how would you know? View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karen Cahn (@karencahn) Let’s got to Politico: A Colorado man is facing possible bias-motivated charges for allegedly attacking a television news reporter after demanding to know whether he was a citizen, saying “This is Trump’s America now,” according to court documents. Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested Dec. 18 in Grand Junction, Colorado, after police say he followed KKCO/KJCT reporter Ja’Ronn Alex’s vehicle for around 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the Delta area. Alex told police that he believed he had been followed and attacked because he is Pacific Islander. Forty miles.
Accountability journalism delivers results.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of his debut as the Fourth Doctor on Doctor Who, we look at how Tom Baker became the show's "ambassador."
Doctor Who tragedy made the top of Bleeding Cool traffic yesterday for Boxing Day. Welcome to Lying In The Gutters.
Stop stalling: why bold public investment, not austerity, is the key to economic recovery
My blog is on holidays until Monday, January 6, 2025. While my blog is having a break I am catching up on various projects which I want to advance to finality in 2025. Our macroeconomics textbook will come out with a second edition in early 2026 and we are working on that now. I am…
All is quiet, on New Year’s Day. Except for this mixtape (you may adjust your volume per hangover conditions New Year’s morning). Cheers! “This Will Be Our Year” – The Zombies – Starting on a positive note. Lovely Beatle-esque number from the Odyssey and Oracle album. You don’t have to worryAll your worried days are goneThis will be our yearTook a long time to come At least…we can always hope, right? “Time” – David Bowie – A song as timeless as Bowie himself. Time, he’s waiting in the wings/He speaks of senseless things… “1999″ – Prince – Sadly, it’s a perennial question: “Mommy…why does everybody have a bomb?” “1921” – The Who – Got a feeling ’21 is gonna be a good year. OK, back to the drawing board …let’s make ’25 a better one. “Time” – Oscar Brown, Jr. – A wise and soulful gem…tick, tock. “New Year’s Day” – U2 – I know… “Edgy pick, Captain Obvious!” But it’s still a great song.
