1w ago

Progressive Democrats accuse Trump and Musk of ‘a plutocratic coup’

www.theguardian.com Progressive Democrats accuse Trump and Musk of ‘a plutocratic coup’

Lawmakers point to shutting of USAid and accessing federal payment system as markings of ‘constitutional crisis’

Summary

Progressive Democrats accused Donald Trump and Elon Musk of orchestrating a “constitutional crisis” after Musk moved to shut down USAID and gained access to a federal payment system.

Lawmakers, blocked from entering USAID’s headquarters, condemned Trump for granting Musk unchecked power over government functions.

Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that Musk’s involvement could trigger financial instability, while Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called it a “plutocratic coup.”

71 comments

Why the fuck is it only 'the progressives' that are saying it? This makes it seem like it's a political issue and not a hostile takeover. Fucking ridiculous.
- Because the Democrats are trying to appease the center. I'm fucking tired of it.
  
  By appeasing the centre, they mean the rich donors.
- God damn it lol my dumbass just looked up "orogressive" instead of realizing it was a typo.
  
  I dumped that into ChatGPT to figure out what that would mean:
  "Gold-progressing": If "oro-" means gold, then "orogressive" could describe something advancing toward wealth, golden standards, or prosperity.
  "Mountain-moving" or "Mountain-progressing": If we go with the geological meaning, "orogressive" could mean progressing through or overcoming mountains—maybe symbolizing overcoming big challenges.
  "Speech-advancing": If "oro-" is tied to oral communication, "orogressive" might mean someone who is progressive in speech, rhetoric, or persuasion.
  Honestly, all of those are ironically far more aspirational than "progressive". I give it 4/5 stars for your newly-minted neologism.
  
  Haha, sorry man. Thanks for pointing out the typo!
- The liberals are just speechless with how beautifully the system is being exploited.
  
  It's not exploitation. The system is designed this way. A handful of billionaires own the media, a billionaire bought the presidency and has been handed keys to the White House. This is the pinnacle of what their goals have been all along.

Isn't it obvious that this administration is a government for the wealthy?
Americans are so out of touch... remember that some people that voted didn't even know Biden dropped out.
- everyone's just sat around looking at thirst traps on instagram
  
  I watch an ungodly amount of porn and still manage to do some basic keeping up on politics. The problem isn't the other things people want to do, it's that being up-to-date on politics is straight up a faux pas. Everyone can agree that our current government sucks, but start trying to tell the vast majority of people about anything specific, such as, I dunno, how Mitch McConnell stole Supreme Court appointments from Obama, their eyes glaze over. People think it's cool to bitch about your own problems, but if you learn enough to do anything about it and advocate for political action, you become a tryhard.

Please, Progressive Democrats, try to make a new progressive party. Cut ties with the Democrats.
Bipartisan succ.
- Problem is that if the DNC splits, both parties will be even weaker than they are now
  
  The Democrats don't have to field a candidate if they're that worried about splitting the vote.
  It's not like they try to win anyway.
  
  Yeah, but that won’t last forever. Give progressive dems a chance to campaign in earnest for their platform, without the chains of establishment pro-corporate policies around their necks, and you might be surprised how quickly the 90-million non-voters come around.
  
  A valid concern.
  I strongly recommend looking at what the Polish did. We can have multiple movements all trying to influence outcomes. They don't even need their own candidates, they just have to endorse ones that party elsewhere or have a chance of being picked up by a major coalition (e.g. Sanders, AOC). Over time, that movement gains traction and notoriety, further influencing elections.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Initiative
  
  Yes, because of First Past The Post voting.
  Say there's a region that's 60% left-leaning and 40% right-leaning. If the far left splits off from the moderate left, you get 30% far left, 30% moderate left, and 40% right-leaning. The winner in a FPTP election is the party with the most votes. Even though 60% of the voters are still left-leaning, the election will go to the right-leaning party with 40% of the votes. Their 40% beats either of the parties with 30% of the vote.
  Canada experienced this phenomenon in the 1993 federal election. The conservatives previously had a majority, but there was a split, and the Reform Party split from the Progressive Conservative party. There were almost as many right-leaning voters as before, but the Liberals won a huge victory. Because of the vote split, a lot of conservative ridings ended up electing a Liberal MP.
  Basically, if you care about progressive politics, get rid of First Past The Post. Only once it's gone should you consider splitting the party. Splitting the party while FPTP is in place is just handing victory to the GOP.
- There's like 3 of them bro
- I'm not from America, so I don't really get why you're not all forming militias into battalions and organizating command structures and overt/covert lines of communication and national plans.
  A counter coup if you will. Aka trying to find a majority based path to a bloodless civil war. Ideally a series of stand offs where fed forces have been prearranged to stand down.
  Of course if that fails Trump would declare marshall law which is part of his agenda as it legitimizes the executive having more power so....
  Death by 1000 grifters I guess is the alternative.
  
  Not sure where you're from, but we have some problems that stand in the way of coordinating any kind of resistance. At least, not proactively.
  In short: we have no living memory of domestic war, famine, epidemic, or wholesale financial hardship lasting longer than a few years. We've had tastes of those things, but they always effect people disproportionately, usually along class lines. So being proactive by taking up arms, or preparing for economic catastrophe, is literally unthinkable for most.
  Meanwhile, the usual kind of political corruption that we're accustomed to just came to an end, and is changing shape before our very eyes. Nobody knows what to do with that, yet.
  
