I assume the Extraction Class will always remain allied with the Republican Party because of the GOP's promise of tax cuts for the wealthy. Since the Republicans seem to be determined to create an autocracy - whether Trump is at the top or not - or at the very least a one-party state, do the Democrats have any options to restore balance?
You’re right that the Extraction Class benefits from the GOP’s tax cuts, deregulation, and labor suppression—but their loyalty is only transactional. The moment the costs of alignment outweigh the benefits (legal risk, instability, loss of global market access), they’ll walk. We’ve seen this before in authoritarian movements where economic elites empower strongmen, then try to cut ties when things get too chaotic.
They used to align with Democrats when neoliberal policies worked in their favor, and if public opinion shifted enough, they’d likely try to rebrand and align with a new coalition. But their goal isn’t governance—it’s extracting wealth and maintaining control. Any alliance they form is just a means to that end.
As for restoring balance, the problem is that the U.S. lacks the institutional safeguards that stopped similar movements elsewhere. The courts are compromised, media is controlled by billionaires, and a large segment of the population is radicalized. That doesn’t mean resistance is impossible, but it does mean it won’t come from within the system—it has to come from mass public engagement and economic pressure.
I keep asking this question. We simply cannot be the party of “trickle down lite” privilege biases constructed around pseudoscience and white supremacy.
The Dems needs a coherent economic model and vision of their own!
Idk, I don't think you're wrong about this theme of fracturing and infighting among the different groups but there are two issues about trump that might be unique - first that he is not only part of the extraction class but his dictator dream may be subjugated to his greed and his own status as an extractor which is clearly the primary driving force of the majority of his actions (hence being Putins poodle and going along with whatever musk says on any given day - see musk takeover of FAA funding/leadership and then installing his own starlink systems for air traffic control). Orange monster doesn't really have an ideological center (and notably used to support Dems and kept renewing his fortune gentrifying the Dem stronghold of NYC and receiving bailouts because he was too big to fail), his opinions shift with the wind as long as they align with "me first" and, importantly, he doesn't actually have to get his hands dirty. The second is that he has shown himself to be extraordinarily lazy and disinterested in governing or even making decisions (Jan 6 pardons he realized how many felons there were to 'consider' and he said 'fuck it just pardon them all' regardless of their criminal convictions). He has basically outsourced or privatizd the presidency. The laziest billionaire meets the richest billionaire who is delusional about MARS and an unabashed eugenicist and here we are. I think the maga militia is already irrelevant because their disaffection wouldn't have any effect on musk cracking the Treasury and taking the US dollar down via transfers into crypto. It's beyond evil genius stuff and people's ability to resist the technology hold may be very low even when they are actively resisting politically. I have not seen anyone talking about how to resist a technocrat/techno-feudal takeover. I think that's where we are now and I suspect the old playbook may be obsolete. Open to thoughts about this of course but it seems even elected leaders for all their bluster about existential crises lacked imagination about how corrupt the billionaire grifters really are when it comes to "me first" opportunities and that their toolbox is essentially void of any countering tools to fiat via control of tech systems. Right now we may be watching a lot of theatre from leaders of all factions involved including even left leaning media and resistance leaders. It's not a forgone conclusion how this will go, I just don't see the resistance really understanding the need for decentralization now before musk drains the Treasury into crypto. I hope some group can stop it but he isn't subject to public pressure at Town halls. Where are our resistance hackers at?!
I would go back in history to understand more thoroughly
What happened after the crash in 1929. How did the country emerge from that economic collapse? I realize there are several theories about the coming war stirring production, but also the election of Roosevelt and his effective alternatives to the Republican do nothing government policies.
The crash began with commodities markets. That's why the US gvmt subsidizes farmers and controls the price of commodities, so the farmers don't get wiped out first. Everyone has to eat, the rest is like a shell game.
Absolutely, but I struggle with the growth of corporate farms that have destroyed the family farms that do deserve help from the government given our dependence on what they grow. Of course the terrible droughts of that period didn’t help. Just as an example, my grandparents lost their home and farm in Georgetown, Ky in 1929 because the bank where his money was held went bankrupt. While his farm had no mortgage, he had no money to pay the assessment to pave his road and had to sell his place for much less than its value. The domino effect is always at work.
If only MAGA were the real problem, this might be good news. But the tech oligarchy will step out of the shadows once MAGA has outlived its usefulness. They have the $ and the will to pursue the ultimate dreams of power and control.
I have a question. Following your logic Putin' regime should already have fallen but it is not. He has been in power for more than 20 years. Authoritarian power is not that easy to remove as you describe.
Anne Whitney said it perfectly: "He has basically outsourced or privatized the presidency. The laziest billionaire meets the richest billionaire who is delusional about MARS and an unabashed eugenicist and here we are." We can sit around consoling ourselves that MAGA will collapse, as did other groups supporting Nazis, Communists, etc. But when? Twelve million people were murdered in Europe by the Nazis before they lost the war. How many people did Stalin kill? How many people died because of Mao?
