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If those monies donated by billionaires to candidates were instead collected in taxes, just think of all the improvements could be made to the lives of ordinary Americans! Affordable healthcare for all, free public colleges, affordable housing, & so much more!

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In Musk's case, he is a government contractor, and potentially has exposure to lose his entire fortune. I assume that some of the others have government contracts.

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Not the Mellons and Addelsons

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I always say America is a moneycracy, although all successive governments have been trying hard to sell that under the usually well esteemed word of democracy. Anyway... fuck trump amd his billionaires. Vote blue!

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Right after the election, we have several issues and goals to work toward. Money in politics and voting are the top priorities to address before anything else can be accomplished. A comment I read this morning asked whether the system shapes our values or whether our values shape the system. Can we change the electoral system so that the economic system reflects the values of the majority? As active citizens, we have a crucial role to play in advocating for the necessary changes that Thom addressed. We must try for the sake of ourselves and our descendants.

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The Democratic Party might seriously consider a full-throated attack on the political money status quo. There are plenty of voices - AOC, Katie Porter, Jasmine Crockett, Jamie Raskin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, to name a few - who could shed brilliant light on the subject, whether or not they’re in the majority. It isn’t difficult to find a microphone or a camera in DC, and those who own them are demonstrably attracted to shiny objects. It’s past time to stop hiding our light.

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Everyone wants to know why this election is even close...according to the rigged polls. How in God's Name did we get to a place in this country where anyone, let alone almost 40% of the country, sees Trump as the solution to the inequity in this country. Since when did God's favor equate with wealth accumulation? This article goes into how the billionaires want to turn the US into a third world oligarchy. Isn't it already? They just want to lock it in place. No wonder Trump wants to remain in the White House. The insanity isn't on the way, it is already here. Feeling mellow these days, people? How's the medical insurance thing working for ya? Noticed how over the last decade how all the small businesses have been sucked up by large corporations or put out of business? Been to any religious sermons lately condemning the overwhelming influence of wealth in todays world?

I know this sounds a bit out there, but there are a lot of people in this country that believe what they see on television is real. They think that reality is actually found in a video game.

I'm with Zappa. "Politics is just the entertainment section of the military- industrial complex"....except now the entertainment section is being taken as real. And the "money changers" control the levers.

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First time GenZ voters are not LV "likely" and therefore not counted in most polls. Potentially Gen Z can make up 25% of the electorate.

In the IA poll, senior women are 65% Harris. Depends on the state, but in most blue wall states senior women are voting in huge numbers. https://election.lab.ufl.edu/early-vote/2024-early-voting/

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it's Fox News. Forty-three percent of the country watches Fox News, which correlates directly with the percentage of voters who support Trump over Harris.

According to the Pew Research Center, most Fox viewers don’t diversify the information they consume: Viewers with consistently conservative political views get them from a single outlet—Fox News—to a much greater degree than independents and liberals, who inform themselves from a variety of sources.

I don't agree that half the country is stupid or hate-filled. They are misinformed and manipulated by Fox/ Murdoch/ Musk.

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author

Sabrina,

Can you give me a link to that 43 percent number? I looked at the statia link in your article, but it wasn't clear...

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It came from a table on Statistica. I don’t have an account, so the bar graph disappears whenever I click it. It appeared initially, but now it fades it out. So weird. But I added every day Fox viewers plus frequent Fox viewers plus viewers who watch Fox a few times a week, and the total was 43%. Here's the link, which seems disabled here but if you cut and paste it should work: https://www.statista.com/statistics/783257/frequency-of-watching-fox-news-in-the-us/

Also, Fox and Google report the percentage of cable news audience. Fox reports: “In the third quarter, Fox retained the largest share of the cable news audience with 52% of viewers in total day and 53% in primetime.) that link is: https://press.foxnews.com/2024/10/fox-news-channel-delivers-second-highest-rated-third-quarter-ever-topping-abc-cbs-and-all-of-cable-during-historical-political-news-cycle#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20a%202023%20New%20York,10%20programs%20in%20the%20genre

Under a google search for “What percentage of Americans watch Fox News,” this was the AI answer:

Audience size: Fox News attracts nearly 50% of the cable news viewing audience.

