Gil Duran saw this coming years ago and wrote a lot about it in detail. Google him and his articles. Here he is recently being interviewed about it by Fred Wellman. Just so no one thinks you are some tinfoil hat. This has been growing in its knowing about for years. Especially by Gil Duran.
“Elon Musk is running amok through the government using what was sold as an advisory role and organization to effectively dismantle everything from the inside. He is wielding unchecked power including gaining access to the Treasury itself, all but eliminating a federal agency, and appears to be in the personnel files of millions of government employees, contractors, and average Americans. It’s been a shocking couple of weeks but those who have studied the malign plans and dystopian philosophy of Musk, Peter Theil, and J.D. Vance saw this coming. Writer Gil Duran is a journalist and longtime political communicator. He is the author of the Nerd Reich where he writes about the authoritarian dreams and desires of the Silicon Valley elite that appear to be unfolding before our eyes. His work was featured by Heather Cox Richardson in her wildly popular 'Letters from an American' series this week and he sits down with Fred to discuss the insane actions unfolding as we speak. The conversation will open your eyes and drive you to stand up to this destruction before it's too late!”
Also, Mike Brock on Substack which he calls “Notes from the Circus.” It’s a philosophy blog but he is a clear, very thoughtful writer whom you’ll have no trouble understanding. This is where I began to understand the threat of Yarvin, etc. Brock has worked in tech & knows of what he speaks.
Of course, the question on everyone’s lips is how do we stop this? Can we stop it? Is civil action enough? Trump will never get rid of Musk bc Trump 1) is a coward but mob boss who can’t fire people except on a fake realty tv show; 2) is bought by Musk & always in need of money; 3) sees his chance to become a second Putin, his role model & idol.
The sheer arrogance of these tech billionaire libertarians & their disdain for regular Americans is beyond the pale. Too much money, too much power, too much lack of fellow feeling. They are like the AI that they see replacing our government: soulless, lacking humanity. They can afford to be libertarians.
"How do we stop this?" is the million dollar question. I mean, 340 million standing up together and saying "Enough!" would end it in a sec, but both sides hate each other too much over nonsensical culture war issues to unite for a common purpose (which I suspect was the whole point of the manufacture culture war issues).
Good point. And that too has been part of a divide & conquer right wing strategy that has been very effective through deployment of its various outlets: Fix, AM radio, & later, social media.
Late to the convo; I think that there might be enough people on both sides to unite and say enough. I’m hopeful but still with a healthy dose of skepticism.
One of my fears is wondering which side the military will fall on or if there will be a split if it gets to physical civil war. I think we’ve been in a mental/psychological civil war for decades. A Cold War, so to speak.
You are correct. A significant portion the “white” under class and working class would rather die of starvation and lack of medical treatment than see “those people” get any food or medical treatment. They have been brainwashed for 60 years by rightwing shock jocks, hate talk radio and Faux News and its imitators. A book titled “Dying of Whiteness” documents some of this very sick mind set.
I understand the need to talk to these people, but I have no idea what to say. I just find it difficult to relate to that level of depravity in any sympathetic way. They certainly inspire the worst part of me in response. They seem like zombies to me.
I knew a computer programmer in the later half of the 1970s that were espousing a prototype version of what Curtis Yarvin is espousing.
In fact the fellow I worked with, a self styled libertarian anarchist, actually made a profit organizing a conference to examine the consequences of everyone having their own personal nuclear weapon. When I asked him what a person would do with their own personal nuclear weapon, he said they wouldn’t be able to collect property tax any more. I don’t know what he thinks they would do, perhaps threaten to vaporize the neighborhood?
This is the fantasy world inhabited by science fiction and fantasy fans. This particular person’s handle at fantasy/science fiction conventions was “Filthy Pierre”. The only way ideas this crazy get any traction is that idiots with billions of dollars at their disposal have bought into it and are funding it.
Extreme wealth is a threat to democracy and freedom. If we survive this, we need to make sure such extreme concentrations of wealth cannot occur again.
"Extreme wealth is a threat to democracy and freedom. If we survive this, we need to make sure such extreme concentrations of wealth cannot occur again." YES. Seems like the redistribution of wealth is something their agenda aggressively opposes. The thing that democracy understands and finds essential to a humanist civilization. And of course: How?it's such a deep question and l don't know if there is ever a sure thing - although we must try. Wealth of this magnitude is a new and fearsome dragon
Our economy was humming along just fine in the 1950’s under Eisenhower when the top marginal tax rate was north of 90%. Income inequality was also a lot less. The reason we need progressive tax’s is because in a capitalist system those with more capital can take greater risks and earn more while those with less are constrained by the need to pay for basic necessities. Even in a simulation where everyone starts out with equal resources and profit and loss are random, wealth concentrates in fewer and fewer hands over time. So the concentration of great wealth is more a testament to good luck, not great skill.
