March 6, 2025

Thursday, March 6, 2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.

A friend, a colleague, said to me yesterday that I shouldn’t despair - young people as a group hadn’t yet reacted to Trump yet because they have no experience with Fascism, and don’t recognize it.

This gave me pause.

Some interesting articles on Trump’s speech in Congress or authoritarianism in general.

From Jay Kua.

The big lies Trump told on Tuesday night include the following false statements, which the BBC fact checked along with the New York Times.

On the economy:

Lie: Trump inherited an “economic catastrophe” from Biden who let “egg prices get out of control”

Fact: Biden oversaw the best economic record of any president in recent memory, with steady GDP growth higher than any nation in the G7, low unemployment, tamed inflation and [brought] huge private investments into manufacturing.

Why: Trump is blaming Biden in order to explain falling consumer confidence, rising inflation, falling markets and flashing warning signs of a coming economic contraction. He is worried, with good reason, that he will be blamed for the coming downturn.

On DOGE cost savings

Lie: Trump claimed that DOGE had identified “hundreds of billions of fraud in federal spending.”

Fact: DOGE only claims $105 billion in cost savings, from a combination of canceled contracts, program savings and fraud. But this number itself is highly inflated. It has only shown evidence of $18.6 billion in savings, and it keeps having to delete some of its own claims as false. So far, it has actually not identified any fraud, despite making false and unsupported claims that, for example, social security benefits have been paid to people who are dead or 150 years old.

Why: Trump knows he needs to continue to justify DOGE’s work by claiming it is rooting out fraud, because the downsides to slashing and burning through the federal government are considerable and are costing him politically.

On Ukraine aid:

Lie: On U.S. aid to Ukraine, Trump claimed in his speech, “We've spent perhaps $350 billion… and they [Europe] have spent $100 billion. What a difference that is.”

Fact: According to calculations by the Kiel Institute, between January 2022 and the end of 2024, Europe as a whole spent $138.7 billion on Ukraine, while the US spent $119.7 billion.
Why: Trump needs to justify his plan to end all forms of aid, including military aid, to Ukraine by trying to convince Americans that we have put in far more than the Europeans. That isn’t remotely true either on an absolute level nor on a per capita level. But he needs to keep the lie going so that American voters feel aggrieved and go along with pulling the plug.

On his electoral victory:

Lie: Trump claimed, “The presidential election of Nov. 5 was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades.”

Fact: Joe Biden won by a far greater percentage of the popular vote in 2020 while winning the same swing states Trump recaptured. As Kenneth Vogel of the NYT noted,

He won the popular vote by 1.48%.
Biden won the popular vote in 2020 by 4.45%.
Obama won the popular vote in 2008 by 7.27%.

Why: Trump needs to claim a “mandate” in order to justify the massive assaults on the federal government, his seizure of Congressionally authorized funds, and his sweeping and unconstitutional executive orders. He claims that this is what the American people voted for, but in fact he received less than 50 percent of the votes cast. (the Status Kuo,Substack.)

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From Ruth Ben Ghiat, NYU Professor, historian of authoritarians, propaganda, democracy protection.

Anyone who studies authoritarianism, a political system that depends on propaganda, corruption, machismo, and violence, is well acquainted with the parade of sociopaths, sycophants, petty and grand criminals, and zealots who flourish in lawless environments where the performance of power is everything and the leader is elevated to a semi-divinity.

In authoritarian states, ridiculousness often competes with brutality for center stage. Donald Trump’s America brings this home, with a cast of strutting hotheads such as FBI Director Kash Patel; Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

The history of authoritarian regimes tells us that such highly-placed minions, who are chosen for their fanaticism and loyalty rather than their experience and competence, have often ended up more hated than the leader for the damage they cause. They enact the leader’s heartless and inane policies, and then are ejected from power when the negative outcomes of those policies become clear, while the leader carries on.

Here is how the profanely eloquent Jeff Tiedrich sums up the luminaries present at Trump’s first Cabinet meeting:

“here we have the Fox News chat-show host with a side gig as an ahem alleged blackout-drunk sexual assaulter. there’s the woman who assassinates puppies for fun. oh look, it’s the science-denier who kidnapped a dead bear and stuffed it in the trunk of his car. now say hi to the reality show has-been in charge of air travel safety. sitting next to him is the Russian asset currently tasked with keeping our secrets secret.”

How many of these disturbed and dangerous people will be in office in a year or two?

Two Strongmen in Place Means Two Sets of Collaborators

Authoritarian personality cults promote the fiction that there is only one man, a person of unique qualities, who can save the nation. There is only one person on the cover of Strongmen. Leave it to America to be innovating the authoritarian playbook to allow for two people at the top of the “power vertical,” as the chain of authority that leads to Vladimir Putin is known in Russia.

