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*Updated 1/13/2025

Kleptocracy is government by thieves—corrupt politicians who use the government to get rich(er) with tactics including kickbacks, bribes, sweetheart contracts, and more. 

You might think that the über-rich don’t need to use government positions and influence because they already have money. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about the 13 billionaires named to high-ranking government positions in the incoming Republican administration. Unfortunately, people with the most power, influence, and money know better than anyone how use these assets to get more of the same.

Update: “Major donors to Donald Trump’s inaugural committee are having to contribute twice as much to get direct access to him and vice-president-elect JD Vance at private events around the swearing-in ceremony compared with the first inauguration, according to fundraising materials.” [The Guardian]

Trump’s cabinet has an estimated combined net worth of more than $7 billion, even without counting Elon Musk’s personal fortune of more than $400 billion. Biden’s cabinet, in contrast, has a combined net worth of $118 million. Not paupers, but nowhere near the Trump cabinet totals. 

Conflicts of interest abound. 

Kakistocracy means government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state. Trump’s cabinet and ambassadorial appointments exemplify that disaster. Pete Hegseth is a prime example, but there are many others. 

Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, lacks any experience in managing a large organization. The Defense Department has a budget of $849 billion and nearly three million employees. Hegseth’s primary “qualifications” appear to be about five years of deployment as a member of the Minnesota National Guard and unsuccessful stints as the head of three political organizations. 

The battle over extending government funding to March played out as a battle between Republicans, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump as the big players, and power as the game. When a government shutdown was averted, most people breathed a sigh of relief and turned away. Underneath the surface, however, there was a lot more going on than an intra-party squabble.  Follow the money.

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote on Twitter around 2 a.m. on December 20. The Alternativ für Deutschland—is the far-right German party considered neo-Nazi by many in Germany. While the AfD is still a legal party in Germany, its neo-Nazi credentials are clear: 

[CNN Business] “The AfD, which has recently seen its popularity swell, has touted populist and anti-immigrant ‘Germany first’ positions. But the party has also been accused of resurrecting Nazi-era ideology and slogans. In May, a judge ruled that Germany’s domestic intelligence agency could continue to keep the the AfD under surveillance for the alleged threat it poses to German democracy, rejecting a challenge by the party.

“Its youth arm, the Young Alternative (JA), has been designated by German authorities as a ‘confirmed extremist’ organization. The party’s lead candidate in the eastern German state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, was convicted earlier this year after breaking German laws against uttering Nazi slogans in public.” 

Musk said that he knows the party’s policies have been criticized as extreme, but they “don’t sound extremist. Maybe I’m missing something.”  

Five people were killed and about 200 injured when a man drove a car into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. The driver is an ex-Muslim who has denounced everything about Islam and praised the neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. On social media, he was a fan of Elon Musk, Alex Jones, and InfoWars. Taleb al-Abdulmohsen is a 50-year-old doctor who came to Germany eighteen years ago and became a permanent resident.

Here’s a round-up of some of the news articles about his right-wing craziness:

[Newsweek] “The man believed to have killed at least five people after driving into Christmas market shoppers in Germany is a fan of Elon Musk and backs “conspiracy ideologue” Alex Jones, according to German publication Der Spiegel….

“Der Spiegel and social media users reported that an X account that appeared to be affiliated to the suspect, made comments supporting Musk and Jones, as well as the far-right German party AfD (Alternative for Germany). …

“Without specifying where it got the information, Der Spiegel also said the suspect was a fan of Elon Musk. ‘The entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is increasingly openly expressing his sympathies for right-wing parties, was probably one of his role models,’ said the publication, according to a translation.

“The suspect, according to Der Spiegel said: ‘What Musk says, what Alex Jones says, or anyone who is labeled a radical or a right-wing extremist by mainstream media—they’re telling the truth.’ …

“The alleged attack occurred on the day that Musk had earlier endorsed AfD as the only party capable of ‘saving Germany …’”

[Ha’aretz] “According to his social media, 50 year-old Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a doctor and specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy, identifies as an ex-Muslim, is a long-time anti-Islam activist, and has voiced support for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. He reportedly saw Elon Musk and Alex Jones as role models.

