TRUMPSTER FIRE: Unbridled Oligarchy Abides

“We’ve become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy.” Jimmy Carter

“What can men do against such reckless hate?” King Theoden (LOTR).

“Do Trump voters express misinformed beliefs about violent crime rates, the inflation rate, the stock market, and border crossings because they are Trump voters, or are they Trump voters because they truly believe these falsehoods and are genuinely fearful for their country’s future?” Brad DeLong

“The Republican Party is not, as advertised, conservative but radically oligarchical. Programmatically it exists to advance corporate economic and political interests, and to protect and promote inequalities of opportunity and wealth.” Sheldon Wolin

“An oligarchy of private capital cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society because under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information.” Albert Einstein

“In the Ruins of Neoliberalism, casts the hard-right turn as animated by socioeconomically aggrieved white working- and middle-class populations but contoured by neoliberalism’s multipronged assault on democratic values.” Wendy Brown

“Democracy is the most fragile thing on earth, for what does it rest upon? You and me, and the fact that we agree to maintain it. The moment either of us says we will not, that’s the end of it.” Allen Drury