Hi substackers,
I left Twitter yesterday after the news dropped that Elon Musk had bought it, because I despise him, and his ilk of megalomaniac billionaire space-colonizing billionaires. Ever since Musk was made Time’s Man of the Year I’ve been noticing how he’s developing his image in a hyper-masculine fascist direction to appeal to Trumpers, and it would not surprise me at all if he is aiming at running for President. Just what we need: a callous billionaire raised in apartheid South Africa and, though his main company benefitted greatly from govt. assistance, absolutely determined to avoid paying taxes or in any way taking responsibility for anyone beyond himself. It seems Fox has already signed on to his campaign, based on their joy in his “owning the libs.”
Though Twitter was not perfect, leaving it made me sad because I have been a constant reader since covid and have discovered many brilliant writers and felt somewhat cheered and empowered by the experience. But I cannot be a part of anything that Musk owns. I also left Facebook years ago after it became clear who Zuckerberg is.
So, now what? Well I’ve signed up for some excellent substack writers, starting with Seth Abramson, which is how I learned about Substack. I’ve learned more about Trump’s attempted coup here than anywhere else. One thing I haven’t learned enough about is blackmail: who has been and is being blackmailed and how in order to protect Trump? Obvious candidates include Lindsay Graham and Kevin McCarthy, and all the New York DA’s that keep letting Trump and hist family off from crimes others —Michael Cohen—are prosecuted for. But more and more I’m wondering about Merrick Garland’s actions and inactions. Why, for instance do we still have a special counsel appointed by Barr covering up Trump’s Russian collusions with fake scandals? Why is DOJ continuing to defend Trump in E Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him? Why is there no follow-through on the crimes revealed in the Mueller Report since Trump left office and became beyond doubt chargeable? Why has the Mark Meadows referral for contempt not been taken up by DOJ? Why is there no special counsel appointed to investigate efforts by Trump and his minions to overturn the election? And speaking of special counsels, why did Robert Mueller never subpoena Trump’s bank records or question Don Jr. and Jarrod Kushner, both of whom were provably involved in Russian collusion?
Blackmail isn’t even necessary in the case of a lot of our political leaders. Republicans who now believe in giving full power to right-wing white Christian fascism instead of the democratic process. Of course, our democracy has been rigged for a long time by low-populated Republican states getting hundreds of times the senatorial representation as heavily populated Democratic states, by gerrymandering, and by the Supreme Court's Citizen’s United decision that overrode the power of normal voters with dark Republican billionaire money, and by the Shelby case that struck down the heart of voting rights protection for African-Americans. And now the Supreme Court is even less inclined to protect democracy.
As I said, Twitter cheered me up by putting me in touch with other alarmed d/Democrats. So I'm looking for some enlightenment here. And I have some other thoughts I would like to share in the future. As a retired professor I'm extremely disturbed by the Republican assault on higher education and on public education. So stay tuned and thanks for the insights.