I’m sure this is all Biden’s fault as everything bad will be for the next four years. Still, from what I’ve been told, the price of eggs is the most important issue faced by all mankind. Of course, now that Dear Leader has returned I’m sure most people will be happy to roll with the punches.
Marc Andreessen, the billionaire tech investor who co-founded Netscape, has recently been making the rounds on various podcasts to talk about how the Democrats were so very mean to him and forced him to become a supporter of Donald Trump. Andreessen’s obnoxious whining wouldn’t otherwise be notable, given how many guys in the tech industry have blamed backlash against “wokeness” on their support for the MAGA movement. But a new interview released by the New York Times on Friday is interesting, if only because the Times cleaned up its own transcript to make Andreessen sound like less of an idiot.
Andreessen said that Hillary Clinton was really running the government between 2017 and 2021. The Times claimed he misspoke but as you read further it’s clear that he’s talking about some conspiratorial deep state BS about which either the Times is unaware or they decided to ignore.
But even if Andreessen did misspeak he still sounds like a sophomoric fool, much like the rest of these tech bros who all seem to be in the grip of serious cases of arrested development.
Who knows that Showtime’s “Silicon Valley” was a documentary?
I offer you a gift link to the whole interview (and transcript if you prefer.) It’s super interesting.
A little excerpt:
Klein: I think attention is now to politics what people think money is to politics. Certainly at the high levels.
There are places where money is very powerful, but it’s usually where people are not looking. Money is very powerful when there’s not much attention. But Donald Trump doesn’t control Republican primaries with money — he controls them with attention.
I keep having to write about Musk, and I keep saying he’s the richest man in the world. But it’s actually not what matters about him right now. It’s just how he managed to get the attention and become the character and the wielder of all this attention. And that’s a changeover I think Trumpist Republicans have made, and Democrats haven’t.
Democrats are still thinking about money as a fundamental substance of politics, and the Trump Republican Party thinks about attention as a fundamental substance of politics.
Hayes: I really like this theory. I think there are a few things: One, I think you’re totally right to identify that it’s sort of a sliding scale between the two. Which is to say: For politics that get the least attention, money matters the most.
So in a state representative race, money really matters — partly because no one is paying attention to who the state rep is. Local media has been gutted. Money can buy their attention. You could put out glossy mailers. There’s a lot you could do. The further up you go from that, to Senate to president, the more attention there is already, the less the money counts.
And you saw this with the Harris campaign. They raised a ton of money, and they spent it the way that most campaigns spend it, which is on trying to get people’s attention, whether that’s through advertising or door knocking — but largely attention and then persuasion: I’m running for president. Here’s what I want to do. Here’s why you should vote for me.
Now you can do that at billions of dollars’ worth of advertising, and everything is just like drops of rain in a river because there is so much competition for attention.
What Trump and Musk figured out is that what matters is the total attentional atmosphere. That in some ways, it’s kind of a sucker’s game to try to pop in and be like: I got an ad. Hey, hey, do you like tax cuts? What do you like?
All that is just going to whiz past people. The sort of attentional atmosphere — that’s where the fight is.
And that’s what Musk’s Twitter purchase ended up being — an enormous, almost Archimedean, lever on the electorate.
Hates’ book is called “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource.”
David Corn’s very skillful lede to his new piece:
On Monday, the three wealthiest men in the world—Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg—are scheduled to be at the Capitol as honored guests for Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, seated where four years ago Christian nationalists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, militia members, and other extremists, incited by his brazen lies about the 2020 election, violently attacked Congress to overturn American democracy and keep Trump in power. This transition—from brownshirts to billionaires—encapsulates what has gone wrong. It is a clear signal that the United States is broken.
With the news that Trump launched that new shitcoin and has made at least $25 billion overnight, I feel very hopeless today. This is what it’s come to.
Corn’s piece is very good. But gird yourself.
Trump’s describing his ultimately abandoned pursuit of the Reform Party’s presidential nomination in 2000:
Trump had inked a deal with Tony Robbins, the frighteningly upbeat motivational speaker, by which Robbins would pay Trump $1 million to give ten speeches at his seminars around the country. Crucially, Trump had timed his political stops to coincide with Robbins’ seminars, so that he was “making a lot of money” on those campaign stops. “It’s very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it,” Trump said. …
President-elect Trump launched his own cryptocurrency overnight and swiftly appeared to make more than $25 billion on paper for himself and his companies.
The stunning launch of $TRUMP caught the entire industry off-guard, and speaks to both his personal influence and the ascendancy of cryptocurrency in his administration.
- It also speaks to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have $25 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 24 hours previously.
Friday night, while Trump was reportedly hosting a “Crypto Ball” for the industry in Washington, the president-elect launched his own meme-linked cryptocurrency.
