I’m watching The Sopranos for the first time (I know I’m 20 years late but NO SPOILERS) and simultaneously reading Dark Money by Jane Mayer, a book about how billionaires have spent the last 50 years building an unstoppable political manipulation apparatus. These are pretty wild things to be consuming at the same time as this election has gone down. I can’t help but see a little of Trump and his billionaire cronies in Tony Soprano–the main difference being Tony actually has some redeeming qualities and I find myself unexpectedly rooting for him. I cannot say the same for Trump or the people he surrounds himself with. But the similarities are striking:
- Predictable tantrums when their authority is questioned.
- Meeting deep existential fear with misogyny, violence, and power grabs.
- A belief that the law is merely a suggestion.
- A self righteous sense that they are owed something and they’re just taking what’s theirs.
- An uncanny ability to skirt the law.
- Enough layers of lackeys who will do their bidding to create plausible deniability.
The only thing that differentiates the organized criminal activity in The Sopranos from the business activities of Trump, JD Vance, and the billionaires who financially back them, is access to capital. While Tony is running minor fraud schemes and hiding guns in his mother’s retirement home, billionaires like the Koch brothers, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk have spent years pumping millions and millions of dollars into strategic political races to do away with any laws that would control them or get in the way of their billion dollar enterprises.
If Tony orders his men to give a cop a wad of cash in exchange for looking the other way, that’s bribery, potentially a RICO violation. But when Charles Koch creates a web of interconnected shell companies, foundations, and dark money political organizations and then funnels money through them to pay off politicians that can make inconvenient regulations disappear, well that’s just business, baby. And perfectly legitimate business at that, according to our campaign finance laws.
For more:
Explainer: How Musk's US government efficiency panel might work (Reuters)
Other Headlines I’m Watching:
Elon Musk's new 'department' seeks 'super high-IQ' staff for unpaid jobs (NBC)
McCarthy says Gaetz won’t get confirmed: ‘Everyone knows that’ (The Hill)
- After the shocking pick of Matt Gaetz for VP, his ongoing feud with Kevin McCarthy and Gaetz’ general unpopularity in DC becomes a major talking point.
“She Was a High School Student and There Were Witnesses.” (TNR)
- “The fight to release a damning House Ethics report about allegations that Matt Gaetz—Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general—had sex with a 17-year-old girl has begun.” Yikes.
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