Pratap Chatterjee, executive director of CorpWatch, joins us to discuss their latest report, MAGA Inc., which identifies the Crypto Czars, the Tech Titans and the Prison Profiteers who have bankrolled and benefited the most from Donald Trump’s corrupt regime.
In listening to information about the Reflecting Pool's issue on the Drey Dossier yesterday, the connection to the water source, pipes and plumbing maps, from where and to where, that water can flow, includes the White House, needed for the massive amounts of water it will take to run the data center being constructed under the Ball Room. Very complicated plumbing information. MAGA Inc., surveillance, money does whatever it wants, global billionaires, all things tied together.
There is a Data Center being constructed under the "ballroom"? Source please - if people are aware, perhaps they will organize to stop it as they have in so many other places ...
What I understood it to be was indeed, a bunker type - which I assumed was a place for the big wigs to retreat to - similar to those used after 9/11 - in case of "attack" by whom is anyone's guess ...
Me also.....but I found it interesting to listen to the Drey Dossier regarding the need for a whole lot of water and how that was going to be obtained through the plumbing that included access through the Reflecting Pool renovation and the different types of systems connected to that plumbing. Documentation was provided.
When I attended the 2016 Iowa Caucus and saw all the vote counters wearing Hillary shirts, I knew that the DNC was going to do to Sanders what they did to Henry Wallace in 1944 at the Democratic National Convention and to Eugene McCarthy in 1968 in Chicago: push aside the popular progressive who had a real plan to address the real problems in favor of a status-quo safe insider who would respect the seating chart. Republicans are greedy, corrupt cult member shits, but they demonstrate a political courage the left has yet to show.
Hillary was a D after all and won the primaries by a lot, and in 2016, she was the right choice. Bernie has good talking points, and he motivated young people not to vote for Hillary when he lost the primary (they weren't going to vote for her anyway, and many cast mischeif votes for djt in the general, or sat it out entirely). He's ineffective at governance, but great at organizing and whipping people up, imho.
I've heard the same tired argument for 10 years. A neoliberal Democrat hawk with no experience of winning elections except in a safe seat in a state (in which she did not actually live) with the last name that evoked all of neoliberialism? HRC did not “win the primaries by a lot,” which was my point. The primaries were given to her the same way that a Democratic national convention gave the nomination to their chosen in 1944 and 1968. Forgive me for saying so, but his is a tired old talking point belied by the fact Trump won by faking the populism Sanders genuinely evoked.The Democratic party ignored the middle class and workers. They lost because billionaires are controlling the election narrative and we are where we are because of these decisions.
To say that Sanders is poor at governing ignores 40 years of working the Senate with very popular (and unappealing to business) policy, but that entire argument is specious when you look at who won and what's happening now. Experience doesn't mean shit.
I must say that this kind of blind faith in Democrats and the DNC is going to tank any hopes for change. If your opinion is as common as I fear it is, we're fucked
It's more common than the "tear shit down and start over" one that you think will launch us into a kumbaya moment where everyone accepts that our country is morally in the shitter and nothing good will ever happen unless EVERYONE bangs the same drum and believes the same things, now who's being disingenuous? We can work toward a DS future, but Corporatism and Cronyism exist, and they have more money than any party that opposes them will be able to amass. We, you and I are not too far apart, my protesting is for equity and calling out fascism, it's not for anarchy-lite and leaving a party in the dust. Change happens slowly, I live in rural America where the average person isn't as clued into this administration's machinations, so getting them to reconsider what they hold to be true is going to take a bit more than Bernie or AOC rallies.
Now you're just being mean with ad hominem. Also "I live in rural America where the average person..." is both appeal to authority and bandwagon. Please don't hit me with rhetorical fallacy because I will call them out. I lived twenty years in Iowa, thirty years in Arizona, and now I live in Port Townsend. I am a student of American history, and my opinions are not shot from the hip.
You're also ascribing an opinion to me that I do not espouse. A simple 5% tax on billionaire wealth coupled with the addition of four more SCOTUS justices to reverse the last twenty years of activist jurisprudence would have a tremendous and immediate effect.
UBI for all citizens and single-payer healthcare would have more.
Gradual change will never happen. We wind up with nominal change, like the ACA. Yes, it made insurance affordable for millions, but failed to address the fundamental problem that for-profit health insurance is an egregious obscenity that needs to go the way of slavery. Nominal change is what got us the Civil War in 1861, people working within the system because "cooler heads" were prevailing.
