THE ACTIVISM OF THE EXTENSIVE, WELL-FUNDED RIGHT-WING NETWORK Part 2

The extensive, well-funded right-wing network in the U.S. is actively working to turn America into an oligarchy with an authoritarian president. They do not believe in democracy. However, a solid majority of the public does not support them. Those of us who believe in democracy, need to inform the public of the right-wing’s plans, and then get the public engaged and out to vote.

(Note: If you find my posts too long to read on occasion, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

J.D. Vance has now been upgraded from a newly minted (in 2022), billionaire-backed, U.S. Senator (see this previous post for background including Peter Thiel’s major role) to Republican vice-presidential nominee. Peter Thiel and other tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, including Elon Musk (of Tesla and Space X), lobbied hard for Trump to select Vance as his vice-presidential running mate. Musk reportedly pledged $45 million a month to Trump’s campaign if Vance was selected. (Musk has since walked back that pledge.) Having their handpicked guy as vice president would give these billionaires tremendous influence in the White House and throughout the federal government, which is what oligarchy is all about.

Peter Thiel and his cronies would look to Vance to push policies that would favor the companies they own, run, and invest in. They want to be unregulated and favored in tax policies and other laws. They see no need for government to regulate the economy so there is fair competition (as opposed to monopolistic power) and so workers and consumers are treated fairly and are kept safe. They have already gotten Trump to embrace many of their desired policies, including support for electric vehicles, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence (AI), and the unregulated finance and acquisition strategies of the venture capital industry. [1]

Thiel’s embrace of oligarchy and authoritarianism was evident when he wrote in 2009, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” (That begs the question of freedom for whom.) He also wrote that democracy and capitalism are no longer compatible, in part because women have been granted the right to vote. [2]

J.D. Vance is not only deeply indebted to Thiel and his other right-wing financial backers, he is also deeply embedded in promoting right-wing Christian nationalism. Vance wrote the foreword for Kevin Roberts’ new book, Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America. (Roberts is the President of the Heritage Foundation and led the development of Project 2025, the blueprint for a right-wing, authoritarian presidency.) In the foreword, Vance writes that he is part of the right-wing network working to create “a fundamentally Christian view of culture and economics.”

In March 2024, a specific example of the ability of billionaires to corrupt our political and economic systems was apparent when, after meeting with billionaire Jeff Yass, former president Trump reversed his position that the Chinese company TikTok should be banned in the U.S. Yass owns 15% of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, Byte Dance, and is also a big investor in Trump’s Truth Social online media company. [3] Yass is also this election cycle’s biggest donor to-date to non-candidate, Republican-affiliated Political Action Committees, having already given over $46 million. [4]

Robert Reich recently wrote that “Big money, especially from Big Tech, is the second-biggest threat to American democracy — after Donald Trump.” He noted that some billionaire donors to Democrats (in addition to those supporting Republicans) are pushing back against efforts to regulate the economy and, in particular, against enforcement of anti-trust laws and other anti-monopoly policies. Lina Khan, the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission in the Biden Administration, has been the strongest enforcer of anti-trust laws in 45 years and the billionaire businessmen on both sides of the political aisle don’t like this. Therefore, they have been calling on Biden, and now Kamala Harris, to remove her. [5]

The billionaires have money and the right-wing has a well-funded and impressive organizational network, but what they don’t have is the support of the public and voters. Those of us who want to preserve our democracy need to mobilize the public to get out to vote in record numbers to overwhelm the minority that are right-wingers and Trump cult members.

Supporters of democracy need to get out the word about who the right-wingers’ policies benefit and where they want to take our country – as they have laid it out in Project 2025’s 900 plus page blueprint. They want to implement an authoritarian presidency, an oligarchy of billionaires that control our economy and society, and policies that are aligned with right-wing Christian nationalism. They want an unregulated economy with big brother tech companies that know more about us than we know about ourselves and that use this information to relentlessly sell us products for the absolute maximum we are willing to pay – to maximize their profits and outrageous wealth. They want unregulated venture (i.e., vulture) capital firms to flourish along with cryptocurrency, which, among other things, is the financial vehicle of choice of terrorists, drug cartels, human traffickers, oligarchs laundering money, and everyday criminals.

The right-wing and their Project 2025 want to put wealthy oligarchs and authoritarians in power. They want Trump and Republican presidents to rule like the king the colonists rebelled against 250 years ago. They want a government that will benefit them and their cronies. That’s what the vast right-wing conspiracy has been all about for the last 45 years. It’s now out in the open and we need to push back hard against their 45 years of momentum.

Democracy is not a spectator sport and for too long too many citizens have been spectators – and in many cases not even watching closely at all. We, who believe in democracy, need to get them informed, engaged, and out to vote.

[1]      Dwoskin, E., & Zakrzewski, C., 7/29/24, “Powerful tech group anointed Vance,” The Boston Globe from the Washington Post

[2]      Richardson, H. C., 7/30/24, “Letters from an American blog,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-30-2024)

[3]      Kuttner, R., 3/27/24, “The corrupt trifecta of Yass, Trump, and Netanyahu,” The American Prospect blog (https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-03-27-corrupt-trifecta-yass-trump-netanyahu/)

[4]      Open Secrets, retrieved 3/28/24, “2024 top donors to outside spending groups, “ (https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/top_donors/2024)

[5]      Reich,, R., 8/6/24, “Kamala’s surprise opportunity,” Robert Reich’s daily blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-kamala-should-respond-to-the)