Worth quoting from his insightful Aug 11 post @pluralistic:
"The Trump administration is the most unpopular in more than a century. Trump has stolen more money in office than any president in history. Trump presides over spiraling greedflation and collapsing buying power. The Trump administration has also presided over a titanic increase in state-aligned, privatized surveillance. The Trump years are the Flock years:
With "Mobile Fortify" tool ICE and CBP are smashing their way not only through car windows but also through any constraints on the use of face recognition
"Trump's authoritarianism is a function of his misrule, and his misrule is enabled by his authoritarianism. The more he steals, the more he destroys with wars of choice, and incoherent tariff policies, and official pronouncements linking autism and vaccinations, the more he needs spy cameras, internet surveillance, vehicle tracking, and facial recognition. Every time Trump talks about a third term in office, or canceling elections, or suppressing the vote, he creates demand for mass surveillance to catch and imprison the people this drives into the streets. The more mass surveillance there is, the safer it is for him to commit unpopular, corrupt acts. It's the world's worst self-licking ice-cream cone.
It's not just Trump, of course. Trump is the vanguard of a movement of orifice lottery winners whose delight in stealing, cheating, maiming and despoiling gives rise to political instability and requires them to divert some of
"Trump's authoritarianism is a function of his misrule, and his misrule is enabled by his authoritarianism. The more he steals, the more he destroys with wars of choice, and incoherent tariff policies, and official pronouncements linking autism and vaccinations, the more he needs spy cameras, internet surveillance, vehicle tracking, and facial recognition. Every time Trump talks about a third term in office, or canceling elections, or suppressing the vote, he creates demand for mass surveillance to catch and imprison the people this drives into the streets. The more mass surveillance there is, the safer it is for him to commit unpopular, corrupt acts. It's the world's worst self-licking ice-cream cone.
It's not just Trump, of course. Trump is the vanguard of a movement of orifice lottery winners whose delight in stealing, cheating, maiming and despoiling gives rise to political instability and requires them to divert some of their yacht money to mercenaries:
#Fauci’s diary reveals his thoughts on a ‘rambling’ #Trump, the absurdity of his own fame, the #FarRight’s politicization of the #COVID #pandemic & more
Released by #GOP Sen. #RandPaul, diary entries from the federal scientist who helped lead the covid response spotlight the internal battle over how to handle the outbreak.
#Hegseth estimates #IranWar has cost US Taxpayers $37.5 Billion so far
#Defense Secy Pete Hegseth faced questions & #protests Tuesday over the #US #war with #Iran, which he *estimated* has cost $37.5 billion so far [meaning double that, at a minimum], as #Republicans prepare a $95 billion #GOP budget package to #fund the #military, along with other #Trump priorities.