I don’t think we want to give dictatorial powers to those lucky enough to accumulate great wealth.
I advocate going back to the Eisenhower tax rates adjusted for inflation and adding a graduated wealth tax on those with over half a billion in wealth.
I have not done the inflation math, but I guess, even adjusting for inflation a top marginal tax rate of 95% from the Eisenhower administration would hit those making half a billion in income a year. The wealth tax would be on things like property and investments exceeding half a billion.
Agree. Many times people like these guys seem like teenage boys living out their fantasies of extreme control. A nuclear weapon to get out of property taxes? It’s selfishness that would lead to chaos. More selfishness than even Ayn Rand could have imagined. But now, Yarvin, Thiel etc have the billions to carry out their megalomaniacal wet dreams.
I’m more afraid of a president Vance than I am of a president Trump. Trump is a racist gasbag who wants to be a king. Human history has dealt with dozens of those. These CEO sociopath nihilists are something new. They’re the dystopian future seen in the Matrix and Terminator movies and they don’t care.
I agree that Vance’s ideology is more dangerous than Trump’s, but I’m not sure the MAGA base will rally around him the way they do for their Orange Deity.
Agree completely. This is where mainstream discussion misses the plot. Liberals and leftists have always had trouble comprehending the distinct groupings on the right. Thiel/Musk/Vance are the most dangerous and noxious, for the reasons you state: we have never in human history witnessed a group of people with such an immense concentration of wealth, such extraordinary technology at their disposal, and who are motivated by such a completely lawless, godless, nihilistic, and self-aggrandizing ideology. And these people have gained untrammeled, unrivaled access to the total power of the most powerful government in human history, which is also at the same time collapsing any pretense of the rule of law.
Will it matter if more people know and understand this? I don’t know, but it’s one of the things we have to try. We have to try everything.
Wow a Brit in Oz here but thinking the ultimate modern heist, get hold of the ICT infrastructure and Systems that run on it, the machinery of the US government, couple that with martial law and boom democracy gone and people suppressed 🧐interesting times we live in 🤞
Agree. Who, what will expose this? If enough regular people (mostly non-MAGA voters) learn about this they will react to try to stop it. But who or what is the trusted source that will get the word out? Why aren’t Dems talking about this?
I considered that. I think this is where Musk comes in- but it might be unforced error on his part.I suspect that MAGAS will blame Musk and NOT JD or Trump for the shenanigans in the government. This will be especially true if something happens to Trump. While JD doesn’t the cult of personality around him, he does have the voter’s tepid seal of approval. Plus, JD is one of the biggest chameleons around- he’ll ooze into whatever form Thiel wants him in.
The problem is Trump, aka Putin’s Apprentice, has been owned by first the Soviet Union and now Putin’s Russia for some time. Unfortunately as Shane has pointed out, Elon’s agenda is correlated with Putin’s and they are both using Trump as a vehicle. It is no accident that Elon has his own channel in to Putin. Vance is trying to set himself up as Trump’s successor. I am speculating Vance may try to pull a 25th Amendment replacement of Trump, but Trump has filled all the Cabinet posts with personal loyalists so that will be difficult to pull off.
Please someone who has reach… make this palatable for the rest of America. If there is a way to summarize it and get it out there. We are in a race now. Elon Musk is on X lying and threatening journalists. The Maga people think that he’s cutting costs what a joke. We will lose our free press. Some of us have already lost our freedom of speech. Government workers are hurting, whole families are hurting and frightened. I’m frightened. We abandoned starving and sick children. How much has to happen before we can stop him?? I can’t believe that judge said that no one could prove a “irreparable harm”. What the hell was that? What is it going to take?
Shane Almgren provides the history behind the plan to destroy our democracy and replace it with a Corporate Monarchy, currently underway. My take on his incredibly important clarion call:
Clearly we need a PLAN as our economy falls into recession then likely depression due to ...
- Hand over of governance to Musk and his servile followers
- Trump's retaliatory tariffs
- Government services implode leading to measles, flu, polio, and whooping cough pandemics and likely no flu vaccine this fall
- Chaotic and dangerous transportation systems
- Deep cuts to Medicaid/Medicare and Social Security
- Predatory banking and astronomical interest rates
- Not weakened but destroyed foreign policy and diplomacy that brings back the very real threat of WW3 and release of nukes
- Research limited to only the most promising breakthroughs at universities
- A destroyed federal government and related implosion of our nation's capital and the surrounding economy.
The 2026 midterm and 2028 primary elections are the most important elections of our lifetime. We need to start negotiating NOW with moderate Republicans to impeach both under treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors that have already taken place and will continue; publish a centrist playbook NOW that counters Project 2025; come to the very hard realization NOW that perceived extremes in immigration, DEI, LGBT, and abortion caused a conservative backlash; and find NOW then flood the elections with centrist candidates. Go centrist then focus on ways to empower the least and last among us, and bring back radical belonging, extreme fairness, and representation of all among us.