Here we have an unelected co-president, Elon Musk, who is speaking at White House Cabinet meetings, speaking to the press in the Oval Office, and having encounters with foreign heads of state as he wrecks U.S. government and its footprint abroad. No one elected him to do these things, which is why his actions constitute a new kind of coup. This situation also means that there are two sets of damaged and destructive collaborators to contend with.

Some of the most fanatical and efficient authoritarian collaborators have always worked behind the scenes. Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, has repeatedly expressed his desire to inflict psychological harm on federal employees (“put them in trauma”) by creating work conditions so hostile that they would resign, speeding the remaking of the civil service as a corps loyal to the leader.

Over at the other power vertical, the one tasked with digital authoritarian capture, Musk has “Big Balls,” aka Edward Coristine, an architect of the data thefts. His grandfather, Valery Fedorovich Martynov, was a KGB agent in the technical espionage division of the Soviet Embassy in Washington DC —an interesting continuity of interests and skills.

A recent meeting of Musk and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held at Blair House, known as the President’s Guest House, shows how this administration is not just out to destroy America as a democratic power but also make a mockery of U.S. government. This photo from the meeting inspired the present essay, and its caption should read: this is not normal.

Indian Prime Minister Modi and unelected U.S. co-President Musk meeting in Blair House. Source: Modi’s X account, Feb. 13, 2025.

The stately setting preserves a semblance of decorum: the two flags behind the leaders; the chairs placed close for frank conversation. But something is terribly wrong. On the right: Modi’s advisors and officials, dressed in suits, with their briefing books. On the left: Musk’s toddlers and their mothers, one with a storybook in hand.

Whether this is Musk’s idea of a joke is unknown, but the setup certainly channels Musk’s infantile fantasies of exercising absolute power forever, dominating everything and everyone, living forever, conquering the galaxy, and creating as many genetically superior mini-Musks as possible.

Modi, master of the social media moment, normalized this strangeness by posting on Twitter that it was a “very good meeting” during which he promoted his own ominous philosophy of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.” Left unspoken was the inappropriateness of a private citizen, currently engaged in a hostile takeover of the United States government, holding meetings in presidential spaces.

Autocrats such as Modi are supremely transactional beings who will work with anyone who has power at the moment. And that person, right now, is Musk. They can also relate to egoistical individuals doing bizarre things because they can. So what if Musk’s mise-en-scène implicitly compared Modi’s entourage to the toddlers who were likely soiling their diapers during the meeting?

This toddlers-as-experts scenario is unusual even in the autocrat world, as is the fact that an unelected individual is meeting with a head of state in the presidential guest house, and no one is doing anything to stop him.

The U.S. may be adding to the authoritarian playbook in creative ways right now, but the outcome is all too predictable: the Trump-Musk administration will be yet another example of a repressive state led by disturbed and damaged people. Trump may have promised Americans “order” and “stability,” but he and his collaborators will create chaos and disaster on a global scale.

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What bothered me the most in Trump’s hour and a half rant on Tuesday.

Yes, the existence and enthusiasm of Trump’s GOP enablers, but even more, Trump’s appropriation of the language of freedom and democracy.

And I’ve stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America. It’s back.

Forms of censorship under Trump.

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Censorship at Trump’s speech on Tuesday.

Jeff Bezos, another Trump lackey, is at the Washington Post, courtesy of the Trumpian belief that rich men are entitled to exercise power over anything they can buy.

The best movie I watched recently was “Becoming Katharine Graham.” (1 hour 20 minutes)

Trailer.👇

Ironically. Watch it on Amazon.

Strong press. Strong America

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A Contrarian Special.

Welcome to Wisconsin!

Why is the April 1 State Supreme Court election in Wisconsin so crucial? And why is Elon Musk pouring so much money into it?

Judge Susan Crawford and Jen Rubin of the Contrarian (formerly of the Washington Post) discuss the critical Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

Touch to watch.👇

Judge Susan Crawford and Jen Rubin discuss the critical Wisconsin Supreme Court race

On April 1st, Wisconsin residents will vote in a critical judicial election to fill an empty seat on the State Supreme Court.

Wisconsin’s highest court has delivered major wins on reproductive rights, voting rights, and fair maps but now a liberal judge has stepped down.

The Republicans, led by Musk, have already spent $12.5 million on this race.

With our help, Susan Crawford can win this.

Here is a link to donate to Susan Crawford’s campaign for the seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court.

Election Date is April 1.

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‘Hamilton’ Cancels Kennedy Center Run Over Trump’s Takeover

“We’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center,” said its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Hamilton,” the musical theater juggernaut about the birth of American democracy, is canceling plans to perform next year at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, citing President Trump’s moves to impose his ideological and cultural values on the long-cherished venue.

