I’ve never understood why public corruption doesn’t piss people off a lot more. When politicians funnel taxpayer funds to cronies or take massive bribes in exchange for favorable policy, it directly rips people off and/or leads to terrible outcomes, but in all but the most extreme cases (and sometimes even then), voters seem to shrug it off. I don’t know what it would take to make them care.
We’re about to undergo the ultimate test of the public’s tolerance for egregious public corruption when the tacky shoe, steak, water, vodka, fake university, bible and cologne peddler returns to office with an entourage of aspiring and actual monopolists. Senator Warren called attention to one of the worst offenders in a letter to the tacky peddler’s transition team. (WaPo)
“Putting Mr. Musk in a position to influence billions of dollars of government contracts and regulatory enforcement without a stringent conflict of interest agreement in place is an invitation for corruption on a scale not seen in our lifetimes,” Warren wrote. “As your Transition Team Ethics Plan makes clear, the role of government is not to line the pockets of the wealthiest Americans; a strong, enforceable ethics plan for the world’s richest man is a necessary first step for delivering on that promise.”
I’m certain Warren is under no illusions about Trump’s commitment to ethics, but it’s good to lay down a marker. The response to Warren’s email from transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt perfectly encapsulates the Trump 2.0 team’s professionalism:
“Pocahontas can play political games and send toothless letters, but the Trump-Vance transition will continue to be held to the highest ethical and legal standards possible — a standard unfamiliar to a career politician whose societal impact is 1/1024th of Elon Musk’s.”
It’s true that Warren doesn’t make exploding cars, so her career’s effects may be less impactful in a kinetic sense than Musk’s. But Warren was the brains behind the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has returned billions of dollars to Americans who were ripped off by scammers like Trump.
Anyway, I’m glad Warren is on the case because the corruption of the incoming rightwing kleptocracy is an opening. Experience tells me it won’t matter as much as it should, but I have some hope that it might make a dent. Why? Because these grotesquely rich creeps are so brazen they might as well be wearing spats and monocles and carrying bags of gold. We’ll see if anyone gives a shit this time.
Open thread!
KatKapCC
They’re really still doing the Pocahontas thing? Good grief.
Baud
I think people don’t care about corruption because their political outlook depends on believing politicians are corrupt.
Dangerman
Beat the rich.
ETA: or tax the shit out of them. Their choice.
Chris
@KatKapCC:
As gross as it is, I figured at some point in Trump’s first term that Warren would never be president because every single public conversation around her was going to revolve around the Pocahontas thing, much as EmailGate was the one thing anyone knew about Hillary in 2016.
Of course, the media spent the last four years proving that they could and would conjure this kind of bullshit out of thin air for anybody, which is something we have yet to really reckon with.
narya
@Baud: Yup. And that’s the reason for the “crooked Joe Biden” bullshit, and the “crooked Hillary” bullshit. Neither of those were remotely true, but flooding the zone with it gives low-info citizens–which is most people–the notion that not only does “everyone” do it, but that the Dems do it more. Plus, they think if they get rich enough, then THEY will get some sweet, sweet handouts as well. No, not universal basic income, THAT is only for undeserving people who will surely waste it!
Sigh.
KatKapCC
@Dangerman: Yeet the rich.
eclare
That is an awfully specific fraction.
Is it just 4/20 backwards? Har har har…so clever. /s
eclare
@KatKapCC:
I know…sigh.
Old Man Shadow
The cynicism justifies the apathy.
Well, they’re all like that, so I’m absolved of caring or doing anything about it and can just not pay attention or vote my prejudices and pretend I’m not responsible for anything that happens.
eclare
@Chris:
Same. That DNA test was a huge political mistake.
Old Man Shadow
@narya: Yep. I had someone bring up the Clintons and how they’re guilty of crimes too even though they’ve been investigated for 30 years by people who HATE them and they’ve never been indicted or tried before a jury.
“That’s just proof that the system protects them!”
Chris
@eclare:
If she hadn’t done it, the line would just have continued to be “she falsely claimed Cherokee blood when there’s no evidence of it! She’s lying for affirmative action!” That was never going away no matter what she did.
Randal Sexton
@eclare: 2 to the tenth. Very binacular
TONYG
Most Americans ARE in fact very concerned about corruption. But they define “corruption” as being a non-white poor person getting some food or medical care. Anything that rich white people do is not defined as “corruption”.