Listen, we are on a clock. The water is running out under the bread basket. We have maybe thirty years left if everything stays stable, but chances are it won't. The climate catastrophe, water scarcity, disease, starvation, and our old friend war are all not only waiting at the door, they are in the house.
You're right, I don't have your cred, and I apologize my assumption was offensive and off base. Slow and steady works with the ability for aprehensive folks to wrap their heads around it. It also buys time to set up the infrastructure it will take to allow it to succeed. In my experience, brute forcing a population to accept change gets the angry folks to start forming coalitions with other angry folks. Do you remember the lines at gun shows during Obama's tenure over propaganda about gun control? I agree with the ideas UBI, HC4A, and taking on major polluters, pushing for energy infrastructure changes to slow or reverse our barreling to the cliff of scarcity.
Also, I know more left-leaning liberals who bought guns after Trump was elected, especially during the pandemic. Many liberals are now firearms owners, and most of the ones I know take it seriously and train for proficiency and safety.
hey I get you. emotional times and all of that. we have seen what executive orders can do. yeah it breaks the Constitution but I think at this point we are looking at a pile of rubble in that department. The courageous executive could push through a reformed supreme Court. nine justices is not law, only a tradition. if somebody wields the power that they have given to Trump they can undo a lot of the stuff really quickly. Ubi would change everyone's lives immediately. Medicare for all would do the same thing. they have money for war and they don't give a shit about spending it. they could do the same thing for us if they had the courage. Obama was a terrific speaker and still is. very inspiring. but he did not change anything substantial.
OK, so now we know even more about Trump's corruption, put that all together with all the other impeachable offenses he has committed and continues to commit, the question is what are we going to do about it?
As pointed out he's making all this money because HIS name is on it and his position as Pres. gives him the power to reward his "investors" - Once he is no longer Pres. the bottom will fall out of all of it - and he knows it, which is why he is proceeding lickety-split to amass as much as possible before the Trump name isn't worth spit ... "facts on the ground", as they say
So the question is can we get him out now, or do we have to wait until '29 - remember, even though he would be replaced in '28, he would still be Pres 'til Jan. '29, with all the powers of Office ...
So it seems to me our job is to convince Congress to Impeach him ASAP - tell all the candidates running in '26 that we will NOT vote for them if they will not pledge to do so, the sooner the better ...
are local town councils being threatened or bribed by government proxies or directly by the data centers who are being green lit, leaving residents without much power to stop them?
Here again, unless they are accepting bribes, the one thing they want is to be re-elected and if people make it clear they are out the door if they approve, they perhaps can stop it - local press investigations should look into this, especially if there are a number of NDAs involved in the approval procedure ....
Thank you, Pratap Chatterjee, for the concise account of the the specific corporate tie-ins of 'dirty money' in league with Trump through the MAGA Inc report. I visited your website. All in all, this report provides the kind of gathered information needed. Once again, through Ralph Nader's Radio Hour, we find vital discussion and reporting that allows us to consolidate our time in healthy, balanced ways. Instead of collecting bits of news at a time to sort out in an overload of mind-numbing effort.
Corporations such as Palantir offering “free consultation” have become an endemic disease in government. Corporations show up with “free advice,” get ushered in by someone they know inside the agency, and walk out with contracts worth millions. The public gets crumbs. It’s the same story exposed in When McKinsey Comes to Town: consulting giants enrich themselves while governments pay the price.
How can someone representing. And leading, the current corrupt usa regime be elected president?
Even before birth. My Mom, my Dad, my relatives,. all experienced that that has been told and sold to the ‘universe’ that the usa is a nation of free men. From my experiences, from birth, the 45th and now the 47th ‘leader’ of this nation personifies, he exemplifies. He is the embodiment, the manifestation, the incorporation, of what is the true character of usa.
From the start the americas, including the inhabitants, are simply a commodity! A commodity to be exploited.
Colonial opportunist, corrupt capitalist. (with a capital C). It is an absolute, and well documented, fact that the usa is absolutely just as described from 28:11 to 29:25. ...Regardless of party affiliation.
If the usa, we, are to be what We The People tell ourselves we are--free and democratic--With courage We Need to, We Must face the reality of what the usa in fact is!