The musical had been slated to be part of the Kennedy Center’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But after Mr. Trump ousted the Democratic members from the center’s once-bipartisan board, became its chairman and replaced its president, “Hamilton” decided not to come.

“This latest action by Trump means it’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it,” the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, said in a joint interview on Wednesday with its lead producer, Jeffrey Seller. “The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center. We’re just not going to be part of it.”

Mr. Seller said the “Hamilton” team believed that Mr. Trump “took away our national arts center for all of us.”

“It became untenable for us to participate in an organization that had become so deeply politicized,” he said. “The Kennedy Center is for all of us, and it pains me deeply that they took it over and changed that. They said it’s not for all of us. It’s just for Donald Trump and his crowd. So we made a decision we can’t do it.”

Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center’s new president, called the cancellation “a publicity stunt that will backfire” in a post on social media. He accused Mr. Miranda of being “intolerant of people who don’t agree with him politically” and said that it was clear that he and Mr. Seller “don’t want Republicans going to their shows.”

“Americans see you, Lin,” he wrote.

The decision takes “Hamilton,” the hugely popular retelling of the nation’s founding, out of the Kennedy Center’s plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence — which President Trump has made a priority of commemorating. Although the Kennedy Center had last year announced that “Hamilton” would be staged there in 2026 as part of those celebrations, it had not yet put tickets on sale, and no contract had been signed. Mr. Miranda and Mr. Seller said the show would soon announce another venue in the Washington area so those hoping to see the show in that region would still have an opportunity to do so.

The cancellation comes at a time of transformation for the Kennedy Center. Mr. Trump has said he has a “vision for a Golden Age in arts and culture,” but has not specified what that might look like. Mr. Grenell has promised “a big, huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas.” (The Kennedy Center has regularly presented Christmas-themed festivities.)

The venue’s administrators are now figuring out what kind of art they are willing to present, while artists are deciding whether they are still willing to perform there and some ticket buyers are weighing whether they plan to continue attending.

Since Mr. Trump’s moves to take control of the Kennedy Center, a handful of artists have canceled shows there, including the musician Rhiannon Giddens and the actress Issa Rae. The soprano Renée Fleming and the singer-songwriter Ben Folds stepped down from advisory positions with the center and its affiliated organizations.

“Hamilton,” a biomusical about America’s first treasury secretary, was the biggest Broadway hit in years. It opened on Broadway in 2015 and won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for best musical. On Broadway it has grossed more than $1 billion and has been seen by nearly five million people. There have been multiple other productions over the last decade; it is currently running in New York and London and is touring in North America and Britain. And a live-capture version of the show is available to stream on Disney+.

Mr. Miranda is no stranger to the Kennedy Center. In 2018, during the first Trump Administration, he and other members of the “Hamilton” creative team were among the Kennedy Center honorees. “Hamilton” has been staged twice previously at the Kennedy Center, playing there for 14 weeks in 2018, when Mr. Trump was president, and for 10 weeks in 2022, when Joseph R. Biden Jr. was president.

Mr. Miranda is also no stranger to dust-ups with the Trump Administration. In 2016, shortly after Mr. Trump was elected to the presidency for the first time, the “Hamilton” cast delivered a curtain call appeal to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who was in the Broadway audience, asking that the Trump administration “uphold our American values” and “work on behalf of all of us.”

Mr. Trump lashed out, demanding an apology, and saying he had heard that “Hamilton” was “highly overrated.”

The show had a better relationship with the Obama administration — Mr. Miranda performed a song from what would become “Hamilton” at the White House in 2009, and in 2016 members of the cast performed at the White House. On that occasion, the first lady Michelle Obama called the musical “the best piece of art in any form that I have ever seen in my life.”

Also on Wednesday, Melissa Errico, a well-regarded musical theater performer, said that her World War I-themed concert, “The Story of a Rose,” which had been scheduled to run at the Kennedy Center in May, would relocate to a venue in Northern Virginia. Errico and the show’s producer, Daniel Dayton, said the decision had been made because of concerns over seating capacity. But Ms. Errico also said: “I’m glad at how it turned out. I wanted to do a show that everyone could attend — left, right and center.”

Most of this season’s theater programming appears to be intact. Greg Nobile, a lead producer of a Tony-winning revival of “Parade,” a musical about an antisemitic lynching in the early-20th-century American South, said in an interview before the “Hamilton” cancellation that he continued to expect the “Parade” tour to perform at the Kennedy Center this summer.

But next season’s programming could be at risk. Meredith Blair, the president and chief executive of the Booking Group, which arranges tours for Broadway shows, said several shows that had planned to perform at the Kennedy Center next season but had not yet publicly announced those plans are now quietly canceling. (New York Times)

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