I have spent much of my career developing or bringing emerging technologies to emerging economies. Tech bros believe they can control our democracy (and the reason why they were sitting in the front row at Trump's inauguration) but remember their divisive social media, monopolistic Amazon gutted our small business fabric; exploitative ride sharing Uber and Lyft take every cent from drivers who make barely minimum wage after expenses; predatory banks, high interest rates; etc.
Tech bros are OK with our divisive culture. Tech bros don't care about your privacy. Tech bros have created a profoundly lonely culture of kids, teens and young adults unable to speak to each other. Tech bros have denied the profound climate impact of their technology, preferring instead to take the earth's minerals in exchange for military protection.
Sadly, there is ZERO leadership that is fighting back with a simple statement and plan -- "We didn't read the room and this is why a madman has been elected a second time. We'll be more centrist. It might take a few election cycles to restore our democracy, but we have a PLAN for Congress, judiciary, and a worthy Presidential candidate -- I nominate former Navy Admiral Jim Stavridis whom I got to know when I led the rollout of an online university for the poor -- see WQU. edu.
That's an excellent and very helpful summary of the situation. Thanks. It's very disheartening to find out that the Democratic leadership thinks their problem is too much Bernie, AOC and small dollar donations.
Hey Shane. Really good, informative, well-structured piece. Thanks. Without the snark (southerners can’t read; orange jesus, etc.), as enjoyable as it might be, to write as well as to read, it could be a more effective instrument. Educating helps our cause. Insulting? Not so much. I’m with you, brother.
Now it’s all becoming clear! The Republican’s South African leader and his orange lapdog have given them the audacity to let their masks fall away.. the masks of Christianity, compassion, love for your neighbor, of not judging others, of taking care of widows and orphans, the weak and the poor,.. all these masks have fallen away and we now see the real bigots and know their fear. . .they’re a bunch of scared small minded fools who will and have sold their souls to retain some semblance of relevance.
Untangling this mess by highlighting these 3 major agendas in the mix was helpful. Where does the Russia piece fit in? I assume that’s the part that Trump brings. While it may have more implications for the international stage, the influence it’s had through media (and potentially owning the president and others) would have its own impact on what’s happening to democracy.
The Russia agenda is a whole separate beast that I only partially untangled (and that was with a source in Switzerland with direct ties to Putin). There’s the real estate ties, the massive debt leverage, potentially some blackmail, and that’s not even going down the rabbit hole of Trump maybe being an unwitting (or witting) KGB asset. Not sure I’ll ever be able to fully untangle that one…
I think it’s ideological affinity. The same way that America used to seek to ally itself with liberal democracies, because it was a liberal democracy, it is now governed by an authoritarian leader and movement, which seeks to ally itself with other authoritarian leaders and movements across the world. Trump simply recognizes his kind in Putin. It’s not an insult; this is genuinely what they would say. The supporting theme is that Trump operates on schoolyard bully principles: he respects and defers to the strong, he has contempt for the weak. The concepts of “enemy” or “ally” are irrelevant. If an “ally” is weak; they are deserving of contempt; if an “enemy” is strong, they deserve respect.
In trying to put all this together in my mind all I can think is that Trump and Putin are planning to become partners. How else does Trump's bizarre expression of sympathy for Putin in the Oval office the other day make any sense? "Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia". Yes, clearly his buddy Putin is the victim in all this.
The West's resistance to Russia in the past was due to the fact that the USSR was a communist country. Now that it's run by greedy capitalistic oligarchs and hardcore authoritarian Christians (the Russian Orthodox Church is very tight with Putin) what's not to like? Suddenly Trump's cabinet choices start to seem less like trolling and more like a plan. I'm sure North Korea will be involved in the alliance given their military support for Russia. When I saw Trump's cabinet's responses to the "Friday massacre" all I could think of was these people are talking like North Koreans. Does Marco Rubio really think Trump deserves the Nobel Peace prize for all this?
You’re saying we’re not giving it the seriousness it deserves? Or that its success is far fetched? If it’s the former what can we do about it? Can it be stopped?
I’m seeing a whole lot of people who aren’t rejecting this as a whacky conspiracy theory, but don’t seem to view it as an immediate enough of a threat to do something NOW. We have the numbers, so we can win this if we come together. I’m still not sure what that looks like outside of these little economic boycotts folks are organizing. Probably some massive coordinated civil disobedience.
Hi Shane— great essay about all the right wing bullshit going on in Washington— I’m with you 100%. One request— please refrain from saying things like the residents of Louisiana and Oklahoma are illiterate. Obviously there are intelligent people in every state — I’m in North Carolina which has been under the control of a conservative legislature for years but that’s more about gerrymandering than the political preference of the majority. It’s super frustrating believe me! So with all due respect, please refrain from the blanket insults. Thanks
Call your Republican representative NOW and let it rip.