Viewership by party: A spring 2023 survey found that 41% of Republicans watch Fox News every day or a few times per week, compared to 21% of Democrats.

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Help prove that they can't buy the government.

Despite his donors, Trump underperformed in 19 of 20 state primaries. If only 3% of his 2020 voters flip in blue wall and swing states, we should have a blue tsunami.

According to Facebook, there are:

4 million veterans or active duty members on Facebook

12.5 million family members of veterans or active duty members on Facebook

242 million friends with one or more veterans or active duty members on Facebook

'Not suckers or losers works. We've flipped a lot of Trump x 2 voters. That's why we should be on FB repeating "not suckers or losers" as our mantra.

https://rvat.org/

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Daniel, what voting there is is already baked into the cake. Unless there is an overwhelming surge in red states, like Iowa, for Kamala The voting counting will be dragged out until Dec 11,where by law,all governors have to submit their slate of electors and the late has to be verified by Dec 17th. Plenty of time for mischief.

What worries me is the little secret between Mike Johnson and Trump,I see a repeat of Jan 6th, minus the riot and a 12th Amendment, Contingent election. The only way to beat them at that game is an overriding victory in the electoral college with at least two rd states voting for Kamala.

Apparently we have Iowa now, and I hope at least Missouri.

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IMHO most pollsters are wrong. LV do not count Gen Z. We'll see tomorrow.....can overwhelm the election.

If we flip 3% of 2020 Trump voters, we can win NC, Ga, FL, AZ, NV, IA, and maybe even MO. @ 4% even TX and the Big O may be in play. Jan 6 happened post 2020. I want to see the exit polls from Parma, Ohio. In heaven there is no beer.

Here in Baghdad By the Sea, Trump lost 13% in his primary.... Abortion and marijuana increase the total vote. We have NP voters supporting many D house candidates, and especially Debbie in the Hispanic community. If we get out a big vote in Miami Dade, it can carry the entire state.

Abortion is on the ballot in AZ and MO.

In NE, a blue dot. The whole damn state identifies with Walz, who btw is a NE native.

I support Katrina Christiansen in ND, Her internal polls show that she is up.

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I tend to side with you Daniel..

First: Polling organizations are motivated for financial reasons to push the horse race

Second: Polling organizations for financial reasons are motive to push the Republican agenda.

Third: I do not know their polling tactic. If homephones (land lines) than it excludes all but old farts like me, who don't have a cell phone, and use caller ID to decide whether or not to answer the phone.

I would like to pin hopes on Gen Y and Z, but realize that this is also the population of Incels, and have grown up with a constant drum beat of men are being victimized., by politically correct liberals.

I've seen too many guests on decidedly liberal shows like Joy Reid proclaim that black males and Muslims are going to sit out the election.

f they do in Michigan and Pennsylvania then Trump caries those states. There were even Imams in Wayne County, that said they would vote for Trump to flip the finger to the Democrats. And black males have said the same thing, and not surprisingly the Hispanic community, not just the Bautisto's are trending Trump because the Latino culture is as culturally conservative as the Islamic culture

By culturally conservative I mean patriarchal, misogynist, homophobic. In other words the very foundation of the culture war.

D

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MSNBC sucks. Never, ever, a mention of FT 6. Never, ever a mention of the defect in LV. That bs about Black men is just that B.S. Hispanics are NOT favoring Trump. It's true that Biden got more enthusiasm from them than Harris.... past tense. According to the polls (which I dispute) it's 65-35.

Here the Bastinianos are 60-40. But they use more Obamacare per capita than any other demographic.

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What is LV? Not familiar with that acronym.