Right now the best examples are both national and international. In the US RFK (the vaccine denier) tells mothers to give their kids with measles cod liver oil. In Africa children served and depending upon USAid for their food and life are now dying. How many measles epidemics will we have before MAGA implodes and our leaders die or fade away? How many children and adults around the world will die, get HIV and other diseases we were eradicating before MAGA jmplodes and our leaders die or fade away? Listen to Atul Gewande's description of what has been destroyed and how international leaders will never trust us again. So we are losing two wars: against disease and the end of collaboration and US leadeship. And that's just for starters!
So much yes Leah for what you write, it's the time that matters and the Dems are under an illusion that time will pass and by some miracle there will anything to vote over in 2 yrs. It's an illusion. Moving fast = haste = waste and breaking things means you can't necessarily put them back together without resources which brings us back to haste/waste. They are 'spending' us into debt and ruin and collapse so there's no path back. It's tragic to be sure.
This isn’t about waiting and watching—it’s about understanding the fault lines that weaken them so they can be exploited. MAGA will collapse, but that doesn’t mean authoritarianism ends.
The next article focuses on why fracture alone isn’t enough, and how resistance has to accelerate their downfall before they rebrand or consolidate under new leadership. Power doesn’t just crumble—it has to be forced to break.
The big beautiful bill the GOP is crafting provides the best example of the current fault-lines. The Donor (extraction in your terms) class is teaming with the tea party bourgeoisie to fuck the working class who brought them to power. This would be a cleavage to exploit but for the left's insistence on alienating working class voters with identity politics. The GOP hold on working class voters is dependent on our inability to see their grievances as something other than white privilege.
I assume the Extraction Class will always remain allied with the Republican Party because of the GOP's promise of tax cuts for the wealthy. Since the Republicans seem to be determined to create an autocracy - whether Trump is at the top or not - or at the very least a one-party state, do the Democrats have any options to restore balance?
You’re right that the Extraction Class benefits from the GOP’s tax cuts, deregulation, and labor suppression—but their loyalty is only transactional. The moment the costs of alignment outweigh the benefits (legal risk, instability, loss of global market access), they’ll walk. We’ve seen this before in authoritarian movements where economic elites empower strongmen, then try to cut ties when things get too chaotic.
They used to align with Democrats when neoliberal policies worked in their favor, and if public opinion shifted enough, they’d likely try to rebrand and align with a new coalition. But their goal isn’t governance—it’s extracting wealth and maintaining control. Any alliance they form is just a means to that end.
As for restoring balance, the problem is that the U.S. lacks the institutional safeguards that stopped similar movements elsewhere. The courts are compromised, media is controlled by billionaires, and a large segment of the population is radicalized. That doesn’t mean resistance is impossible, but it does mean it won’t come from within the system—it has to come from mass public engagement and economic pressure.
Generalstrikeus.com
Indivisible.org
Chop Wood Carry Water Substack
5calls app
I keep asking this question. We simply cannot be the party of “trickle down lite” privilege biases constructed around pseudoscience and white supremacy.
The Dems needs a coherent economic model and vision of their own!
Idk, I don't think you're wrong about this theme of fracturing and infighting among the different groups but there are two issues about trump that might be unique - first that he is not only part of the extraction class but his dictator dream may be subjugated to his greed and his own status as an extractor which is clearly the primary driving force of the majority of his actions (hence being Putins poodle and going along with whatever musk says on any given day - see musk takeover of FAA funding/leadership and then installing his own starlink systems for air traffic control). Orange monster doesn't really have an ideological center (and notably used to support Dems and kept renewing his fortune gentrifying the Dem stronghold of NYC and receiving bailouts because he was too big to fail), his opinions shift with the wind as long as they align with "me first" and, importantly, he doesn't actually have to get his hands dirty. The second is that he has shown himself to be extraordinarily lazy and disinterested in governing or even making decisions (Jan 6 pardons he realized how many felons there were to 'consider' and he said 'fuck it just pardon them all' regardless of their criminal convictions). He has basically outsourced or privatizd the presidency. The laziest billionaire meets the richest billionaire who is delusional about MARS and an unabashed eugenicist and here we are. I think the maga militia is already irrelevant because their disaffection wouldn't have any effect on musk cracking the Treasury and taking the US dollar down via transfers into crypto. It's beyond evil genius stuff and people's ability to resist the technology hold may be very low even when they are actively resisting politically. I have not seen anyone talking about how to resist a technocrat/techno-feudal takeover. I think that's where we are now and I suspect the old playbook may be obsolete. Open to thoughts about this of course but it seems even elected leaders for all their bluster about existential crises lacked imagination about how corrupt the billionaire grifters really are when it comes to "me first" opportunities and that their toolbox is essentially void of any countering tools to fiat via control of tech systems. Right now we may be watching a lot of theatre from leaders of all factions involved including even left leaning media and resistance leaders. It's not a forgone conclusion how this will go, I just don't see the resistance really understanding the need for decentralization now before musk drains the Treasury into crypto. I hope some group can stop it but he isn't subject to public pressure at Town halls. Where are our resistance hackers at?!