They vote today to gut Medicaid and give massive tax breaks to the wealthy. And the acting director at the Social Security Administration just called for a 50% reduction in forces there. They're starving out Social Security as we speak.
Yes! We all see the steamroller(s) flattening everything of decency and compassion in sight. This exposes the workings of insidiousness. Sunlight is the best disinfectant for this kind of virus. But we have to face the sun, not hide in the shadows. Hiding might feel safe but it’s just denial—eyes closed, fingers in ears, singing “La-la-la-LA!”
I notice one prominent name missing from this story: Robert Mercer—and now his daughter, Rebekah Mercer—who’s long been tied to the data analytics world by way of the former defence contractor SCL Group. Cambridge Analytica, which played a notorious role in election influence, was forced to close up shop, only to reappear as Emerdata (itself going under last December). Meanwhile, Rebekah has launched Cambridge Analytica LLC in Delaware, doing essentially the same brand of hyper-targeted voter manipulation with over 5,000 data points at their disposal. None of this touches on the fact that Robert Mercer was also a key backer of JD Vance.
Initially, I assumed the “coup” aspect was a scheme by the petroleum industry—given their historically deep pockets and the damning cross-links you see in the DeSmog Climate Disinformation Database. But it turns out the tech billionaires wield even more money and deploy it just as aggressively to maintain control. The culture war in the U.S. has converged with an information war and, ultimately, a resource war. It’s all old power structures refusing to surrender the throne. This story pulls that tech angle into focus perfectly.
I’m one of those who’s been watching this (Yarvin, et.al.) unfold while keeping my tinfoil hat within reaching distance, because I couldn’t believe it would actually materialize until … it did, right about in 2016. So I have a long, long, loooooong history with this. Being originally from Ohio, I watched Vance appear out of thin air and get a senate seat. I’ve watched the coagulation of these hematomas in our society for a long time.
The only thing I’ll add that seems a bit thin in your otherwise excellent analysis and telling of it is this: Yarvin is liquid, his greatest skill is rhetoric, and he is no political scientist - which is why his “theories” are so full of holes, anyone with half a wit of sense can see the big missing pieces: “government-as-a-service” requires financial viability. It has to deal with succession. It has to deal with education and care of the elderly. In Yarvin’s world these are all very absent.
Moreover, Yarvin is talking about splitting the United States into possibly HUNDREDS of mini countries. Some of them could be geographically fractured - exist in multiple places - using telepresence as the means to connect them. It would be a somewhat Darwinist order - the mini monarchies - the corporations - would compete on a survival of the fittest principle. The insanity and incompleteness of his model is somewhat stunning. Also, if you don’t believe the guy is full of himself - look at the pic you posted. He stages himself for that. It’s a designed, false, fake image of a tech bro CEO ready to be a king of one of these GaaS entities. Blech! Yak! Gag.
Great points, Rick. I wrote this immediately after discovering Yarvin for the first time, so there’s def new stuff I plan on fleshing out in the future. I’m slowly making my way through more of his writing—and investigating the Network State his tech followers seemed to be keen on implementing all over the globe.
X = 88 in ASCII which is basics for programmers or web developers. 88 is symbolic and means a Nazi salute.. “heil Hitler” . That’s his obsession with X. He tweeted recently using the number 88,000,000 not a mistake.
Gil Duran saw this coming years ago and wrote a lot about it in detail. Google him and his articles. Here he is recently being interviewed about it by Fred Wellman. Just so no one thinks you are some tinfoil hat. This has been growing in its knowing about for years. Especially by Gil Duran.
“Elon Musk is running amok through the government using what was sold as an advisory role and organization to effectively dismantle everything from the inside. He is wielding unchecked power including gaining access to the Treasury itself, all but eliminating a federal agency, and appears to be in the personnel files of millions of government employees, contractors, and average Americans. It’s been a shocking couple of weeks but those who have studied the malign plans and dystopian philosophy of Musk, Peter Theil, and J.D. Vance saw this coming. Writer Gil Duran is a journalist and longtime political communicator. He is the author of the Nerd Reich where he writes about the authoritarian dreams and desires of the Silicon Valley elite that appear to be unfolding before our eyes. His work was featured by Heather Cox Richardson in her wildly popular 'Letters from an American' series this week and he sits down with Fred to discuss the insane actions unfolding as we speak. The conversation will open your eyes and drive you to stand up to this destruction before it's too late!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnTBzgjme20&t=7s
Thanks for the info, Leslie!
Thank YOU for writing about it!