- His website bills it as “the only official Trump meme.”
- While a number of Trump-branded meme coins popped up in recent months, none had his official endorsement until now.
According to CoinGecko price data, $TRUMP rose more than 600% overnight and was trading just over $32 as of 11 a.m. ET Saturday.
- That gives the coin a fully diluted market capitalization just north of $32 billion.
- The meme website says 80% of the supply is held by Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital, and a CIC co-owned entity called Fight Fight Fight LLC. (“Fight fight fight” is what Trump said after being shot at a rally in July.)
- They are subject to a three-year unlocking schedule, which means they cannot dump all of their holdings at once.
The intrigue: Trump has warmly embraced cryptocurrency as a concept and an industry, to the point that he is reportedly considering designating it a “national priority” as soon as this week, per Bloomberg.
No politician has ever given their supporters a way to monetize that support — until now.
I’m speechless. Tom has more below…
Somehow it’s always the people who proudly boast about not being “sheep” who keep lining up to be fleeced.
Chris Hayes remarks, “like I keep saying: all of this is going to end badly, just a question of how badly and how long.”
* Based on current U.S. birth estimates and a roughly 50-50 red/blue split in the U.S.
It’s always “bad news for Democrats.” Even their victories. With Donald Trump planning to install a throne behind the Resolute Desk next week, post-election punditry that explains Trump 2.0 as stemming from what Democrats did wrong begins to sound like blaming rape victims’ for wearing provocative clothes.
If D.C. gossip is more than Trumpish bluster, the new regime will begin on Monday with some kind of Loan Cannon-ish “shock and awe” effort featuring a blast of executive orders. So far, it seems Democrats are not only unprepared, but actually surrendering in advance.
Screaming “this is not normal” and trusting norms upon which (unbeknown to most of us) much of Washington actually relied did not work the first time around. It won’t now either.
Trumpsters like Stephen Miller expect to Loan-Cannon Trump’s opposition “with a blitz of activity” he believes they lack the bandwidth to resist. Trump has spent his life over-promising and under-delivering. And getting away with it. Make him own it, suggests JV Last (emphasis mine):
First: Do not help Republicans. Not in any way. On any issue. Republicans can’t pass a budget, or raise the debt ceiling? Tough luck. Do not provide them any bailout votes on any issue. Period, the end.
Second: Make Donald Trump own every bad outcome that happens, anywhere in the world while paying special attention to areas where Republicans are particularly vulnerable. Like housing and Ukraine.
Trump the Ever-Innocent will point his stubby fingers at Democrats and insufficiently supine Republicans for his failures, but he’ll do even if his “opposition” doesn’t follow Last’s first principle of resistance.
Jason Linkins ofThe New Republic believes Democrats should go Last one better:
Rather than exert so much energy trying to thrust Trump out of the presidency, liberals would be well served to spend their time thrusting the presidency upon Donald Trump. Instead of searching for illusory quick fixes for the existence of the Trump administration, start demanding the Trump administration fix everything quickly.
Expecting our crumpled “guardrails” to restrain him proved ineffective in his first term. Help send his presidency into the ditch with all speed. Don’t give him more “witch hunts.” Give him more presidency:
To get there, liberals need to get into the business of identifying the problems that real Americans face (which honestly, is something they could stand to relearn how to do) and more forcefully blame Trump for those problems’ continued existence. They need to raise a hue and cry over everything under the sun that’s broken, dysfunctional, or trending in the wrong direction; pile line items on Trump’s to-do list, wake him up early and keep him up late. Every day, get in front of cable news cameras and reporters’ notepads with a new problem for Trump to solve and fresh complaints about the work not done.
Spocko will appreciate that the approach is not unlike the Star Trek TOS episode “Charlie X.” A socially awkward adolescent takes control of the Enterprise using extraordinary powers the crew has no way to resist. In response, Capt. Kirk overloads “the boy’s abilities by ordering all of the ship’s systems to be activated.”
For certain, Democrats can be grateful if he actually makes good on any of his “I alone can fix it” promises. (Or rather, they can take credit for having goaded Trump to get off his ass and do his job.) But as I’ve suggested before, in advice that Last echoes above, Trump should truly be left to solve these problems on his own. He’s claimed a mandate and congressional majorities, so let him (and his fellow Republicans) figure it out, with Democratic votes on offer only if massive policy concessions supporting Democratic Party interests are included.
Just the way congressional Republicans threaten to withhold disaster aid from California if it doesn’t come with punitive concessions. Two can play that game. I don’t expect Democrats to get it together enough to attempt this, but pretty much everything else they’ve tried has failed.
I am just heartsick over the plight of the animals lost in the LA fires. People have lost their pets and many others have nowhere to live so are having to house them at shelters. And then there is the wildlife that live in the neighborhoods and foothills that were ravaged by the firestorm.
