Undemocratic Collusion Between the White House and the Country's Most Powerful Oligarchs
By Thom Hartmann A...
Bloomberg is reporting that the Koch Brothers are now running PR for the Trump administration's plan to cut billionaires' taxes.
Is this kind of outright collusion between the White House and the country's most powerful oligarchs really compatible with our democracy?
"Koch Brothers Move to Back White House's Tax-Cut Plan"
The Koch brothers are all in on Donald Trump's push for so-called tax reform.
"Koch network teaming up with Trump officials for tax-reform event"
As Bloomberg reports, the influential oligarchs are planning to spend millions in support of the president's plan to slash the corporate tax rate.
Their plan includes outright collusion with the Trump administration.
On Monday the Kochs' two biggest groups - Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners - hosted Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short at a pro-tax cut event here in Washington, DC.
Is this what a healthy democracy looks like - oligarchs colluding with a corrupt president to ensure that they get even wealthier?
Really?
Comments
#2
I can not wait for trump to say how he was elected. He was put into office by the Koch Brothers to do as he is told. Since they are exposing themselves it cannot be much longer before they tell him "HE IS FIRED"!
#3
America's not that lucky.
#4
Not long ago the Kochs openly supported Hillary over Crooked Donny and she promptly rejected that support. I'm sure their feelings for Trump haven't changed. They're confident they'll get their Teabagger President installed before the year is out...the tax cut battle will happen under Pence.
Charles Koch is 83 years old with David Koch not far behind, and they're still obsessed with money and power....these guys have to be totally whacked out even more than old man Trump.
#5
I hear all the time from Thom's rightie guests that the election was legit. They all go out of their way to say it. It's about time for progressives to go out of their way to state the truth....the election was not legit ....god damn it.
#6
The Rothschild’s and the Rockefeller’s (along with their underlings like the Koch criminals) have been pulling all the strings for nearly 100 years. This is only more transparency of a plague that has destroyed our democracy. Trump and all his alt-right idiots are only actors that are doing an amazing job of distracting the media and public from the real agenda of the billionaire oligarchs
#7
The oligarchs have been fully in charge in the government since the 1980s.
#8
I assume this is about race and the pet anti-Jewish stereotypes? Rothschild Banks aren't prevalent in the US, and aren't among the top players here. Rockefellers today have no more political influence than any of the Anglo firms. There is just a toxic strain of anti-Semitism among today's liberal bourgeoisie.
#9
No, people are just trying to build their own theories. The 2016 election was complicated. The parties in power selected candidates who were strongly opposed by much of their own voting bases, for some of the same reasons. This is why roughly half the country rejected both, and voted third party or withheld their votes. Now Google the official 2016 election results. Clinton got the most votes, Trump got the most electoral votes, and none of it had anything to do with Russia, or the Kochs, or (fill in the blank).
As for Democrats: The Dem voting base had long consisted of the poor and middle class, for the common good. The Clinton admin. split this base wide apart in the 1990s, and the past 8 yrs only confirmed that this split is permanent.
#10
I blame the judiciary where this is concerned. It just goes to prove that the SCOTUS is a filthy mess of corruption and should be dismantled completely so we can reconfigure it such that there are no more political appointments; that We, the People, vote for who goes on that bench and there are elections every two to four years to gain a seat. We need to clean out that rats nest of evil. If they were a legitimate SCOTUS, they would have vacated Citizens United, and be calling for the AG to arrest and prosecute the Koch brothers for influence peddling, bribery, and the purchase of the office of the POTUS. As long as Americans stand by and allow all of this, things are only going to get worse.
#11
#Ronin: What's a "ceelstail endowment"? Is this a typo for "celestial endowment" or something? Please explain.
#12
After failing on healthcare we need to help them fail on this one.
#13
What County did the father of these billionaires predominantly gain wealth and profit from, if at all?
#14
Needs to be a massive PR campaign, to expose this to the general public. If not, we could be doomed, as a democracy.
#15
Post 13. By building refineries in Stalins Soviet Union.
#16
By building refineries in Stalins Soviet Union you say?
#17
Maybe there is a misunderstanding but I am reading that the father of these billionaires predominantly gained their wealth and profit from a Stalinist Soviet Union by building refineries in a Stalinist Soviet Union. These are true American Heroes by any account. Standing up for American values at every turn. I must say. Bravo!
#18
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#19
You read it right. The American dream.
#20
You read it right. The American dream.
#21
You read it right. The American dream.
#22
Since 50% of the worlds Billionaires proclaim(d) to be (or have been) Christian.
6 Teachings of Jesus that Contradict the American Dream
http://www.ibelieve.com/faith/6-teachings-of-jesus-that-contradict-the-american-dream.html
Jesus calls us to discard our idol of the American Dream, to prevent materialism from hindering our pursuit of God. Let’s not allow our stuff to obstruct God’s work.
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Getting my MBA I learned what America stands for: Jesus saves, Moses invests... Republicans take. It follws our civil religion... the religion of our founders... Calvinism. The "chosen" are the wealthy... they are thus "entitled" to pursue their "ceelstail endowment" by taking form the "not chosen" IE the not so wealthy.. succinctly, the rest of us. They take a solemn oath: "On my honor, I'll do my best... to help myself and cheat the rest" America will never change until we scrap our civil religion in favor of one that implements the Declaration of independence... IE that all are created equal... and endowed by creqtor, not just the self-proclaimed "chosen" AKA Republicans.