Also, Mike Brock on Substack which he calls “Notes from the Circus.” It’s a philosophy blog but he is a clear, very thoughtful writer whom you’ll have no trouble understanding. This is where I began to understand the threat of Yarvin, etc. Brock has worked in tech & knows of what he speaks.
Of course, the question on everyone’s lips is how do we stop this? Can we stop it? Is civil action enough? Trump will never get rid of Musk bc Trump 1) is a coward but mob boss who can’t fire people except on a fake realty tv show; 2) is bought by Musk & always in need of money; 3) sees his chance to become a second Putin, his role model & idol.
The sheer arrogance of these tech billionaire libertarians & their disdain for regular Americans is beyond the pale. Too much money, too much power, too much lack of fellow feeling. They are like the AI that they see replacing our government: soulless, lacking humanity. They can afford to be libertarians.
"How do we stop this?" is the million dollar question. I mean, 340 million standing up together and saying "Enough!" would end it in a sec, but both sides hate each other too much over nonsensical culture war issues to unite for a common purpose (which I suspect was the whole point of the manufacture culture war issues).
Good point. And that too has been part of a divide & conquer right wing strategy that has been very effective through deployment of its various outlets: Fix, AM radio, & later, social media.
Late to the convo; I think that there might be enough people on both sides to unite and say enough. I’m hopeful but still with a healthy dose of skepticism.
One of my fears is wondering which side the military will fall on or if there will be a split if it gets to physical civil war. I think we’ve been in a mental/psychological civil war for decades. A Cold War, so to speak.
You are correct. A significant portion the “white” under class and working class would rather die of starvation and lack of medical treatment than see “those people” get any food or medical treatment. They have been brainwashed for 60 years by rightwing shock jocks, hate talk radio and Faux News and its imitators. A book titled “Dying of Whiteness” documents some of this very sick mind set.
I understand the need to talk to these people, but I have no idea what to say. I just find it difficult to relate to that level of depravity in any sympathetic way. They certainly inspire the worst part of me in response. They seem like zombies to me.
I knew a computer programmer in the later half of the 1970s that were espousing a prototype version of what Curtis Yarvin is espousing.
In fact the fellow I worked with, a self styled libertarian anarchist, actually made a profit organizing a conference to examine the consequences of everyone having their own personal nuclear weapon. When I asked him what a person would do with their own personal nuclear weapon, he said they wouldn’t be able to collect property tax any more. I don’t know what he thinks they would do, perhaps threaten to vaporize the neighborhood?
This is the fantasy world inhabited by science fiction and fantasy fans. This particular person’s handle at fantasy/science fiction conventions was “Filthy Pierre”. The only way ideas this crazy get any traction is that idiots with billions of dollars at their disposal have bought into it and are funding it.
Extreme wealth is a threat to democracy and freedom. If we survive this, we need to make sure such extreme concentrations of wealth cannot occur again.
"Extreme wealth is a threat to democracy and freedom. If we survive this, we need to make sure such extreme concentrations of wealth cannot occur again." YES. Seems like the redistribution of wealth is something their agenda aggressively opposes. The thing that democracy understands and finds essential to a humanist civilization. And of course: How?it's such a deep question and l don't know if there is ever a sure thing - although we must try. Wealth of this magnitude is a new and fearsome dragon
Our economy was humming along just fine in the 1950’s under Eisenhower when the top marginal tax rate was north of 90%. Income inequality was also a lot less. The reason we need progressive tax’s is because in a capitalist system those with more capital can take greater risks and earn more while those with less are constrained by the need to pay for basic necessities. Even in a simulation where everyone starts out with equal resources and profit and loss are random, wealth concentrates in fewer and fewer hands over time. So the concentration of great wealth is more a testament to good luck, not great skill.
I don’t think we want to give dictatorial powers to those lucky enough to accumulate great wealth.
I advocate going back to the Eisenhower tax rates adjusted for inflation and adding a graduated wealth tax on those with over half a billion in wealth.
Half a Bil in wealth or in come per year?
*income
I have not done the inflation math, but I guess, even adjusting for inflation a top marginal tax rate of 95% from the Eisenhower administration would hit those making half a billion in income a year. The wealth tax would be on things like property and investments exceeding half a billion.
Agree. Many times people like these guys seem like teenage boys living out their fantasies of extreme control. A nuclear weapon to get out of property taxes? It’s selfishness that would lead to chaos. More selfishness than even Ayn Rand could have imagined. But now, Yarvin, Thiel etc have the billions to carry out their megalomaniacal wet dreams.
Disturbing, but necessary exposè.
Thank you!
America is not falling, it is being liquidated.
The government is not falling apart. It is undergoing corporate restructure.
And by the time we realize what we have lost, we will already be living in what replaced it.
https://roccojarman.substack.com/p/the-corporate-capture-of-america
I’m more afraid of a president Vance than I am of a president Trump. Trump is a racist gasbag who wants to be a king. Human history has dealt with dozens of those. These CEO sociopath nihilists are something new. They’re the dystopian future seen in the Matrix and Terminator movies and they don’t care.