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If citizens were not illiterate wage-slaves who must pay for healthcare, college, and fund their own retirements.

If race-hate were not such a powerful opioid for the broken masses.

If "holy" persons in their pulpits were not so easily corrupted in to misleading their flocks' politics in said "holy" person's quest for their "holy" Gulfstream jet.

If the nation were not so structured as to continually blow a 50-100 mph headwind in the citizens' faces as they metaphorically pedal their unicycle up and down the hills and dales of life.

If the system were not rigged to benefit the rich at the expense of the 95%!!

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In 1970s I read a book exposing the alleged millionaires who were manipulating the world economy’s and politics. Most of the names have changed and now they are operating more openly. As Thom has written they are working to hide their fascist activities by using the court system to trash good laws regarding transparency. The difference between 1970 and now is the internet. Information about the crimes of the billionaires can’t be hidden so easily. Time to boycott and expose these sociopaths.

MY NEW SONG-

Defeat the elite,

Their sickness needs to be stamped out.

Defeat the elite,

Expose them with our internet shouts.

Their money makes them insane,

They destroy the game,

For everyone.

Everyone!

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Republicans are no longer the loyal opposition; rather, they have become nihilists, believing in nothing-- no bottom line democratic values, only the immediate pursuit of wealth for the privileged at any cost. This is how they can support a convicted rapist and felon for the highest office in the land. They are no longer pursuing success at politics, they are co-criminals, obsessed with keeping their Mafia Boss out of reach of the legal process. The nihilists have succeeded thus far by mesmerizing their disenchanted-with-my-own-life minions with the promise of retribution on civil society. Most concerning is the lack of a real plan going into the future. The resulting loss of American culture, wealth and social structure is the greatest threat we face.

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The Republicans are spending millions on anti-trans ads talking about how YOUR tax dollars are used for sex change operations on prisoners, which apparently is required by law if a doctor deems it necessary. It happened twice. The cost of the ads is many mulltiples of the cost of the operations.

I do not understand the fuss over trans people, especially from evangelicals. As a kid in the 50s I knew about sex change operations and understood why they occured. My parents were part of an offshoot of Penticostalism and they had no problem with it whatsoever.

In case no one noticed, men do not have to pretend to be women to assault them.

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Allen trans folk, at the at the very bottom, population wise, of minorites, and thus safe targets, even so called libertarians like Bill Maher are aboard the anti trans train, maybe because his girlfriend Ann Coulter has an Adams apple.

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We most definitely need to get the billionaires out of our elections. The Harris campaign has shown us what you can doin a short 90 days. I’m honestly sick of the 18-24 month long campaigns. I also am old enough to remember when you were. asked on your 1040 tax form if you wanted to make a political donation. I believe the amount was a measly $5. We first need to reform the Supreme Court by 1) adding 4 additional justices, as they oversee the District Courts of which there are now 13; 2) pass enforceable ethics standards similar to other civil service members, a $50 limit on gifts; & 3) set term limits, as no one should EVER be appointed to a life long term. It only aids in creating corruption, as we’ve all recently watched with our own eyes.

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It is hard to be super-wealthy and not become arrogant - entitled to have things your way. In their world they usually do get things their way. Many billionaires have said on the record that they think they are doing us little people a favor by guiding America to greater wealth. Many appear to actually believe that "trickledown" Reaganomics gaslight. Given the size of the MAGA population, it looks like billionaires are not alone in that thinking. Imagine how the average American household would live in retirement if SSA pensions were tripled using taxes on the rich who got that way on the backs of the average American.

