"The Epstein Class is laughing all the way to the bank, drinking our tears as sugar for their expensive coffee. ... As we die and suffer, they laugh and make money off of AI, Crypto, and war."

~ Wajahat Ali

W. Ali points to recent statements of Palantir CEO (and Peter Thiel best bud) featured in the image below.

#Trump #Iran #war #EconomicElites #EpsteinClass #billionaires #TechBros #broligarchy #Palantir #PeterThiel #AlexKarp #crypto #AI
/14

thelefthook.substack.com/p/the…

The New York Times report by Mike Baker and Steven Rich featured in this thread of commentary is at the link below.

For articles behind paywalls, I frequently use the Archive Today site to read.

#billionaires #Republicans #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #BigBeautifulBill
/4

nytimes.com/2026/03/09/us/bill…

For more reporting today on this topic of how billionaires have decisively bought the US and its political system in the Trump era, see:

Caleb Ecarma:

oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/h…

Wajahat Ali and Qasim Rashid:

thelefthook.substack.com/p/how…

Thom Hartmann"

hartmannreport.com/p/the-ceo-p…

#billionaires #Republicans #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #BigBeautifulBill
/3

How Dirty Money is Buying Democrats and State Elections with Qasim Rashid

Democrats are being bought out by billionaires as pro-Crypto and pro-Israel groups are emerging to tilt primary races all across the country.

^{THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali (The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali)}

"They explain how underwriting political campaigns from those for local school boards to the presidency has enabled the very wealthy to lock in their policy preferences for tax cuts, deregulation, and cuts to the social safety net while also steering valuable government contracts to themselves."

#billionaires #Republicans #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #BigBeautifulBill
/2

"On March 9, Mike Baker and Steven Rich of the New York Times published a long exposé of the corruption of American politics by billionaires."

~ Heather Cox Richardson

#billionaires #Republicans #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #BigBeautifulBill
/1

heathercoxrichardson.substack.…

March 12, 2026

In Ohio today, Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy launched a $10 million TV and digital ad campaign to run until Election Day.

^{Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American)}

(continued from /19)

"his insistence that tuning the economy to the benefit of a few favored producers is a victory, even if it harms the vast majority of consumers."

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/20

The Bulwark today headlines its morning report: "Trump to America: Thank Me for Your Gas Bill." Andrew Egger writes:

"[Trump's statement about how *we* benefit from higher gas prices is] an illustration of the exact mindset that led Trump to do so much damage to the U.S. economy even before the war:"

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/19

thebulwark.com/p/trump-to-amer…

Trump to America: Thank Me for Your Gas Bill

Higher prices = more money, according to the president.

^{William Kristol (The Bulwark)}

"According to petroleum analyst, Patrick DeHaan, Americans today will spend roughly $250 million more on gasoline than they did 30 days ago. That’s over $1.5 billion per week."

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/18

"Trump isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. When he says 'we' make a lot of money, he means oil executives, and he means himself. Because that’s all Trump cares about. How he can put more money in his own pocket and deliver a payout for his billionaire cronies."

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/17

"And you have Mark Zuckerberg who is a conservative mega-billionaire. And Meta is, you know, with Facebook and Instagram, one of the most important information platforms. And Elon Musk owns Twitter. And all of the kind of biggest information channels are now controlled by conservative billionaires."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #media #LarryEllison #DavidEllison #JeffBezos #MarkZuckerberg #billionaires
/3

"But now you have this takeover by a bunch of conservative billionaires of all of the key major institutions. So David Ellison, who is a big friend of Trump's and his father, Larry Ellison, they're going to control TikTok and CNN and all kinds of other media properties. And you have Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post and has turned it much more conservative than it used to be."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #media #LarryEllison #DavidEllison #JeffBezos #billionaires
/2

Noting that Pete Hegseth has just attacked CNN and said that Larry Ellison should take it over, Paul Waldman says,

"What we're seeing now, and I think that comment that Hegseth made is really revealing, is that just in the last few years, there was always corporate media and there are ways in which it was very conservative, despite what conservatives say about it."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #media #billionaires
/1

publicnotice.co/p/nir-and-rupa…

Nir & Rupar: Paul Waldman on Trump's Iran debacle

We unpack why the war is the least popular in history.

^{Aaron Rupar (Public Notice)}

"Seven in 10 Americans say Donald Trump’s tariffs have led to them paying higher prices, according to an exclusive new poll for the Guardian."

~ Lauren Aratani and Andrew Witherspoon

#Trump #Republicans #economy #prices #affordability #tariffs #billionaires #TaxCuts #BigBeautifulBill

theguardian.com/us-news/2026/m…

Seven in 10 Americans say Trump tariffs have cost them more money

Exclusive survey finds negative economic impacts felt across party lines as White House doubles down on tariffs

^{Lauren Aratani (The Guardian)}