I agree that Vance’s ideology is more dangerous than Trump’s, but I’m not sure the MAGA base will rally around him the way they do for their Orange Deity.
Well if there are no more presidential election who cares what the MAGA morons/episilons do? You can be sure the 2025 brigade don't care.
Agreed
I considered ti that. But that’s where Musk comes in. A lot of MAGA s
Agree completely. This is where mainstream discussion misses the plot. Liberals and leftists have always had trouble comprehending the distinct groupings on the right. Thiel/Musk/Vance are the most dangerous and noxious, for the reasons you state: we have never in human history witnessed a group of people with such an immense concentration of wealth, such extraordinary technology at their disposal, and who are motivated by such a completely lawless, godless, nihilistic, and self-aggrandizing ideology. And these people have gained untrammeled, unrivaled access to the total power of the most powerful government in human history, which is also at the same time collapsing any pretense of the rule of law.
Will it matter if more people know and understand this? I don’t know, but it’s one of the things we have to try. We have to try everything.
Couldn't agree more.
Wow a Brit in Oz here but thinking the ultimate modern heist, get hold of the ICT infrastructure and Systems that run on it, the machinery of the US government, couple that with martial law and boom democracy gone and people suppressed 🧐interesting times we live in 🤞
It’s all Kremlin inspired tsuris, chaos, and destruction of American democracy!!
Completely agree with every word Lucien!!
Agree. Who, what will expose this? If enough regular people (mostly non-MAGA voters) learn about this they will react to try to stop it. But who or what is the trusted source that will get the word out? Why aren’t Dems talking about this?
July 14, 1789
I considered that. I think this is where Musk comes in- but it might be unforced error on his part.I suspect that MAGAS will blame Musk and NOT JD or Trump for the shenanigans in the government. This will be especially true if something happens to Trump. While JD doesn’t the cult of personality around him, he does have the voter’s tepid seal of approval. Plus, JD is one of the biggest chameleons around- he’ll ooze into whatever form Thiel wants him in.
.
True, he is gross like that.
They want power over those they feel have “dissed” them and have not properly acknowledged their “genius” and given them their just “due”.
This is their very simple and sole motivation.
The problem is Trump, aka Putin’s Apprentice, has been owned by first the Soviet Union and now Putin’s Russia for some time. Unfortunately as Shane has pointed out, Elon’s agenda is correlated with Putin’s and they are both using Trump as a vehicle. It is no accident that Elon has his own channel in to Putin. Vance is trying to set himself up as Trump’s successor. I am speculating Vance may try to pull a 25th Amendment replacement of Trump, but Trump has filled all the Cabinet posts with personal loyalists so that will be difficult to pull off.
Please someone who has reach… make this palatable for the rest of America. If there is a way to summarize it and get it out there. We are in a race now. Elon Musk is on X lying and threatening journalists. The Maga people think that he’s cutting costs what a joke. We will lose our free press. Some of us have already lost our freedom of speech. Government workers are hurting, whole families are hurting and frightened. I’m frightened. We abandoned starving and sick children. How much has to happen before we can stop him?? I can’t believe that judge said that no one could prove a “irreparable harm”. What the hell was that? What is it going to take?
Shane Almgren provides the history behind the plan to destroy our democracy and replace it with a Corporate Monarchy, currently underway. My take on his incredibly important clarion call:
Clearly we need a PLAN as our economy falls into recession then likely depression due to ...
- Hand over of governance to Musk and his servile followers
- Trump's retaliatory tariffs
- Government services implode leading to measles, flu, polio, and whooping cough pandemics and likely no flu vaccine this fall
- Chaotic and dangerous transportation systems
- Deep cuts to Medicaid/Medicare and Social Security
- Predatory banking and astronomical interest rates
- Not weakened but destroyed foreign policy and diplomacy that brings back the very real threat of WW3 and release of nukes
- Research limited to only the most promising breakthroughs at universities
- A destroyed federal government and related implosion of our nation's capital and the surrounding economy.
The 2026 midterm and 2028 primary elections are the most important elections of our lifetime. We need to start negotiating NOW with moderate Republicans to impeach both under treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors that have already taken place and will continue; publish a centrist playbook NOW that counters Project 2025; come to the very hard realization NOW that perceived extremes in immigration, DEI, LGBT, and abortion caused a conservative backlash; and find NOW then flood the elections with centrist candidates. Go centrist then focus on ways to empower the least and last among us, and bring back radical belonging, extreme fairness, and representation of all among us.
