Liberals (really, the “Progressive Left”) cannot be satisfied unless government — their preferred instrument of exerting power — is in a position of complete supremacy over private business, i.e., the free economy. But the prospect of a new Trump administration next month threatens to reverse the Left’s gains of the past several decades, so their new buzzword is “oligarchy,” suggesting a handful of super-rich villains are on the verge of taking over.
Never mind that Donald Trump won re-election in November thanks to the votes of 77,301,997 Americans, extremely few of whom are billionaires (or even millionaires). Watching MSNBC the past few days, you’d have heard a cacophony of journalists insisting that democracy was already being supplanted by “oligarchy” as successful businessmen like Elon Musk are on the ascent.
“This is basically the new Gilded Age that we are living in,” MSNBC legal analyst Melissa Murray fretted on Friday’s Alex Wagner Tonight. “It’s not a surprise that the administrative state is under assault. It’s a real problem for these oligarchs and corporations,” she added.
“This is what we are headed for. It’s not dictatorship. It’s oligarchy, government by the rich,” former longtime Newsweek writer Jonathan Alter warned on Saturday’s Velshi.
An hour later, Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern agreed: “It really seems like this coterie of billionaires and benefactors all sort of entrenching and reinforcing each other’s power and privilege. And if that isn’t an oligarchy, Katie, I’m really not sure what is.”
Earlier (on Monday, December 23), occasional host Rachel Maddow suggested Musk’s success in blocking a massive government spending bill was a dangerous sign that billionaires were about to have the upper hand. She approvingly quoted from The American Prospect’s David Dayan: “This is going to be a constant theme of the next four years. Personal business interests are going to constantly take precedence over governance in the Trump/Musk White House. The word for this is oligarchy, and oligarchs do not think about the country first.”
And on Tuesday’s The ReidOut, David Corn of Mother Jones magazine blasted Republicans for their “acquiescence” when it comes to Trump’s nominations: “They’ve accepted this clown car cavalcade of cranks, oligarchs and cronies for his appointments to very important positions that will threaten our health and safety.”
Of course, one way to avoid the power of a dangerous “oligarchy” is to reduce government’s authority over economic activity — with less power at stake, there would be less for the super-rich to gain from buying up compliant pols. But a less powerful federal government would also be a less powerful tool for the Left, so don’t expect them to discover their inner Libertarian.
Here are short transcripts of MSNBC’s liberals on Friday and Saturday wailing about the coming “oligarchy,” each followed by a video showing the context of each remark.
# Alex Wagner TonightDecember 27, 9:20pm ET
Host ALEX WAGNER: It says something as we look towards the broader landscape of the incoming Trump administration about the power of billionaires, right? It’s largely unchecked. This is what Dick Durbin had to say — he’s the outgoing chair of the Judiciary Committee — he says, “Whether failing to disclose lavish gifts or failing to recuse from cases with apparent conflicts of interest, it’s clear that the Justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires.” I mean, you have Elon Musk in the executive branch, you have Harlan Crow in the judicial branch, you have untold billionaires working their way into the legislative branch. I mean, just give me your opinion on this sort of, I’m not going to call it, officially, ‘kleptocracy,’ but man, Melissa, this is deeply problematic on a number of levels when you looking at the amount of money and the outsized influence it could buy.
MSNBC legal analyst MELISSA MURRAY: Wouldn’t we call it a kleptocracy? Maybe an — certainly an oligarchy gone amok, for sure, Alex. This is basically the new Gilded Age that we are living in, and we’ve seen the effects of it. The Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Doctrine last year, and there’s been reporting from the New York Times that has made clear that that was a multi-year project funded by the conservative legal movement and the Koch brothers network, which has a true interest in corporate deregulation, in hobbling the administrative state. Because administrative agencies issue regulations that often make it more costly for corporations to run because those regulations make it safer for consumers but more expensive for corporations to make their products. It’s not a surprise that the administrative state is under assault. It’s a real problem for these oligarchs and corporations, and so it’s no surprise the American people are losing faith in the Court when they see these cozy relationships between the Supreme Court justices and these oligarchs who sometimes function, apparently, as emotional-support billionaires….
# VelshiDecember 28, 11:07am ET
Former Newsweek writer JONATHAN ALTER: He [Trump] becomes a lame duck on January 20th. I know people talk about him getting around the 22nd Amendment and being in office forever. That’s not going to happen. So he, his political power will start to ooze out of him, and a lot of the accountability will be reflected in the — first in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections this coming year, and then in the 2026 midterms. But if he ends up governing with a billionaires boys club — you know, he’s already appointed 12 billionaires — that’s not what he promised. He promised to look out for middle class working families. And if his policies include, you know, deep cuts to very popular programs, or other things that don’t really seem to resemble the populist promises that he made during the campaign, his popularity is going to suffer….
There are a lot of ways of fighting back, but it depends on ordinary people to organize against oligarchy. This is what we are headed for. It’s not dictatorship. It’s oligarchy, government by the rich. And we need to get a sense in the days ahead of whether Democrats, independents and even some anti-Trump Republicans are willing to organize against this. This doesn’t mean, like, massive resistance. You have to pick your battles, but Democrats have a lot of tools available to them, and it’s on. This is going to be a struggle between his critics and the administration for the next four years.
# The Katie Phang ShowDecember 28, 12:26pm ET
Slate’s MARK JOSEPH STERN: [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas has devoted his career to destroying campaign finance laws and granting billionaires a First Amendment right to purchase elections. Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet took advantage of those decisions to essentially buy Trump the presidency, to bail him out and to put Trump back in the White House. And because of Musk’s work now, [Justice Thomas’s wife] Ginny Thomas is going to have access to the Oval Office, Ginny Thomas is going to have meetings with Donald Trump, pushing her preferred policies, and there is no real chance that the President will approve of any kind of accountability for Clarence Thomas’s violation of the law. Come on! We know Trump is not going to approve court reform, he’s not going to impose a code of ethics, or sign one if Congress happens to pass it. His Attorney General is certainly not going to bring the civil or criminal penalties that could be on the table because of Thomas’s law-breaking here. And so it really seems like this coterie of billionaires and benefactors all sort of entrenching and reinforcing each other’s power and privilege. And if that isn’t an oligarchy, Katie, I’m really not sure what is.
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