In interviews, MAGAs assert that Trump is best qualified to govern because he's rich and they're not. By that standard Elon Musk should be president and Jeff Bezos VP. They think they will get rich if only the government was run like a business - echoing GOP and Billionaire gaslight. Of course, that would (could - we will know tomorrow) melt down the US economy. Business success is measured in profits, but governments do not produce goods & services for resale. They merely spend tax revenue to maintain the nation's infrastructure and protect the health, wealth, and safety of the citizens. Congress; not Presidents decide on how to divvy up the tax spending. If businesses just thrived on cutting services to the bone for maximum efficiency, then explain Trump's 6 bankruptcies, or the implosion of businesses like Bed Bath & Beyond, TGI Fridays, K-Marts, Sears, Enron, numerous banks, etc.

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Right now we as a people need to first educate through media what a plutocracy and the corporatocracy is. We need to more clearly understand what these controls that inevitably arise from billionaire holdings and investment mean to us as a society, and what an AI, corporate controlled system for human employment, is all about.

This system of employment is what indirectly controls the population by keeping us unable to protest or be mobile for fear of losing our jobs. We become captive in a system where there’s no choices. It protects billionaires and controls us through our very livelihood and keeps us in check and silent with no where to go.

There becomes few if any choices and no way to escape from debt or overpowering work conditions, that literally monitor our every minute.

When you’re competing with and controlled by AI, there’s no mercy or respite. The only thing we the common people become good for is our ability to purchase, and social upward mobility is controlled and strictly monitored.

Those who don’t work within the system are quite literally expendable, while the stockholders live quite nicely far removed from this dirty and disturbing environment and common people.

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Don't you wonder why so many everyday Americans buy all this clap-trap that they are being sold by the Republicans? I mean election, after election, they listen to the candidates promise this & that. This time they are being told up front that the Republicans will take away the Social Safety Nets that have been so critical to the poorer people in this country. They see what the Dobbs decision has done to women's healthcare. They hear that trump will deport millions of individuals. You know that some of the people he will deport are their neighbors, or maybe work for them, or work with them. Do these people who pull out their "mass deportation now" signs really think about what that would mean on a humanitarian & economic level? Will they be willing to do the jobs so many of the deportees do for us now? Do you remember the bridge collapse in Maryland, every worker killed that night were immigrants repairing the bridge so that their fellow Marylanders could drive more swiftly & safely across that bridge.

I'm just appalled at that lack of decency & awareness of the people at these trump rallies. The thing is they laugh at & cheer for. Shooting reporters, fantasizing about shooting Liz Cheney, having military tribunals for his enemies. I wonder, will they clamor for televised executions? If so, you can be sure a trump/2025 administration would make them pay for view telling would be viewers that the charge would be put towards strengthening the border when in actuality it will go into their wallets or shell companies or bank accounts in the Caymans.

And, I wonder even after everything comes crashing down around them will they still believe in Maga? Or will they go the way of the everyday German at the end of WWII who wanted to surrender but we're executed for not being loyal enough to Hitler, nevermind that Hitler committed suicide rather than facing the judgment of the world for what he did.

I guess by the end of this week we will know how the people will speak. Now, that is not to say what the outcome will be. The popular vote could go massively for Harris, even the electoral college could go massively for Harris. We would still be left to face the die-hard MAGA faithful that will take up arms to get THEIR way.

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RTN, ignore the humanitarian aspect of the MAGAt immigration policy and deportations.

The economic affect will cripple this country, and turn it into a third world state.

Immigrants, legal and illegal, have contributed their blood, sweat and tears to building this nation into an economic powerhouse, it is the diversity of America that made it great.

The Irish, who were not considered white, built the canals and the rail line from the east coast to the golden spike, and Chinese built the railroad blasting tunnels and losing hundreds of lives from the west coast to the golden spike.

And involuntary immigrants like Africans built the economy of this nation,north and south,and contributed to it's technologcal advance, in fact it Creola Katherine Johnson (née Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights

If all immigrants did was pick fruit and vegetables, and pluck chickens America would starve, but they don't. The neurosugeon what removed the brain tumor in my head was an Indian here on a visa, as was his back up. The nurse assistant of one of my oncologists is a pakistani,

Silicon valley would be a desert without Indians, Koreans, Pakistani's. I lived in Redmond, WA and when I shopped at Kroger, Safeway or Home Depot I entered the United Nations.