I have spent much of my career developing or bringing emerging technologies to emerging economies. Tech bros believe they can control our democracy (and the reason why they were sitting in the front row at Trump's inauguration) but remember their divisive social media, monopolistic Amazon gutted our small business fabric; exploitative ride sharing Uber and Lyft take every cent from drivers who make barely minimum wage after expenses; predatory banks, high interest rates; etc.
Tech bros are OK with our divisive culture. Tech bros don't care about your privacy. Tech bros have created a profoundly lonely culture of kids, teens and young adults unable to speak to each other. Tech bros have denied the profound climate impact of their technology, preferring instead to take the earth's minerals in exchange for military protection.
Sadly, there is ZERO leadership that is fighting back with a simple statement and plan -- "We didn't read the room and this is why a madman has been elected a second time. We'll be more centrist. It might take a few election cycles to restore our democracy, but we have a PLAN for Congress, judiciary, and a worthy Presidential candidate -- I nominate former Navy Admiral Jim Stavridis whom I got to know when I led the rollout of an online university for the poor -- see WQU. edu.
We need a plan NOW.
That's an excellent and very helpful summary of the situation. Thanks. It's very disheartening to find out that the Democratic leadership thinks their problem is too much Bernie, AOC and small dollar donations.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2025/03/02/democrats-in-despair-00206883?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=0000014e-f10d-dd93-ad7f-f90de50d0003&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
It's going to be a long road back to sanity and democracy.
Why Admiral Stavridis in particular?
Ermmm... Stavridis ??? That's a big Ν0/ ΟΧΙ!
Hey Shane. Really good, informative, well-structured piece. Thanks. Without the snark (southerners can’t read; orange jesus, etc.), as enjoyable as it might be, to write as well as to read, it could be a more effective instrument. Educating helps our cause. Insulting? Not so much. I’m with you, brother.
Agree. We need to spread the message to whoever will listen. Not exclude people.
Now it’s all becoming clear! The Republican’s South African leader and his orange lapdog have given them the audacity to let their masks fall away.. the masks of Christianity, compassion, love for your neighbor, of not judging others, of taking care of widows and orphans, the weak and the poor,.. all these masks have fallen away and we now see the real bigots and know their fear. . .they’re a bunch of scared small minded fools who will and have sold their souls to retain some semblance of relevance.
Spot on!
Straight on Sonja:
WELL said.
Untangling this mess by highlighting these 3 major agendas in the mix was helpful. Where does the Russia piece fit in? I assume that’s the part that Trump brings. While it may have more implications for the international stage, the influence it’s had through media (and potentially owning the president and others) would have its own impact on what’s happening to democracy.
The Russia agenda is a whole separate beast that I only partially untangled (and that was with a source in Switzerland with direct ties to Putin). There’s the real estate ties, the massive debt leverage, potentially some blackmail, and that’s not even going down the rabbit hole of Trump maybe being an unwitting (or witting) KGB asset. Not sure I’ll ever be able to fully untangle that one…
I think it’s ideological affinity. The same way that America used to seek to ally itself with liberal democracies, because it was a liberal democracy, it is now governed by an authoritarian leader and movement, which seeks to ally itself with other authoritarian leaders and movements across the world. Trump simply recognizes his kind in Putin. It’s not an insult; this is genuinely what they would say. The supporting theme is that Trump operates on schoolyard bully principles: he respects and defers to the strong, he has contempt for the weak. The concepts of “enemy” or “ally” are irrelevant. If an “ally” is weak; they are deserving of contempt; if an “enemy” is strong, they deserve respect.
Well spoken Lucien, and Spot ON.
In trying to put all this together in my mind all I can think is that Trump and Putin are planning to become partners. How else does Trump's bizarre expression of sympathy for Putin in the Oval office the other day make any sense? "Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia". Yes, clearly his buddy Putin is the victim in all this.
The West's resistance to Russia in the past was due to the fact that the USSR was a communist country. Now that it's run by greedy capitalistic oligarchs and hardcore authoritarian Christians (the Russian Orthodox Church is very tight with Putin) what's not to like? Suddenly Trump's cabinet choices start to seem less like trolling and more like a plan. I'm sure North Korea will be involved in the alliance given their military support for Russia. When I saw Trump's cabinet's responses to the "Friday massacre" all I could think of was these people are talking like North Koreans. Does Marco Rubio really think Trump deserves the Nobel Peace prize for all this?
So this is the endgame… shouldn’t this be the front and center fight of our time? Why are we just glancing over it like it’s just another hurdle?
Even though we’re watching the implementation unfolding, the big picture sounds too far-fetched to treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
You’re saying we’re not giving it the seriousness it deserves? Or that its success is far fetched? If it’s the former what can we do about it? Can it be stopped?
I’m seeing a whole lot of people who aren’t rejecting this as a whacky conspiracy theory, but don’t seem to view it as an immediate enough of a threat to do something NOW. We have the numbers, so we can win this if we come together. I’m still not sure what that looks like outside of these little economic boycotts folks are organizing. Probably some massive coordinated civil disobedience.
