Oligarchy, Monopoly and Trumpism

 Josh Marshall makes a case that the most important sub rosa fight against Trump is being waged on behalf of Perkins Coie, a prestigious law firm that largely represents the Democratic Party. Marshall's argument is that in a liberal democracy, there are separate nodes of power - political, cultural, economic - that prevent authoritarianism. The Republican Party has embraced Orbanism and are explicitly using his playbook to end substantive democracy in America. Law firms like Perkins Coie are one of those independent nodes of power that can resist the ongoing assault on American democratic governance. 

What becomes clear to people in positions of authority is that if you take on Trump directly, you will suffer potentially devastating consequences. We are seeing this dynamic play out at universities in general and Columbia in particular. 

Obviously, there are extreme pressures on media outlets, whether they are owned by billionaires like Jeff Bezos or by massive corporations like Disney. This brings me to my point.

Trump's full frontal assault on American democracy depends on neutralizing those nodes of independence, like Big Law Firms or Big News. My one hope for America is that federalism will ultimately be where Trumpism dies. However, Trump and the GOP's efforts to destroy the independent nodes of power is greatly facilitated by the presence of oligarchy and monopoly. Why does the guy who owns Amazon own the Washington Post? Why is the LA Times owned by a medical industry billionaire? Why is Twitter owned by That Fucking Guy?

Even a company like Disney that perhaps falls short of monopoly but owns a massive share of the entertainment industry has to worry about, say, antitrust prosecution by Trumpists if ABC runs a negative story. CNN is run by Warner Brothers/Discovery, which owns HBO, TNT and DC. All of these megamedia corporations are chokepoints that Trump can throttle by the narrow neck of their ownership. 

Sadly, I have my doubts that Trump's illegal and unconstitutional destructive rampage through our democratic institutions will be enough, by itself, to turn large majorities of Americans against him. Majorities, yes. I think he likely loses an election today against Josh Shapiro or JB Pritzker by large margins. The lack of accurate memory by Americans is a huge reason why he was elected, as was the broad anti-incumbent sentiment, and people are remembering how nuts Trumpistan is. But we need more than 52% of people to vote for a Democrat in 2028. We need 55-60% of the public to openly rebel at the ballot box. 

Serbia is trying the Hungary Playbook and people are taking to the streets. At some point, mass protests have to return to the US. Ultimately, though, it will be winning Congress that saves us.

If we can't, because there isn't a critical mass of Americans who abhor authoritarianism, then maybe disunion really is on the table. 

I for one would welcome being Canadian.