Jan
2025
Mr Brightside: Special Edition – What next for the USA?
DIY Investor
9 January 2025
“An immitation from New York
You’re made in Japan
From cheese and chalk”
With Trump’s inauguration for his second term fast approaching we are starting to see clear indicators of what will happen, as opposed to campaigning rhetoric
In “I Just Don’t Know What to do With Myself”, I wrote about his, and his de facto number 2, Elon Musk, and their belief in genetics and their good genes allowing them to reach the top. As a conclusion, I compared this early 20th century research by Arthur de Gobineau and Houston Stewart Chamberlain and their scientific race theory and “racial demography“, and the theory of the Aryan master race and Nordicism. One of the main practitioners of this was Nazi Germany, and their theory of Herrenrasse (the master race), a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology, in which the putative “Aryan race” is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as “Herrenmenschen” (“master humans”).
An extension of this was Lebensraum (living space) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. Although this was a geopolitical goal of Imperial Germany in WWI, as the core element of the Septemberprogramm of territorial expansion, the most extreme form of this ideology was supported by Nazi Germany, whose ultimate goal of which was to establish a Greater German Reich. Lebensraum was a leading motivation of Nazi Germany to initiate World War II, and it would continue this policy until the end of the conflict. =
‘It would seem that Trump is adding “living space” to his gene theories’
It would seem that Trump is adding “living space” to his gene theories as, in an hour-long press conference on Tuesday, Trump refused to rule out using military force to take the Panama canal and Greenland and suggested he intended to use “economic force” to make Canada part of the US.
Last month, Trump has said that US control of Greenland was an “absolute necessity” for America’s “economic security”.
I suspect he is basing this on research which highlights that Greenland is believed be rich in a number of natural resources, including zinc, lead, gold, iron ore, heavy and light rare earth elements, copper and oil.
Greenland, an autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, was granted home rule in 1979, has a population of C. 57,000 people and is the world’s biggest island. Since 2009 it has had the right to hold a referendum to decide whether it wishes to be independent.
Múte Egede, Greenland’s PM, is a member of the pro-independence Community of the People (IA) party. Egede said last week Greenland “is not for sale and will never be for sale”.
Egede responded to Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic coercion in order to gain control of Greenland, saying they were “serious statements”.
“The things that have come out, I think, are some serious statements. But we’ll take it from there.”
Mette Frederiksen, the Danish PM, said: “There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”
‘Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either’
France, clearly alert to the dangers this type of bullying leads to, has warned Donald Trump against threatening the “sovereign borders” of the EU. Greenland is covered by Denmark’s EU membership, as they are an autonomous territory of theirs.
The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, told France Inter radio: “There is no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be, attack its sovereign borders.”
He added that, while he did not believe the US “would invade” Greenland, “we have entered an era that is seeing the return of the law of the strongest.
Barrot also urged the EU to resist threats from Elon Musk against a number of European leaders, notably Germany’s social democrat chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Closer to home, CNN are reporting that Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide legal justification for a large swathe of universal tariffs on allies and adversaries.
Citing four sources, CNN say this would allow Trump to impose new tariffs on imports into the US.
CNN said: “The declaration would allow Trump to construct a new tariff program by using the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, known as “IEEPA,” which unilaterally authorizes a president to manage imports during a national emergency.
‘Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency’
Trump, one of the sources noted, has a fondness for the law, since it grants wide-ranging jurisdiction over how tariffs are implemented without strict requirements to prove the tariffs are needed on national security grounds.
“Nothing is off the table,” said a second source familiar with the matter, acknowledging the robust discussion over declaring a national emergency that has taken place.”
This really is beginning to sound more Hitlerian by the day. There are some parallels that can be drawn between using Emergency Powers to force initiatives through and the Nazi’s The Enabling Act, which allowed Hitler the right to make laws without the Reichstag’s approval for four years.
Whilst, I readily accept that there are differences between the two, as with many things, its isn’t where something starts so much as where it ends.
‘This really is beginning to sound more Hitlerian by the day’
Also, in common with Hitler, Trump has the support of big business and the uber rich. In Germany it was manufacturing and industrial business, in today’s US it is “big tech”.
Of course, as is all too often case with the uber rich and powerful, their interest is self-interest.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of the most powerful collection of Internet companies has decided to capitalize on what is likely to be a large and fast retreat from accountability and regulatory curbs on corporate negligence. After an 8-year project to protect users from hatred, threats, harassment and violent imagery, he has abandoned the cause.
In its place users will have to flag and complain about content that causes harm or spreads dangerous misinformation about health or vulnerable people. This user-guided content moderation is similar to “X”, and is, as we have seen ridiculously ineffective. And that’s the goal.
This isn’t Zuckerberg pandering to the president-elect, or Elon Musk’s new role as regulatory consigliere to Trump, this is him taking the opportunity and reverting to his core beliefs.