In listening to information about the Reflecting Pool's issue on the Drey Dossier yesterday, the connection to the water source, pipes and plumbing maps, from where and to where, that water can flow, includes the White House, needed for the massive amounts of water it will take to run the data center being constructed under the Ball Room. Very complicated plumbing information. MAGA Inc., surveillance, money does whatever it wants, global billionaires, all things tied together.
There is a Data Center being constructed under the "ballroom"? Source please - if people are aware, perhaps they will organize to stop it as they have in so many other places ...
Not a data center in the ilk of the giant ones but more a command post, military, bunker type. You haven’t heard of this?
What I understood it to be was indeed, a bunker type - which I assumed was a place for the big wigs to retreat to - similar to those used after 9/11 - in case of "attack" by whom is anyone's guess ...
Me also.....but I found it interesting to listen to the Drey Dossier regarding the need for a whole lot of water and how that was going to be obtained through the plumbing that included access through the Reflecting Pool renovation and the different types of systems connected to that plumbing. Documentation was provided.
When I attended the 2016 Iowa Caucus and saw all the vote counters wearing Hillary shirts, I knew that the DNC was going to do to Sanders what they did to Henry Wallace in 1944 at the Democratic National Convention and to Eugene McCarthy in 1968 in Chicago: push aside the popular progressive who had a real plan to address the real problems in favor of a status-quo safe insider who would respect the seating chart. Republicans are greedy, corrupt cult member shits, but they demonstrate a political courage the left has yet to show.
Hillary was a D after all and won the primaries by a lot, and in 2016, she was the right choice. Bernie has good talking points, and he motivated young people not to vote for Hillary when he lost the primary (they weren't going to vote for her anyway, and many cast mischeif votes for djt in the general, or sat it out entirely). He's ineffective at governance, but great at organizing and whipping people up, imho.
I've heard the same tired argument for 10 years. A neoliberal Democrat hawk with no experience of winning elections except in a safe seat in a state (in which she did not actually live) with the last name that evoked all of neoliberialism? HRC did not “win the primaries by a lot,” which was my point. The primaries were given to her the same way that a Democratic national convention gave the nomination to their chosen in 1944 and 1968. Forgive me for saying so, but his is a tired old talking point belied by the fact Trump won by faking the populism Sanders genuinely evoked.The Democratic party ignored the middle class and workers. They lost because billionaires are controlling the election narrative and we are where we are because of these decisions.
To say that Sanders is poor at governing ignores 40 years of working the Senate with very popular (and unappealing to business) policy, but that entire argument is specious when you look at who won and what's happening now. Experience doesn't mean shit.
I must say that this kind of blind faith in Democrats and the DNC is going to tank any hopes for change. If your opinion is as common as I fear it is, we're fucked
It's more common than the "tear shit down and start over" one that you think will launch us into a kumbaya moment where everyone accepts that our country is morally in the shitter and nothing good will ever happen unless EVERYONE bangs the same drum and believes the same things, now who's being disingenuous? We can work toward a DS future, but Corporatism and Cronyism exist, and they have more money than any party that opposes them will be able to amass. We, you and I are not too far apart, my protesting is for equity and calling out fascism, it's not for anarchy-lite and leaving a party in the dust. Change happens slowly, I live in rural America where the average person isn't as clued into this administration's machinations, so getting them to reconsider what they hold to be true is going to take a bit more than Bernie or AOC rallies.
Now you're just being mean with ad hominem. Also "I live in rural America where the average person..." is both appeal to authority and bandwagon. Please don't hit me with rhetorical fallacy because I will call them out. I lived twenty years in Iowa, thirty years in Arizona, and now I live in Port Townsend. I am a student of American history, and my opinions are not shot from the hip.
You're also ascribing an opinion to me that I do not espouse. A simple 5% tax on billionaire wealth coupled with the addition of four more SCOTUS justices to reverse the last twenty years of activist jurisprudence would have a tremendous and immediate effect.
UBI for all citizens and single-payer healthcare would have more.
Gradual change will never happen. We wind up with nominal change, like the ACA. Yes, it made insurance affordable for millions, but failed to address the fundamental problem that for-profit health insurance is an egregious obscenity that needs to go the way of slavery. Nominal change is what got us the Civil War in 1861, people working within the system because "cooler heads" were prevailing.
Listen, we are on a clock. The water is running out under the bread basket. We have maybe thirty years left if everything stays stable, but chances are it won't. The climate catastrophe, water scarcity, disease, starvation, and our old friend war are all not only waiting at the door, they are in the house.