Chris
@Old Man Shadow:
Back when I was a receptionist at a pool in the Great Recession days, I had a customer randomly spew some incoherent political bullshit in my direction, and conclude with “and the two WORST crooks in politics in all history were NIXON and CLINTON!”
It’s a pretty good snapshot of the kind of hot take the great low-info voting bloc takes away from these things.
Kay
@Chris:
I love her but she really underperformed in a Pres primary. I think she’s smart enough to know that too. I admire people who don’t lie to themselves.
MazeDancer
Just heard Rick Wilson say when he tweeted that Trump was going to give George Soros a tax cut that angry MAGA reply “No, no he’s not!”
Yes, yes he is.
Jeffro
fixed!
I guess people really have just grown used to it/assume ‘everyone does it’/ assume the whole system is rotten. Which is still a lousy excuse because even if it were true…why put up with that?
Melancholy Jaques
There are exceptions to the public’s general indifference to corruption. I’m not sure what causes some to get the public interested and angry. Blagojevich comes to mind. Another less known example is Jimmy Dimora, whose sentences was just commuted by President Biden. His corruption was petty, trading some favors and getting some free stuff from contractors for his house. He got 28 years and the whole town was ready to hang him. I’m sure there are other examples scattered around the country.
rusty
“The Democrats are worse” is the standard response I get whenever I’ve pointed out to conservatives I have known instances of corruption, bad behavior, or hypocrisy by Republican politicians. I also have a sense that there is also a measure of jealousy by those conservatives that they can’t get in on the gravy train like the politicians. The same jealousy applies when you point out the wealthy are cheating on their taxes, they aren’t angry at the wealthy, they are mad they can’t cheat at the level too. It’s a stance that is impossible to overcome.
Elizabelle
Less shooting of bears, please. The life you save ….
LUNENBURG COUNTY, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man has died after a bear in a tree shot by one of his hunting partners fell on him, state wildlife officials said.
The incident occurred Dec. 9 in Lunenburg County, which is between Richmond and Danville, Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources said in a statement.
A hunting group was following the bear when it ran up the tree, the department said. As the group retreated from the tree, a hunter shot the bear. The animal fell onto another hunter who was standing about 10 feet from the bottom of the tree.
Jeffro
@Kay: she did underperform…but in the end, we kinda got a Warren presidency under Joe Biden. for which I am extremely glad!
(well, domestic policy-wise, anwyay)
@mistermix.bsky.social
@KatKapCC:
Frank Luntz:
Elizabelle
Just leave those bears be. Part 2, same article.
Similar incidents have occurred in recent years.
In 2018, a man in Alaska was critically injuredafter his hunting partner shot a bear on a ridge. The animal tumbled down a slope into the man, who was also struck by rocks dislodged by the bear.
Another man was injured in 2019 after his hunting partner shot a bear in a tree in North Carolina. The bear fell out of the tree and began biting the hunter. The man and the animal then tumbled off a cliff. The hunter was taken to a hospital, while the bear was later found dead.
Lobo
Why billionaires are so toxic. There have been times in the past when certain classes of people have claimed to be gods. In the past it was mostly the ruling and priestly class, then the intellectual class(scientists) and now it is billionaires. They think they are gods because they are rich. Unfortunately, enough people treat them that way. We have to call out they are not gods. They are as human as any of us. Unfortunately, their money gives them power(which is why we should tax the heck out it).
My tagline: The eight most terrifying words in the English Language. I’m a billionaire and I’m here to help.
Elizabelle
@KatKapCC: That has staying power.
Llelldorin
@Baud: The Republicans have a sort of defense in depth, and I’m not sure we pay enough attention to that. The outer layer is the obvious MAGA nonsense, but there’s a second layer of raw cynicism — “EVERYBODY’S corrupt, the Democrats are no different, why focus so much on Republican corruption when the whole system is rotten?”
That cynicism tends to bite a lot of people who aren’t attracted to MAGA, and makes it harder to generate outrage about things that are genuinely outrageous. “Oh, sure, you’re trying to gin up outrage after ignoring Democratic corruption in the case of …” (followed either by one of the instances of genuine Democratic corruption or, much more likely, by one of their previous outrage-of-the-week nonsense festivals).
We more or less know what to do about MAGA, but I don’t think we have a handle on this stuff.
Kay
@Jeffro:
Yup. Now if you could just convince the Left side of the Party.
Voters just didn’t go for Warren. Popularity is a hard thing – its not fair. She really buckled down after that run though. She got it. She’ll be a great Senator.
matt
@eclare: it’s a computer/math-nerd thing, 2 to the 10th power.
