Trump Ruins America - The Final Countdown (For Now)
The New York Times found that one in six sentences in Trump’s cabinet meetings contained praise, crediting him with accomplishments or attacking opponents
La Voce di New York
I wrote Zombie Democracy to find out whether the United States has become one itself. The book is built on a test of eight questions, one for each thing your vote is supposed to control, asking whether it still does.
Representation. Does the House still reflect how the country voted?
The power of the purse. Does Congress still decide what the government spends?
Rule of law. Does the executive obey court orders?
An impartial court. Does the Supreme Court rule the same way for presidents of both parties?
Civilian control of force. Do the military, the National Guard, ICE and federal law enforcement answer to whomever the voters elect?
A free press. Can reporters cover the executive from inside its buildings without being barred for what they publish?
Political prosecutions. Can the opposition oppose without being investigated or indicted for it?
Accountability. Do the institutions built to catch abuse still act: the inspectors general, the whistleblower channels, the bar committees, the prosecutors and the Senate?
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/zombie-democracy
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We’re four days out, and Donald Trump is in a very dark mood. New reporting indicates that he’s privately raging over a possible looming loss , yet at the same time he still holds out hope that his formidable cultural power can pull out a victory. In a sense, this election really is a referendum on Trump’s deep faith in his limitless control over the culture. Yet it comes as the final burst of polls really paints a powerful picture to the contrary.
1. “The most sophisticated raid in world history” — Pete Hegseth
This is one of the most hyperbolic military comparisons in the results.
2. “You have fixed everything… created the golden age” — Howard Lutnick
The sweeping claim that Trump “fixed everything” stands out for its totalizing tone.
3. “You’ve ended at least eight wars… including Biden and Democrats’ war on Main Street” — Kelly Loeffler
The framing of domestic political conflict as a “war” Trump ended is unusually dramatic.
4. “2026 is going to be the year of the Trump boom” — Scott Bessent
He credited Trump with “record‑breaking” economic conditions and future generational benefits.
5. “Hundreds of American lives have been saved because of your love of coal” — Chris Wright
This is one of the most extraordinary cause‑and‑effect claims in the results.
If there's one thing that's true about white supremacists, it's that they rarely try to win mainstream support on the basis of a coherent argument.
For all his wealth, the drug-addled and dimwitted Elon Musk is no exception.
But what makes Elon so dangerous is that America — his adopted country, the one in which he became so rich — has not only allowed him to get away with unimaginable crimes . It has also allowed him to take control of X, a social media platform that gives him an extraordinary ability to spread misinformation, prey on people's systemic social anxieties, and exploit their cognitive biases.
Under the guise of being a " free speech absolutist ," a real world Tony Stark/Iron Man , a weed-smoking gamer , and a shock-jock Memelord , Elon systematically uses his platform to weaponize cognitive biases, radicalize individuals, and reinforce group solidarity.
He gleefully spreads misinformation. He regularly amplifies garbage posted by hardcore extremists and his own "sock puppet" accounts. He repeatedly posts about the "great replacement" theory.
And he's not shy about saying that if his racist, bigoted worldview doesn't triumph, he will support Civil War and the end of America as we know it.
Now, having spent $450 million trying to buy the election for Republicans in the upcoming midterms, Elon is expressing his dismay that democracy may still prevail.
In this trillionaire age of Citizens United, the one thing Elon fears most is a united citizenry
On Friday, Elon presented his closing argument to America. Or at least the part of America that believes Twitter is real life.
Elon believes that the citizens of Washington DC should continue to be taxed without representation. Nine out of 10 of those citizens disagree.
He thinks 3.2 million citizens who live in Puerto Rico should be denied the right to vote for no reason other than he might not be able to persuade them to vote the way he wants. Elon doesn't care that the population of Puerto Rico outnumbers 21 current U.S. states and that the 2/3 of the U.S. population believes Puerto Rico should be granted statehood.
He falsely claims that Democrats would open the border and make every undocumented immigrant a citizen in order to cement a permanent majority. He spreads this misinformation, despite knowing that he himself started his first company in America illegally .
He thinks Republicans who manipulated the system to create a Supreme Court majority designed to last for 40 years should be rewarded for their relentless corruption in manipulating the nomination process. Today, a majority of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Supreme Court. Seven in ten Americans believe politics make it impossible for the Supreme Court to rule impartially.
Why doesn't Elon want to fix a corrupt, unethical, and extreme Supreme Court? Because it's already fixed exactly the way he wants it.
Like Trump, who famously said that he loves the "poorly educated," the robot- friendly Elon looks on the majority of Americans with contempt.
In the simulation Elon believes we're living in , he doesn't want democracy to triumph.
He wants to be the only winner .