There are many groups rushing in to help, some even having to evacuate shelters in the path of the fire.
🔗 Lost and found pets: Cleo&Hooman’s lost/found spreadsheet and @eatonfirefoundlostpets are helping reunite pets with their owners.
BFAS has set up a volunteer interest survey for those interested in helping.
Pasadena Humane / @pasadenahumane
Due to overwhelming support, Pasadena Humane has no more capacity for material donations or fosters, and has put a pause on volunteer applications, but is in need of monetary donations.
L.A. Animal Services / @laanimalservices
You can sign up to foster or adopt for from one of 13 city and county shelters. This will open up space for new animals.
Note: According to recent IG comments, the foster process takes weeks to approve, so if you’re not already registered to foster with LA Animal Services, consider looking into the smaller organizations listed in the next section.
There is a new Los Angeles FIRE Evacuation Animal Services Hotline. If you have lost your pets due to the wildfires and are needing assistance to find them, you can call 213-270-8155 and leave the requested information about your pet and your contact number.
spcaLA is accepting material donations of pet food, blankets, towels, and more. See their “needed items” page for details about items they can and cannot accept. They are also always accepting monetary donations.
SPCA has put a pause on foster applicants due to the overwhelming response. Keep an eye on their socials for future opportunities to volunteer, adopt, or foster.
Los Angeles County Animal Care / @lacoanimals
LA County Animal Care has waived adoption fees for the general public. and for local rescues and adoption partners to pull animals from their shelters.
If you’re interested in volunteering, do not show up in person. Email volunteer@animalcare.lacounty.gov for information.
Best Friends Animal Society / @bfas_la
Best Friends is behind an emergency response team assisting other animal organizations, as well as two pet pantries in Sawtelle and Granada Hills.
They have a wishlist on their website with needed items that you can order and send to them.
There are also groups helping wildlife:
Animal Help Now App / PHaR.org / @animalhelpnowapp
South Bay Wildlife Rehab and Education
California Community Foundation Wildlife Recovery Fund
International Bird Rescue / @intbirdrescue / Bird Helpline at 866-SOS-BIRD (866-767-2473)
Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center / @wetlandswildlifecarecenter
The pain and suffering is unfathomable but people all over LA are stepping up to help the animals (and their humans) in vast numbers, which is really good to see. It restores your faith in humanity.
The worst of the worst rising to the top:
Mr. Miller was influential in Mr. Trump’s first term but stands to be exponentially more so this time. He holds the positions of deputy chief of staff, with oversight of domestic policy, and homeland security adviser, which gives him range to coordinate among cabinet agencies. He will be a key legislative strategist and is expected to play an important role in crafting Mr. Trump’s speeches, as he has done since he joined the first Trump campaign in 2016.
Most significantly, Mr. Miller will be in charge of Mr. Trump’s signature issue and the one that Mr. Miller has been fixated on since childhood: immigration. And he has been working, in secrecy, to oversee the team drafting the dozens of executive orders that Mr. Trump will sign after he takes office on Jan. 20.
“I call Stephen ‘Trump’s brain,’” said Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker who credited Mr. Miller — a private citizen at the time — with helping to rally Republican lawmakers to insert a sweeping border crackdown into a spending bill in 2023.
In the four years since Mr. Trump has been out of office, Mr. Miller has spent more time than any close Trump adviser mapping out a second-term playbook. He expanded on the hard-line first-term immigration policies; he deepened his relationships with House members, senators and influential right-wing media figures; he built a nationwide donor network to fund a nonprofit that he used as an additional tool of influence; and he quietly cultivated a relationship with the richest man in the world, Elon Musk.
They say he’s learned “two key lessons”
The first is to flood the zone. He believes that those he regards as Mr. Trump’s enemies — Democrats, the media, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and portions of the federal bureaucracy — are depleted and only have so much bandwidth for outrage and opposition. Mr. Miller has told people that the goal is to overwhelm them with a blitz of activity.
The second lesson has been to operate with as much secrecy as possible to prevent anyone from finding ways to obstruct the Trump agenda. As a congressional staffer, Mr. Miller was freewheeling in his digital communications. But since working for Mr. Trump, who doesn’t use email and regards people who take notes with suspicion, he puts almost nothing in writing. Instead, he works through emissaries.
Good to know. Here’s what he’s talking about:
I suspect his “enemies” have more resilience and determination than he realizes. And while he may be able to operate in secret for a while, his plans will inevitably become public and he will be asked to sell them. That guy is repellent.
Cling to reality, folks. It’s all we’ve got. And the reality is that Trump is no popular, he’s an idiot and so are most of the people around him. Not that he can’t do damage, of course. But he is no colossus.
