reflectivepundit

Musk’s “Heil Hitler” Salute and Trump’s Pardoning of January 6th Terrorists

By Brigitte L. Nacos

I am old enough to remember Germans greeting each other saying ‘Heil Hitler” while raising their arms in the Roman or fascist salute. Not doing so, could and in fact did result in somebody reporting them as possible dissidents to the Nazi leader and his regime.

Today, “Heil Hitler is chanted and the raised arm salute displayed by neo-Nazis and White Supremacist here and abroad in their on- and offline gatherings.

Yesterday, as I watched Donald J. Trump’s coronation on television, nothing shocked me more than the behavior of richest man in the world, Elon Musk: While he addressed a jubilant MAGA crowd in Washington DC’s Capitol One Arena, he pounded his chest and then raised his arm in the fascist way screaming “Yes” and then turned around so that the people behind him could see his fascist salute as well.

This public spectacle by Trump’s most generous campaign benefactor and primary advisor came a few hours before the once-again president signed the executive order granting pardons to his supporters who attacked the US Capitol and police officers on January 6, 2021 to keep Trump in power.

Among the 1,200 or so men and women are the leaders of paramilitary groups, such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, whose members acted during and after Trump’s first presidency as “body guards” at MAGA events. They will soon be free to carry weapons and carry out political violence without fearing law enforcement interference.

This presidential decision did not come as a surprise. Trump promised all through his campaign that he would free all what he called “political prisoners” or “hostages.” Many of these people may never attack police officers again or commit other violent acts.

 But the hardcore members of the para-military groups will be soon available to move in their violent ways against former and present critics of Trump and his regime.

Autocratic leaders having paramilitaries at their disposal like Hitler had his vicious SS stormtroopers, is a sure sign that such strongmen can and probably will circumvent the normal law enforcement and judicial processes to move against their perceived enemies.

If the first hours of the second Trump presidency are guideposts for what will follow in the days, months, and years ahead, I pray for our democracy.

The Digital Robber Barons Have Staring Roles America’s New Oligarchy

By Brigitte L. Nacos

Joe Biden was right, when he borrowed the 19^th century “Robber Barons” metaphor to warn contemporary Americans of the present threat presented by money- and power-hungry digital oligarchs. Once the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, Fists, Rockefellers, and others exploited public lands, oil, minerals to assemble their private wealth at the expense of the public good and their own workers; today the new American oligarchs use publicly financed high tech innovations, starting with the internet, to build global communication spaces of unprecedented economic, political, and cultural influence.

Yes, the old industrial oligarchs along with their high finance moguls could count on the nationwide newspaper chains owned by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. But the reach and influence of the old press-lords paled in comparison to the on- and offline communication platforms controlled by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Rupert Murdoch, and a few others.  

The Robber Barons of old became highly successful because they had significant influence on the governmental leadership of their time. Today’s Robber Barons are not satisfied that their generous donations to Donald Trump’s campaign and inauguration assure them political influence, where it counts. They want a piece of the incoming president’s power. The ideal vehicle is the non-existing “Department of Efficiency” that Elon Musk created for cutting billions of dollars in “wasteful” government spending that will free up resources for lowering the taxes for the largest corporations and the wealthiest individuals.

Among the many targets of the digital Robber Barons’ axes are regulatory agencies that watch out for the public interest. The National Highway Traffic Administration, for example, keeps track of car accidents’ causes. No wonder that Musk wants to abolish the agency that documents how many deadly accidents are caused by his self-driving Tesla automobiles. But that particular interest of Mister X is tiny in comparison to the several $billion worth of U.S. government contracts that Musk’s SpaceX and other companies receive each year. As the constant companion and inside advisor of soon-again President Trump, Elon Musk will have a direct voice in cutting government benefits at the expense of millions of regular Americans on the one hand and boosting increased benefits for a small group of rich individuals and large corporations on the other hand.

According to press reports, Trump has nominated an unprecedented number of thirteen billionaires for cabinet posts. They and the digital “Robber Barons” add up to an astonishing core of America’s new oligarchy that has fully embraced an authoritarian president as leader or vessel to bring about a new “gilded age” of political selfishness and corruption.

How does all this fit into Donald Trump’s populist campaign that attacked the elites of the “deep state” and valorized workers and farmer promising immediate pocketbook uplifting upon returning to the White House?

A friend asked the other day, why so many Americans are uninformed about politics and policies. I answered that most people are informed but they receive contradictory information from different sources. Thus, Americans do no longer agree on what qualifies as fact and what as fiction, what is the truth and what is a lie. I just read Timothy Snyder’s excellent book “On Freedom.” He considers the over-consumers of the leading online sources—social media-- as the targets of “brain hacks” and “surveillance capitalism.” If anything, this ill-influence of online sources will become more extreme given Zuckerberg’s decision against further fact checking which will result in unfettered access of hate speech and Big Lie extremism of the far-right variety.

Green light for America’s new oligarchy.