Trump will bring all of that to a halt, while trying to persuade Nordics, who have better sense, to migrated to America.

It was immigrants who built this nation, and their descendants have turned into the most vehement of chauvinists. Even natural citizens, like Mayra Flores, R-18th Texas, are hard core anti immigrants, as are sons and daughters of Hispanic immigrants.

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Many quality Doctors came during Covid my wife even got a female from Iran! My wife loved her.

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America doesn't produce doctors like other countries do. AMA restricts the supply, to keep salaries high, and then put them through an impossible regimen of internship and residence to further restrict the supply. Interns don't get paid bumpkis, work their asses off, put up with bullying, and have to basically live under stairs with roomates just to survive. Then they are stuck with student loans that they will spend their lifetime paying off.

In Latin America, doctors are high status individuals and anyone that can access a good education strives for a decree as a doctor or licensiado.

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Facebook post disappearing. Whenever I make a stand-alone post on Facebook, it disappears in minutes. However, if I attach it as a reply, it seems to stay. Here are some I have made. Everyone is welcome to post or re post any of these or make the post better and post it.

Please vote for democracy and vote for Harris. Feel free to re post.

Democracy is on the line here and worldwide. At the heart of a democracy is having fair and free elections in which the citizens determine the leaders. If trying to overthrow an election is allowed, there are no other laws that are safe from being disregarded or misused. Once the rule of law has broken down it’s very hard to get back. Free elections are hard to get back once a dictatorship is established.

Some people may think the dictator is on their side. No, the dictator is for the dictator. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Trump wants to be a dictator and he has the media, the Supreme Court and big money supporting him. He admires dictators like Viktor Orban and called Putin’s invasion genus. Trump has the will, the skill and the backing to become a dictator.

Trump is saying he won’t resupply Ukraine. With a Trump win, Russia could defeat Ukraine. This might encourage more land grabs, more wars and more dictators. If the leader of the free world, the USA, becomes a dictatorship what will the world become and what will the USA become?

Let’s vote in Harris and retain our democracy. We can supply Ukraine, they can very likely push Russia out with continued strong backing or if Ukraine wants to negotiate with Russia, they would be doing so from a stronger position. In a nuclear world, the stakes are high. But the stakes are higher with more dictatorships and higher still without a free USA. Democracy here and democracies worldwide are on the line, please vote for Harris.

Do billionaires really need a tax break? Warren Buffet said his secretary paid a higher tax rate than he did. Bill Gates said he should of had to pay much more in taxes than he had to.

When Republicans get in power, they usually cut taxes for the wealthy, this creates a bigger gap between top earners and the rest, drives up the national debt and usually the overall economy suffers greatly. Many billionaires see recessions as buying opportunities and for having cheaper labor.

Trump says he will cut taxes more for billionaires. Harris says she will get the wealthy to pay more of their fair share of taxes. She won’t raise tax rates on individuals making less than $400,000 and she wants a $6,000 child tax credit for the first year of birth. Biden and Harris have kept tariffs on China and now have increased those tariffs.

With the wealth already greatly going to the top, billionaires don’t need another tax break. Harris will be much better for the economy and better for the national debt. But the strongest reason to vote for Harris is to save our democracy from a want-to-be dictator with the backing of big money, media and the courts. Feel free to re post.

Say no to appeasement, yes to democracy and vote for Harris.

Harris has said she would continue supporting Ukraine. Maybe with continued support and better technology, Ukraine can push Russia out. If Ukraine decides they want to negotiate with Russia, they would be doing so from a stronger position with the continued support. It would be their decision.

