I don’t see chaos when I examine Musk's actions. I see the realization of a radical ideology that a particular cadre of tech plutocrats have pushed for years. Not all of them call it the Network State, but many of them do. While some portray it as a path to decentralized governance, it's true goal is to concentrate power in the hands of tech billionaires and their systems. Just look at the news. While Robb appears to see Musk’s destruction as necessary, I find it virulently anti-democratic. Most Americans have never heard of the Network State. They certainly didn’t vote for it. Perhaps there's merit in having a public conversation about whether our nation is built to survive the 21st century. However, the idea of a foreign-born billionaire imposing a new form of governance without the consent of the American people seems immoral and risky.
This lengthy newsletter post, by one of the sharpest observers of the axis forming among tech oligarchs and fascists (sometimes the same people), closely analyzes an essay by a keen observer of a growing phenomenon they call the "Network State". Both pieces are provocative, and alarming.
We're facing an overthrow of our democracy, a shredding of the Constitution. It's not hypothetical. It's for real. The Republicans in Congress have decided to be co-conspirators. The Democrats have decided, for the most part – at least so far – to be helpless at best, quislings at worst. So have most of our biggest journalism organizations. The courts? Who knows? Some judges are doing their jobs, but Trump and earlier, George W. Bush, bowed to the Federalist Society's push for corporate/executive fealty and installed right-wing extremists at every federal level, especially the thoroughly corrupt Supreme Court.
Time is short, and it's hard to be optimistic. At the very least we need to persuade Democratic members of Congress to wake the eff up, and hound the Republicans – who've sold their souls to Trump – at every opportunity. And we need to remind our fellow citizens that the cost of letting this coup happen will be catastrophic for all but a few oligarchs and their hangers-on.
After the Oval Office confrontation where Trump and Vance ganged up on Zelensky, the news media adopted a framing – dubbing the affair a "shouting match" – that serves as a classic example of the "both sides" absurdity passing for journalism these days.
Watch for yourself. It was nota shouting match. The only people who raised their voices in a significant way – as they peppered their guest with lies and misdirection in their ambush of one of this century's genuinely heroic leaders – were Trump and Vance. You could see Zelensky forcing himself to keep his cool, even as he pushed back on the lies.
I raise this subject, a week after the fact, because it highlights the way Big Journalism creates bogus memes. based on its inability – or rather unwillingness – to even consider escaping from the false balance that pervades the craft even now.
The TSA workers should strike. Furthermore, the entirety of the labor movement should use whatever financial and logistical and political resources it has to help them strike. I say this not because I think a strike would be easy, but because the alternative to striking when your employer just announces that they are throwing your contract in the trash is to effectively accept that your employer can throw your contract in the trash, and still receive your labor. A union contract is an agreement that says “I will work for you under the conditions agreed to here.” Now, the Trump administration is saying: Work for us under whatever conditions we say. If you continue to work for them, your contract never meant anything.
The Trump regime just announced it was canceling a binding contract with the TSA union. No pretense of legality, just an "up yours" to the TSA workers and all union members everywhere.
The commentary above (alternate link here if you want to avoid Substack) doesn't pretend that a strike by the TSA employees is an easy thing to do. Strikes are hard on everyone. But it makes the case that there is no plausible alternative – going to court is a weak-kneed response – and a stronger case that all of organized labor needs to stand behind these workers.
If the union does strike, please be sure you understand what happened: an illegal abrogation of a contract by a regime that breaks or ignores any law it finds inconvenient. Trump, his cult (including the Republican Congress), and his apparatchiks will gaslight you like crazy, and unfortunately our incompetent political press will parrot the lies. Do not be fooled. And do not let your family and friends be fooled.
Have a look at this superb political cartoon in the Guardian. Given the sickeningly inadequate job major American news organizations are doing (and have been doing) for years now, the Guardian's U.S. edition has become the first news outlet I turn to each morning. I contribute financially as well.
The cartoon has been making the social media rounds, as it should. And Big Journalism types have been sniffing that it's really unfair.
Sorry to say, it's completely fair – and that's why American political journalists don't like it.
This newsletter is a compendium of the reporting and commentary that best explains the America's political, economic, and social conditions – and, most important, how we can find a way back from the dark days ahead. You will rarely find anything here from the New York Times or Washington Post or any of the other Big Journalism companies that failed us so completely during the 2024 elections and are now sucking up – even more than usual – to Donald Trump, his cult, and corporate oligarchs. My focus will be on smaller, more honorable outlets (and individuals). I hope you'll support them with your attention and your money. For more details, please read my About page.
Please send your suggestions
I spend a lot of time looking for essential coverage, and hope you'll help me by letting me know about the good stuff you find. Let me know.
Subscribe
Was this forwarded to you? If you would like to have your own free subscription, please click here.
Gil Duran
Hamilton Nolan
Stephen Collins