“German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, speaking at the scene of the attack on Saturday, said, ‘We can only say with certainty that the perpetrator was obviously Islamophobic.’ Security officials confirmed that the suspect is not known to be an Islamist. …

“Der Spiegel reported that he openly expressed support for extreme-right conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, the U.K. provocateur Tommy Robinson, and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

“The report stated that in an interview, al-Abdulmohsen had explained, ‘If you listen to figures like Tommy Robinson or even Elon Musk, you might dismiss them as conspiracy theorists, especially if you’re unaware of the process of Islamization.’ He added, ‘But from my experience, everything Robinson, Musk, Alex Jones, or anyone labeled by the mainstream media as a radical or right-wing extremist says – they are telling the truth.’”

[Washington Post] “Elon Musk wrote on X that Chancellor Scholz ‘should resign immediately,’ and expressed agreement with a post that claimed that ‘only the AfD would have prevented the attack.’ Far-right accounts online were quick to accuse the alleged perpetrator of Islamist terrorism.

“German officials, and an X account that appeared to belong to the suspect, suggested the suspect held vehemently anti-Islamic views. ‘The AfD and I are fighting the same enemy to protect Germany,’ read one message posted in 2016. The account also shared posts from AfD politicians and other far-right figures, and alleged that Germany ‘wants to islamize Europe.’”

[The Guardian] “The suspect, named by German media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who arrived in Germany in 2006, was remanded in custody late on Saturday after the attack in the central town of Magdeburg on Friday night.

Police said on Sunday that prosecutors had pressed charges of murder and attempted murder against Abdulmohsen, an anti-Islam activist who has made death threats online against German citizens and has a history of disputes with state authorities. …

“Abdulmohsen has described himself as a former Muslim and was an active user of the social media platform X, sharing dozens of posts daily focusing mainly on anti-Islam themes, criticising the religion and congratulating Muslims who had left it. …

“Mina Ahadi, the chair of an association of former Muslims in Germany, said Abdulmohsen was ‘no stranger to us, because he has been terrorising us for years’. She labelled him ‘a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies’.

“Der Spiegel magazine cited security sources as saying the Saudi secret service had alerted Germany’s spy agency BND last year to a post in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a price for its treatment of Saudi refugees.”

[Voice of America] “Describing himself as an ex-Muslim, the suspect appears to have been an active user of the social media platform X, sharing dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who had left the faith. 

“He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he referred to as the “Islamification of Europe.” He also appears to have been a supporter of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.”

[CBS] “Authorities have identified the suspect as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency. Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, in line with privacy rules, but some German news outlets have identified him as Taleb A. and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

“Authorities say he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. He described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam and in many posts on social media expressed support for the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. …

“The Central Council of Ex-Muslims said in a statement that the suspect had ‘terrorized’ them for years as it expressed shock at the attack.

“’He apparently shared beliefs from the far-right spectrum of the AfD and believed in a large-scale conspiracy aimed at Islamizing Germany. His delusional ideas went so far that he assumed that even organizations critical of Islamism were part of the Islamist conspiracy,’ said the statement.” 

[CNN] “RAIR Foundation USA said in a statement shared by Reuters that they conducted an interview with al-Abdulmohsen on December 12, in which he had presented himself as someone assisting ‘ex-Muslim refugees fleeing persecution from Saudi Arabia.’ …

“In a now-deleted feed on X apparently belonging to the suspect, he made anti-Islam statements and self-identified as a Saudi dissident. He spoke openly about renouncing his Islamic faith, expressed sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and accused Germany of promoting the Islamization of the country.”

Crime rates have been falling in the United States since the 1990s. Violent crime rates went back up in 2020, but fell again after 2021. Violent crime is NOT increasing. It is near a 50-year low. 

Every reputable source—FBI, law enforcement across the country, serious researchers—reports falling rates of violent crime, including homicide. The only reports of increasing crime rates come from politicians. But people listen to politicians more than they listen to researchers, and most U.S. adults think that crime is constantly increasing.  

Today, the U.S. stock market is at an all-time high, job growth is solid, unemployment remains at consistently low levels, inflation has been battled back down to a normal level, and wages are increasing at a rate higher than inflation. The U.S. economy is leading the world, and stabilizing the global economy. In short: the economy under Bidenomics is healthy and growing.

In 2020, Trump said that a Biden victory would crash the economy and “finish” America. He lied. Trump continues to predict doom and disaster and to predict a great depression if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected president. He’s still lying.