Trump has called Putin a genus for invading Ukraine. He wouldn’t say if he wanted Ukraine to win. He says he will end the war in 24 hours, that’s not likely and it likely wouldn’t stop Russian aggression. Vance has said they should let Russia have the land it occupies and that Ukraine shouldn’t join NATO. That would just give Russia time to rebuild and attack at a later time. Trump would appease Russia, he admires Putin and other dictators and wants to be one. Please vote for democracy here and worldwide and vote for Harris.

According to retired General Mark A. Milley, Donald Trump is the most dangerous person to this country and Trump is fascist to the core. Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump and then continued that role under Biden.

Over 100 ex-Republicans members of congress and national security officials signed a letter to the public supporting Harris for president. While they may disagree with Harris on many issues, Trump had demonstrated dangerous qualities like an unusual affinity for dictators like Putin and contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior.

The letter also condemned Trump’s action on Jan. 6, 2021. By inciting the violent attack on the Capital and defending those who committed it, he had violated his oath of office and brought danger to our country. Pence is quoted as saying anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the US. They went on to say that Harris has demonstrated a commitment to upholding the ideals that define our nation-freedom, democracy and rule of law adding that Trump is unfit to serve again as President, or indeed in any office of public trust. Feel free to re post.

A Sept. 4, 2024 Justice department indictment describes $10 million in Russian funding going to Tenet Media to hire right-wing personalities to move voters in swing states toward a pro-Russia viewpoint and to undermine confidence in Biden. To read more about this go to www.msn.com>en-us>news Russia, Russia, Russia is not a hoax. Trump will likely sell out Ukraine. Please vote for Harris and support democracy worldwide. Feel free to re post.

Please, vote for Democracy. Vote for Harris.

This election is bigger than the individual issues. Trump lost the 2020 election. He went to court numerous times to contest the election; he lost every time. He tried to overthrow the election results. He still says he won and will prosecute those who he says cheated. Trump says he will fire government workers and replace them with people loyal to him.

Instead of having him on trial to overthrow the 2020 election before this election, the Supreme Court has delayed his trial and has given him more presidential immunity. Most of the media is owned by big money and favors big money interest like more tax cuts for the wealthy. If Trump wins, there is not much, if anything, to stop him from becoming a dictator. He admires dictators like Viktor Orban, Kim Jong Un and Putin. He has the will and the skill to be a dictator.

As Ben Franklin told a woman: You have a Republic, if you can keep it. Let’s keep our Republic, please vote for Harris.

Excepts from The Hartmann Report:

In the few short years after he was elected, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, now fabulously wealthy by Hungarian standards and an oligarch himself, succeeded in transforming his nation’s government from a functioning European democracy into an autocratic and oligarchic regime of single-party neofascist rule.

Orbán took over the Fidesz Party, once a conventional “conservative” political party like the GOP, with the slogans “Restore Christian purity” and “Make Hungary great again.” His rallies regularly drew tens of thousands.

He altered his nation’s Constitution to enable what we’d call gerrymandering and voter suppression in much the same way Republicans are now doing across Red State America, ensuring that his party, Fidesz, would win control in pretty much every election well into the future.

Orbán has handed government contracts to his favored few, elevating an entire group of pro-Orbán businessmen (it appears all are men) who have now seized complete control of the nation’s economy. Those who opposed him have lost their businesses, been forced to sell their companies, and often fled the country. Some are in prison.

Virtually all of Hungary’s press is now in the hands of oligarchs and corporations loyal to Orbán, with hard-right talk radio and television across the country singing his praises daily. Progressive media is functionally banned. Billboards and social media proclaim Orbán’s patriotism. 

If you want to see Trump’s and the GOP’s vision of America’s future, just look at what Orbán’s done to Hungary.

Forewarned is forearmed. Spread the word.  Feel free to re post.

Republicans have dominated the Supreme Court for Decades and Big Money has dominated us.

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Make comments on media sites. Trump hate dogs. Stole from kids with cancer. Not suckers or losers.

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I'm always amazed by the knowledge you possess Thom and I'm smarter because of it. Thank You, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍

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