  Most of us are in denial. You probably would be too if it was your way of living and life on the line. Most people aren't mentally prepared for shit to get that kind of real..
  
  I think we're waiting to see if they fire like half of the FBI to work with them...
  
  American cops are extremely right-wing, love shooting people, and are never punished for it. If you go to a demonstration, even one that's supposed to be peaceful, you're risking getting killed.
  Any attempt to organize into militias or battalions would be seen as an uprising, and the FBI would investigate. The FBI has always been a fairly right-wing organization, and they're now under the thumb of Trump, who regularly talks about using violence against protesters. Joining a militia or a battalion would be a good way to get killed.
  The US is a really big place, and most of this is happening in Washington DC, which is pretty remote from most of the country. Washington DC is a strange place with a large, fairly poor urban black population, and a relatively wealthy white suburbs. The white suburbs make roughly 3x as much as the black population. So, while black people might be interested in protesting, they know they'd be much more likely to be hurt or killed by the police. In addition, while many care about these issues, a lot of them don't have the time or energy to get involved because they're focused on just getting by. For the white population in the suburbs, a lot of them have jobs connected to the government, so they may be more restricted in what they can really do than someone who just has some random office or factory job. In addition, people who work for the government are more likely to try to work through channels rather than protest in the streets.
- Or just run as Republicans to do a hostile takeover. Democrats already are the conservative good government party, and then progressives can create a progressive good government party for balance.
- Or join together, it's why MAGA has worked so well.

Meanwhile all the Dems in leadership positions are conspicuously silent.
We cant afford to keep letting geriatric procorp moderates be the only alternative to fascism.
We just saw it the last four years, even when we "win" things don't get better, they just stop getting worse for a few years.
It's never been sustainable, and we've wasted decades on "the lesser evil".
We need to actually run a good candidate Dem voters already agree with.
- I think it might take something more drastic to deal with the actual Nazis running the country now. They are gaining more control over people's lives and speech every day, and they have stated their intention to keep Trump as leader for at least another term after this one, and to do away with elections. Running appealing candidates may no longer be enough to topple them.
  
  I think it might take something more drastic to deal
  Gets truer everyday as long as we the only other option is neoliberalism and "the lesser evil".
- Meanwhile all the Dems in leadership positions are conspicuously silent.
  Now now, Chuck Schumer was just talking about how aroused everyone is

what the hell is wrong with this comment section. The problem here is not the democrats. Fixing he democrats is not going to improve republican shenanigans. Shouting for the minority democrats to do something is like shouting for the green party to do something. The problem is in this idea to blame the good for not being perfect and ignoring that people are fine letting in the bad. My prediction is every one of the the super leftists looking for things to get bad enough for "the revolution" to happen will be seig heiling like their is no tomorrow when the boots hit the neck.
- The democrats are refusing to employ any of the government-breaking strategies the republicans just proved, over years as a minority party, can bring the government to crawl. Worse than that, they are enabling everything the republicans are doing. They aren't even putting up a fight. They'd rather be "civil" and "the adults in the room" than actually stop fascism. They are controlled opposition.
  
  I get the first picture but the second? We know democrats do not vote lockstep and we have pretty traitorous members like fettermen are among them. I see 37 voting correctly. This is one thing about when they are in power. People expect them to vote in lockstep like the republicans but that has never been the case.
- This "Democrats are the reason we have nazis now" thing is giving "Daddy drinks because you cry." The apathy it generates only helps the worst side keep winning.
  Because it's nuts. People scolding the remaining leftists online and debating which sort of voting system they'd appreciate the democrats advocating for next time, meanwhile their Treasury Department now answers to completely unqualified culty broccoli-headed 20 year olds, there's birth quotas for roads funding and nazis are snatching kids from classrooms, the Pres talking about putting immigrants in Guantanamo.
  The only way Both Sides nonsense is productive is if the goal is to keep people arguing online. O shi

DO SOMETHING YOU WORTHLESS FUCKS
- "No you!"
  -Nancy Pelosi or some shit
- Since 2016: "Trump will be the end of democracy!"
  After election: Hands over the reigns without a fight

I know someone in a federal government department. They are actually getting pestered to resign now. Emails several times a day trying to get them to take the buyout scam.
- Apparently there's 20k idiots who have accepted it. So it works, I guess
  
  That's not idiots. That's people that don't make much money, hate their job, and saw an opportunity to leave with some change in their pocket while dumpster fire is just smouldering and not a full blown blaze yet.
  
  It doesn't work that well, since that's less than 1% of federal employees.

Blame is a weird way to say "point out"
- Was trying to think of a way to say this exact thing! Astute!
- Honestly. I read it and then thought how can they accuse when everything clearly points to the take over.

Progressive Democrats accuse ocean of containing water.

Quick someone change the Wikipedia of plutocratic to sound really cool and then they both will say they did their research and look like complete morons.

progressive democrats are oxymorons

71 comments