And?
Therein lies its POWER
Shane.
Hi Shane— great essay about all the right wing bullshit going on in Washington— I’m with you 100%. One request— please refrain from saying things like the residents of Louisiana and Oklahoma are illiterate. Obviously there are intelligent people in every state — I’m in North Carolina which has been under the control of a conservative legislature for years but that’s more about gerrymandering than the political preference of the majority. It’s super frustrating believe me! So with all due respect, please refrain from the blanket insults. Thanks
It's not over yet!
Call your Republican representative NOW and let it rip.
They vote today to gut Medicaid and give massive tax breaks to the wealthy. And the acting director at the Social Security Administration just called for a 50% reduction in forces there. They're starving out Social Security as we speak.
https://apnews.com/article/social-security-layoffs-doge-musk-trump-93efbed33957af5ec8ac37744d0592de
CALL 202-224-3121
SAY:
DON'T TOUCH MEDICAID AND SOCIAL SECURITY!!
We are angry and we are watching. THIS CARNAGE HAS TO STOP!
**********
PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
Thanks Naomi!!
Yes! We all see the steamroller(s) flattening everything of decency and compassion in sight. This exposes the workings of insidiousness. Sunlight is the best disinfectant for this kind of virus. But we have to face the sun, not hide in the shadows. Hiding might feel safe but it’s just denial—eyes closed, fingers in ears, singing “La-la-la-LA!”
Absolutely!
I notice one prominent name missing from this story: Robert Mercer—and now his daughter, Rebekah Mercer—who’s long been tied to the data analytics world by way of the former defence contractor SCL Group. Cambridge Analytica, which played a notorious role in election influence, was forced to close up shop, only to reappear as Emerdata (itself going under last December). Meanwhile, Rebekah has launched Cambridge Analytica LLC in Delaware, doing essentially the same brand of hyper-targeted voter manipulation with over 5,000 data points at their disposal. None of this touches on the fact that Robert Mercer was also a key backer of JD Vance.
Initially, I assumed the “coup” aspect was a scheme by the petroleum industry—given their historically deep pockets and the damning cross-links you see in the DeSmog Climate Disinformation Database. But it turns out the tech billionaires wield even more money and deploy it just as aggressively to maintain control. The culture war in the U.S. has converged with an information war and, ultimately, a resource war. It’s all old power structures refusing to surrender the throne. This story pulls that tech angle into focus perfectly.
Thank you for mentioning the Mercers--my bet is that they are even less familiar to most Americans than Thiel.
I really wish this was just an apocalyptic movie where the good guys win.
Like Marcel’s Avengers films.
But I don’t think we’re that lucky right now.
Real life has become a nightmare, with no guarantee that heroes are going to save us.
Be strong. Stay in the know. Resist.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Aye, resist.
I’m one of those who’s been watching this (Yarvin, et.al.) unfold while keeping my tinfoil hat within reaching distance, because I couldn’t believe it would actually materialize until … it did, right about in 2016. So I have a long, long, loooooong history with this. Being originally from Ohio, I watched Vance appear out of thin air and get a senate seat. I’ve watched the coagulation of these hematomas in our society for a long time.
The only thing I’ll add that seems a bit thin in your otherwise excellent analysis and telling of it is this: Yarvin is liquid, his greatest skill is rhetoric, and he is no political scientist - which is why his “theories” are so full of holes, anyone with half a wit of sense can see the big missing pieces: “government-as-a-service” requires financial viability. It has to deal with succession. It has to deal with education and care of the elderly. In Yarvin’s world these are all very absent.
Moreover, Yarvin is talking about splitting the United States into possibly HUNDREDS of mini countries. Some of them could be geographically fractured - exist in multiple places - using telepresence as the means to connect them. It would be a somewhat Darwinist order - the mini monarchies - the corporations - would compete on a survival of the fittest principle. The insanity and incompleteness of his model is somewhat stunning. Also, if you don’t believe the guy is full of himself - look at the pic you posted. He stages himself for that. It’s a designed, false, fake image of a tech bro CEO ready to be a king of one of these GaaS entities. Blech! Yak! Gag.
Great points, Rick. I wrote this immediately after discovering Yarvin for the first time, so there’s def new stuff I plan on fleshing out in the future. I’m slowly making my way through more of his writing—and investigating the Network State his tech followers seemed to be keen on implementing all over the globe.
X = 88 in ASCII which is basics for programmers or web developers. 88 is symbolic and means a Nazi salute.. “heil Hitler” . That’s his obsession with X. He tweeted recently using the number 88,000,000 not a mistake.
I did a deep dive on that here: https://shanealmgren.substack.com/p/1488-the-hidden-nazi-symbolism-of