You're right, I don't have your cred, and I apologize my assumption was offensive and off base. Slow and steady works with the ability for aprehensive folks to wrap their heads around it. It also buys time to set up the infrastructure it will take to allow it to succeed. In my experience, brute forcing a population to accept change gets the angry folks to start forming coalitions with other angry folks. Do you remember the lines at gun shows during Obama's tenure over propaganda about gun control? I agree with the ideas UBI, HC4A, and taking on major polluters, pushing for energy infrastructure changes to slow or reverse our barreling to the cliff of scarcity.
Also, I know more left-leaning liberals who bought guns after Trump was elected, especially during the pandemic. Many liberals are now firearms owners, and most of the ones I know take it seriously and train for proficiency and safety.
hey I get you. emotional times and all of that. we have seen what executive orders can do. yeah it breaks the Constitution but I think at this point we are looking at a pile of rubble in that department. The courageous executive could push through a reformed supreme Court. nine justices is not law, only a tradition. if somebody wields the power that they have given to Trump they can undo a lot of the stuff really quickly. Ubi would change everyone's lives immediately. Medicare for all would do the same thing. they have money for war and they don't give a shit about spending it. they could do the same thing for us if they had the courage. Obama was a terrific speaker and still is. very inspiring. but he did not change anything substantial.
#TrumpCartel..
OK, so now we know even more about Trump's corruption, put that all together with all the other impeachable offenses he has committed and continues to commit, the question is what are we going to do about it?
As pointed out he's making all this money because HIS name is on it and his position as Pres. gives him the power to reward his "investors" - Once he is no longer Pres. the bottom will fall out of all of it - and he knows it, which is why he is proceeding lickety-split to amass as much as possible before the Trump name isn't worth spit ... "facts on the ground", as they say
So the question is can we get him out now, or do we have to wait until '29 - remember, even though he would be replaced in '28, he would still be Pres 'til Jan. '29, with all the powers of Office ...
So it seems to me our job is to convince Congress to Impeach him ASAP - tell all the candidates running in '26 that we will NOT vote for them if they will not pledge to do so, the sooner the better ...
are local town councils being threatened or bribed by government proxies or directly by the data centers who are being green lit, leaving residents without much power to stop them?
Here again, unless they are accepting bribes, the one thing they want is to be re-elected and if people make it clear they are out the door if they approve, they perhaps can stop it - local press investigations should look into this, especially if there are a number of NDAs involved in the approval procedure ....
Third party contractors have no accountability
Thank you, Pratap Chatterjee, for the concise account of the the specific corporate tie-ins of 'dirty money' in league with Trump through the MAGA Inc report. I visited your website. All in all, this report provides the kind of gathered information needed. Once again, through Ralph Nader's Radio Hour, we find vital discussion and reporting that allows us to consolidate our time in healthy, balanced ways. Instead of collecting bits of news at a time to sort out in an overload of mind-numbing effort.
I highly recommend you follow the Dre Dossier. @thedredossier on Substack. She does some of the best in depth reporting on the Ballroom and more.
Corporations such as Palantir offering “free consultation” have become an endemic disease in government. Corporations show up with “free advice,” get ushered in by someone they know inside the agency, and walk out with contracts worth millions. The public gets crumbs. It’s the same story exposed in When McKinsey Comes to Town: consulting giants enrich themselves while governments pay the price.
Where can I find the transcript of this episode?
Sorry about that. This one slipped through the cracks over the holiday. Check back tomorrow. Should be posted.
Wait! Peter Thiel is the palantir partner. He fled to Argentina I heard. Moving targets are harder to nail down for accountability!
How can someone representing. And leading, the current corrupt usa regime be elected president?
Even before birth. My Mom, my Dad, my relatives,. all experienced that that has been told and sold to the ‘universe’ that the usa is a nation of free men. From my experiences, from birth, the 45th and now the 47th ‘leader’ of this nation personifies, he exemplifies. He is the embodiment, the manifestation, the incorporation, of what is the true character of usa.
From the start the americas, including the inhabitants, are simply a commodity! A commodity to be exploited.
Colonial opportunist, corrupt capitalist. (with a capital C). It is an absolute, and well documented, fact that the usa is absolutely just as described from 28:11 to 29:25. ...Regardless of party affiliation.
If the usa, we, are to be what We The People tell ourselves we are--free and democratic--With courage We Need to, We Must face the reality of what the usa in fact is!