Manyakitty
@Elizabelle: at this point, I’m mostly #TeamBear
Steve LaBonne
@Jeffro: It’s an excuse for lazy people not to put in the work required to be a responsible participant in democracy.
Old School
@eclare:
Warren’s DNA test revealed she had Native American ancestry dating back six to 10 generations. Republicans immediately claimed the high end as definitive and that she was 1/1024 Cherokee.
eclare
@Randal Sexton:
Huh. Thanks.
eclare
@TONYG:
Strapping young bucks and welfare queens…
narya
@Llelldorin: The long-term approach would maybe include things like reform around the emoluments clause AND the Congressional versions of that–which, in turn, means attacking and defeating the Citizens United decision. That made everything worse, by a lot. That is, start with the STANDARDS, and then hold people to them, regardless of party. No claim that this would actually work, but trying something is worth the effort, IMHO, otherwise we’re just conceding the ground entirely.
BlueGuitarist
@Baud:
Republican corruption in Ohio causes higher energy prices.
“Corruption tax” seemed a good way to frame it, but didn’t help.
eclare
@Elizabelle:
Karma always, eventually, wins.
But yes, less shooting of bears.
Doug R
@KatKapCC:
Yeah of course it was gross and racist
A Ghost to Most
The selfish and self-righteous have to have it their way.
Elizabelle
@Manyakitty: Me too. Next, I want to see one take out a Cybertruck. And live to tell about it.
Doug R
@Chris:
How dare she have exactly as much native DNA as she claimed!
Elizabelle
@Llelldorin: Why there’s always a firehose of disinformation.
eclare
@matt:
Thanks. It’s weird, but I guess TCFG is running press statements by Elon now. I still eagerly await the breakup of this bromance. Two narcissistic assholes going at it? Pass the popcorn!
Llelldorin
@narya: It’s a good idea, but it’ll have to swim upstream against the very nonsense it’s designed to fight.
At the bottom the message of the second ring of Republican propaganda is “Politics doesn’t matter; it’s all corrupt nonsense and you’re a fool for trying to achieve anything that way.”
It’s designed to clear the field for the MAGA types, who notably do NOT receive this message.
eclare
@Old School:
I did not remember that, if I ever knew! But I’m sure MAGAts do
eclare
@Elizabelle:
Put some tasty snacks in there, like donuts, and a few bears will tear an IncEl Camino apart.
Kay
@Jeffro:
When I read that WarrenWorld were quietly working on Bidens agenda I thought “finally! The only way they’ll get this liberal agenda past the media status quo enforcement team is quietly – very smart”
But then no one knew it even happened.
Geminid
Some good Syria news, from Ragip Soylu:
Last night the Wall Street Journal and others reported that Turkish troops were massing near the border city of Kobani and a cross border incursion could be imminent.
This situation would become very violent if the Turkish Army were to step in.Turkiye’s proxy Syrian National Army has been fighting the SDF inside of Syria on and off for weeks now and the ceasfire apparently applies to them as well.
The Kurdish YPG militia makes up the bulk of the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces, and Turkiye considers them to be a branch of the PKK which has been fighting a war against the Turkish state since 1984. The Turkish Foreign Minister says Turkiye wants to see the YPG disbanded and its members return to civilian life.
West of the Rockies
@KatKapCC:
It’s the only female “Indian” name they know. Probably could only name two or three male Indians, too. And racism is what the sell.
Chris
@Doug R:
I know, right?
p.a
@Kay: But then no one knew it even happened.
It’s said conservatives socialize the cost & privatize the benefits.
Liberalism in US politics has to socialize the benefits to such an extent that the real beneficiaries aren’t the most needy because targeted bennies are “welfare” (See R fucking Reagan for a definition)
If program X would result in y trillion dollars benefit to the economy, Dems would be better off just ÷ the benefit by 10, forget about the actual program, cut checks to each household for their share of that 10%, and sign the check with the Dem pres’ name in sparkle gel ink. And then have Rs & MSM accuse them of buying votes.
tokyokie
@MazeDancer: Will Soros still get a tax cut after being officially declared an undesirable of foreign-born person?
prostratedragon
@KatKapCC: They could at least get it right. Pocahantas was not Cherokee.
Suzanne
I think most people only care about the other side’s corruption. And that, even if government had no corruption, it might save them about $15 in total, and that just doesn’t seem like a thing that’s worth the effort.