‘Zuckerberg’s beliefs are simple: he knows better than the rest of us and his company’s services are good for us’
Zuckerberg’s beliefs are simple: he knows better than the rest of us and his company’s services are good for us. Using them improves our lives, disruptive messages makes us better decisionmakers. Posting, commenting, and arguing enables us to work toward a better society.
Fundamentally, he is an idealist who believes that he and his companies are good for us. His self-belief could be described as that of a megalomaniac.
One commentator made the interesting observation that the monitoring was never about factchecking, but ensuring that advertising revenues weren’t threatened by companies pulling their support should they feel they were being associated with sexual exploitation, violence or bigotry.
Perhaps, advertisers become less important as Meta moves from being a social media company into an AI company, develops AI tools it can sell and lease to companies and governments to generate steady revenue and even more political power.
It’s important to note, as surely Zuckerberg understands, that even when, from 2017 until now, Facebook and Instagram’s methods of filtering harmful content were far from effective. Facebook groups thrived on conspiracy theories about vaccines, the earth being flat and secret cabals that allegedly run the world.
In addition, it was only after he was publicly shamed and threatened with potentially effective regulation to curb the excesses of his platforms, that he relented and pledged to solve the problem. This was more a case of self-interest than interest in doing the right thing.
As the world turns to the hard-right, it is only President Lula of Brazil who shows any willingness to hold US companies to account. However, with an all-powerful Trump as president, the US can deploy all manner of excessive leverage and power to curb Brazil’s efforts to stand up to Silicon Valley on behalf of its citizens.
From what I read Zuckerberg and Musk are not the best of rivals, but they do have things in-common; self-interest and self-belief.
Not content with being the power behind Trump’s throne, he has begun meddling in the politics of the UK, Germany, Italy, Greenland and Denmark, and Canada.
In Canada, he predicted that PM Jutin Trudeau “won’t be in power for much longer” – he subsequently resigned.
In the UK he called for a convict to be released, and accused the government of being complicit in sex grooming, and made inflammatory posts that led to riots.
In short, he is thrashing around, making outrageous, often incorrect statements, and causing chaos. What fascinates me is why?
‘he is thrashing around, making outrageous, often incorrect statements, and causing chaos. What fascinates me is why?’
Musks see himself as a “free speech absolutist”, whereas much of Europe and Canada are against online hate speech. As a result Musk accuses says Britain “is turning into a police state”.
Perhaps, as an immigrant from South Africa, Musk is especially anti-poor people of colour moving into white nations.
He has disowned his son who is transgender, saying: “I lost my son, essentially,” claiming she was “dead, killed by the woke mind virus. I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that”. Although, from what I can tell he may have up to 11 other children!
This would likely explain his ongoing criticism of transgender rights, including medical treatments for trans-identifying minors, and the use of gender-affirming pronouns, his promotion of anti-trans content and called for arresting people who provide trans care to minors. Last July, Musk said he was pulling his businesses out of California to protest a new state law that bars schools from requiring that trans kids be outed to their parents.
Finally, he seems to be a convert and fervent believer for fascism. Add to this, his assistance in winning Trump the election, based on a torrent of pro-Trump and anti-Harris lies over X.
We covered his use of propaganda and the similarity with Goebbels and Nazi Germany in “I Just Don’t Know What to do With Myself”.
Whilst America is a lost cause the rest of the world isn’t. As we highlighted earlier, the US clearly has territorial ambitions, and the comments of the French foreign minister are exactly what is required, unless you stand up to bullies they will just keep on.
‘Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for trouble’
Governments should be passing laws to prohibit overseas individuals from financing political parties.
Social media should be included and be actively enforced online. These always already allow for the prosecution of any crime as a hate crime if the offender has either: demonstrated hostility based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.
Lastly, hit him in the pocket, blacklist Space X and its Starlink satellite division, xAI, his artificial intelligence company, and his other businesses such as Tesla and the Boring Company.
The best summary I can think of is from Clemenza in the “Godfather”: “You know, you gotta stop them at the beginning. Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for trouble.”
“Yankee dollar talk
To the dictators of the world
In fact it’s giving orders
An’ they can’t afford to miss a word”
‘This really in a one-off triggered by three things:
· Trump’s territorial ambitions
· The rise of big tech barons
· The disinformation campaign being wielded by Musk
I have always thought little good comes from the US, and that we deluded ourselves by thinking we had a special relationship with them. In reality, we have just let them walk all over us for years.
This current bunch, led by Trump and Musk are simply bullies and we need to stand up to them
Lyrically, we start with “New York” by the Sex Pistols, and end with the Clash, “I’m So bored With the USA”. Never a truer word…..
Enjoy!
Philip’
@coldwarsteve
Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.
Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s
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