Very good question. Yes totalitarian systems have playbooks and patterns and partnerships as so well described in this essay.
But the fact that Big Evil Tech has raided the databanks of America seems like a new wrinkle. Gives them a LOT of power potentially.
And trump the dictator at the top of the pile seems pretty wobbly with his devolving destructive chaotic behaviour.
I would go back in history to understand more thoroughly
What happened after the crash in 1929. How did the country emerge from that economic collapse? I realize there are several theories about the coming war stirring production, but also the election of Roosevelt and his effective alternatives to the Republican do nothing government policies.
The crash began with commodities markets. That's why the US gvmt subsidizes farmers and controls the price of commodities, so the farmers don't get wiped out first. Everyone has to eat, the rest is like a shell game.
Absolutely, but I struggle with the growth of corporate farms that have destroyed the family farms that do deserve help from the government given our dependence on what they grow. Of course the terrible droughts of that period didn’t help. Just as an example, my grandparents lost their home and farm in Georgetown, Ky in 1929 because the bank where his money was held went bankrupt. While his farm had no mortgage, he had no money to pay the assessment to pave his road and had to sell his place for much less than its value. The domino effect is always at work.
If only MAGA were the real problem, this might be good news. But the tech oligarchy will step out of the shadows once MAGA has outlived its usefulness. They have the $ and the will to pursue the ultimate dreams of power and control.
If only this article could be presented to every member of the Congress, maybe some light of integrity could filter into their delusional darkness.
A tangential analogy is the vicious infighting in France at the end of WWII.
How did the people who are fighting to expose decades of government corruption become the bad guys in your eyes? You’ve lost your way.
You have been hoodwinked by the extraction class.
How will climate catastrophe impact the red state governors’ support of Trump’s agenda now that he has made it clear FEMA isn’t coming to the rescue?
I have a question. Following your logic Putin' regime should already have fallen but it is not. He has been in power for more than 20 years. Authoritarian power is not that easy to remove as you describe.
Anne Whitney said it perfectly: "He has basically outsourced or privatized the presidency. The laziest billionaire meets the richest billionaire who is delusional about MARS and an unabashed eugenicist and here we are." We can sit around consoling ourselves that MAGA will collapse, as did other groups supporting Nazis, Communists, etc. But when? Twelve million people were murdered in Europe by the Nazis before they lost the war. How many people did Stalin kill? How many people died because of Mao?
Right now the best examples are both national and international. In the US RFK (the vaccine denier) tells mothers to give their kids with measles cod liver oil. In Africa children served and depending upon USAid for their food and life are now dying. How many measles epidemics will we have before MAGA implodes and our leaders die or fade away? How many children and adults around the world will die, get HIV and other diseases we were eradicating before MAGA jmplodes and our leaders die or fade away? Listen to Atul Gewande's description of what has been destroyed and how international leaders will never trust us again. So we are losing two wars: against disease and the end of collaboration and US leadeship. And that's just for starters!
So much yes Leah for what you write, it's the time that matters and the Dems are under an illusion that time will pass and by some miracle there will anything to vote over in 2 yrs. It's an illusion. Moving fast = haste = waste and breaking things means you can't necessarily put them back together without resources which brings us back to haste/waste. They are 'spending' us into debt and ruin and collapse so there's no path back. It's tragic to be sure.
It's a nice forecast. But I'm not buying it. This wait and watch them fall apart approach does not appeal to me.
This isn’t about waiting and watching—it’s about understanding the fault lines that weaken them so they can be exploited. MAGA will collapse, but that doesn’t mean authoritarianism ends.
The next article focuses on why fracture alone isn’t enough, and how resistance has to accelerate their downfall before they rebrand or consolidate under new leadership. Power doesn’t just crumble—it has to be forced to break.
REBEL, REVOLT, RESIST ‼️
https://open.substack.com/pub/nikabellavita/p/rebel-revolt-resist-time-to-be-unruly?r=53w34r&utm_medium=ios
Resist but don’t Riot
https://open.substack.com/pub/ricknoz/p/dont-resign-and-dont-violently-revolt?r=ukln1&utm_medium=ios
From your mouth, to G-d's ears!
I think he meant 1879, not 1979. Lenin was long gone by 1979.
This explains so well why China is on the verge of collapse. Wishful thinking well reasoned wishful thinking.
The big beautiful bill the GOP is crafting provides the best example of the current fault-lines. The Donor (extraction in your terms) class is teaming with the tea party bourgeoisie to fuck the working class who brought them to power. This would be a cleavage to exploit but for the left's insistence on alienating working class voters with identity politics. The GOP hold on working class voters is dependent on our inability to see their grievances as something other than white privilege.
The GOP talked the working class out of their pants. When they finally reach back for their wallets, they will feel embarrassed.