WV Blondie
Does anyone else remember Nick Hanauer’s article in Politico a decade ago? You know, “The Pitchforks are Coming … For Us Plutocrats.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014/
Harrison Wesley
@prostratedragon: All Indians look alike. Especially the ones from India.
prostratedragon
@Harrison Wesley: Yeah, heh. I just recalled that if H.L. Gates’s research team is reliable, as I think it is, we do know of one white person who really is a descendent of Pocahantas: the actor Edward Norton. Recall that she married an Englishman and went to live there, so there is a document trail.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Lobo:
Every. Billionaire. Is. A. Policy. Failure.
pluky
@eclare: Someone thinks in binary. 1024=2^10
Baud
@WV Blondie:
He was obviously very wrong.
WV Blondie
@Baud: I don’t know if he was wrong – maybe just the wrong time scale. A girl can hope …
Downpuppy
It’s not what corruption is about to happen – it’s already happening, on a huge scale.
e.g. Justin Sun went from SEC target to Trump advisor by putting $30,000,000 into World Liberty Financial tokens, which put $18,000,000 into Trump’s pocket.
And it was barely mentioned.
gvg
@Chris: Maybe we need to start conjuring bullshit out of thin air about the worst Reporters/Media/Owners and see how they like it. They would be public figures. I would expect the rest of the mainstream media to resist amplifying it, but there are multiple ecosystems out there now. If there was just a bit of complicating truth to the bullshit I am sure it would help.
Overall it would also make the news worse. So we would need to try to keep it away from the ones that do sincere good work like ProPublica etc.
Eventually someone could write a thoughtful piece about how it resembled the silliness of the swiftboating or But her emails….
Chief Oshkosh
@Elizabelle: One less asshole.
I rejoice
ETA: Too bad about the bear.
The Unmitigated Gaul
@Baud: Brilliant observation.
Manyakitty
@Elizabelle: bring it on.
catclub
Yeah, “don’t punish rich people! cause one day (soon! I’m sure), I will be rich like them.”
dm
@KatKapCC: what’s worse is the original was actually kind of witty, if still borderline racist: “Fauxcahontas”, but I guess that’s too subtle for most people.
[email protected]
@Kay: Here’s an anecdotal story for you about Elizabeth Warren’s presidential run and how some of the people, especially women I know, felt about Senator Warren. When Hillary Clinton ran for president a number of my friends said they were on the fence about voting for Clinton, but just felt there was so much that was hinky about her, but it had nothing to do with her gender. I always asked, especially if they mentioned the woman thing, to name a woman who they would vote for instead of Hillary Clinton. To a number, each of these women mentioned how they would be happy to vote for Senator Warren. When Senator Warren ran for president a number of these same women said they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for her. It was just something they couldn’t put their finger on, they just didn’t feel comfortable voting for her. It’s a matter of the I will vote for a woman, just not that woman, syndrome. I’m sure VP Harris had some of that syndrome going for her as well. If you haven’t dealt with women and men like that, you are very lucky.
Chris
@gvg:
I mean, the problem there is that it’s very hard to make bullshit actually stick to a target when that target is a prominent figure in the media ecosystem that discusses such things.
The best you can hope for is fictional portrayals, like the bad guy in Tomorrow Never Dies or in the third season of Sherlock, but even there the fictionalization removes a lot of the commentary since everyone gets to fantasize that it’s a different figure that’s being parodied.
tokyokie
@Suzanne: Democrats were quick to give Bob Menendez the boot. The GOP with trump, not so much. Pretty clear to me where the corruption lies.
NotoriousJRT
@KatKapCC: it is a reflection of the juvenile and long-lived grievances of their supporters.
Bill Arnold
@eclare:
They do, well, the ones with good memories do. It was endlessly repeated.
Ask people what was so evil about Hillary Clinton and most on the right cannot remember.
Anyway, since people have pointed out that it’s 2 to the 10th power, I’ll note that one can count to 1024 (0 to 1023) on one’s fingers, if one has 10 of them. (Or 3 to the 10th, if one can do three states with each finger; 2 finger states is easy, e.g. touching the table or not.)
brantl
@Dangerman: taxing the shit out of them will hurt more.
brantl
@eclare: its the value of a power of 2, its the actual number of cells in 1 kilobyte of memory. Why Stumpy would know that beggars the mind, so I’m sure somone else wrote it.
Tehanu
@KatKapCC:
The 4th-grade level of the insults that Dump and his flunkies Leavitt and the execrable Cheung fling never ceases to amaze me. I can’t imagine even ol’ Tricky Dick Nixon saying anything so lame.