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#kleptocracy

18 posts16 participants3 posts today

Ali Velshi was on🔥today, he called out Trump for his burgeoning #kleptocracy & explained, bc of his #tariffs, that his regime is causing #austerity.

“Velshi captures so eloquently, how morosely disengaged the Trump response is, to the economic #gaslighting & turmoil, the chaos he manufactures & creates, in his WEALTH FOR THE WEALTHY PROTECTION RACKET, that’s fed by the dissembling all govt systems for the American family, that Trump diminishes & dismisses -living w 2 dolls…”
-R Brady

A valuable resource:

In her discussion today of Trump's kleptocraptic presidency, Anne Applebaum offers helpful links to good explanations of crytocurrency, bitcoin, memecoin, and stablecoin.

You'll find the links to discussions of each term in Applebaum's article linked below.

#Trump #kleptocracy #crytocurrency #crypto #bitcoin #memecoin #stablecoin

anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/t

Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum · The American PopeBy Anne Applebaum

"The 220 wallets currently listed on the leaderboard of token holders hold a combined 12.5 million $TRUMP, notionally priced at around $137 million. These wallets likely represent fewer than 220 distinct individuals. Blockchain analysis shows several clusters of two or three wallets with similar trading patterns and funding sources, or wallets which have transferred tokens to other wallets on the leaderboard, suggesting some investors are qualifying for multiple spots through different wallets. Without access to identification documentation that will be submitted privately to the Trump team, only a small number of wallets can be connected to identifiable individuals with any degree of certainty based on public data.

161 of the wallets on the leaderboard, or 73%, likely belong to non-U.S. investors. This conclusion stems from tracking token transfers through offshore cryptocurrency exchanges that explicitly prohibit U.S. customers. While some Americans may have access to these exchanges because they operate foreign businesses, it is not trivial to establish such a business, and it’s generally prohibited to set up a shell company solely to circumvent trading restrictions. Some of these exchanges, namely Binance, have in the past encouraged customers to illegally circumvent their restrictions using VPNs or offshore shell companies, although regulatory enforcement actions in the past few years have limited the practice somewhat.3 Two wallets received transfers from US-only entities and so are likely American; an additional four are likely American based on their online presence. The remaining 53 have used exchanges and other trading platforms that allow US and non-US traders alike.

Of the top 25 “VIP” holders, who will also be treated to an exclusive pre-dinner reception with Trump and a tour,c 23 of them are individuals or entities likely based outside of the United States."

citationneeded.news/trump-meme

Citation Needed · Meet Trump’s memecoin dinner guests
More from Molly White

"Lesotho is far from the only country that has decided to assist Musk’s firm while trying to fend off U.S. tariffs. The company reached distribution deals with two providers in India in March and has won at least partial accommodations with Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, although this is probably not a comprehensive count.

A series of internal government messages obtained by The Post reveal how U.S. embassies and the State Department have pushed nations to clear hurdles for U.S. satellite companies, often mentioning Starlink by name. The documents do not show that the Trump team has explicitly demanded favors for Starlink in exchange for lower tariffs. But they do indicate that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has increasingly instructed officials to push for regulatory approvals for Musk’s satellite firm at a moment when the White House is calling for wide-ranging talks on trade.

In India, government officials have sped through approvals of Starlink with the understanding that doing so could help them cement trade deals with the administration, according to two people familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations."

washingtonpost.com/business/20

The Washington Post · U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables showBy Jeff Stein
#USA#Trump#Tariffs
Continued thread

The AP reporter doesn't bother to add that Trump was lying about his finances as usual and that he's made billions in grift while tanking the economy for everyone else.

AP is not going to be able to lick the boot enough to be re-invited into the press pool, so why would they not do their job now?

Luckily Axios is still doing journalism.

axios.com/2025/05/02/trump-cry

Illustration of the White House wrapped in green paper with a dollar sign tag
Axios · Inside Trump's 100 days of presidential profitBy Zachary Basu

The #Trump administration intends to terminate #NASA's Mars Sample Return mission (#MSR), in favor of "putting an American on Mars" and on the Moon "before China".

#Kleptocracy in plain sight. Taxpayer money that was allocated to scientific missions will now be shoveled to the pockets of the fascist billionaire who hasn't set foot in one of his spacecraft, even for a short trip beyond the Kármán line.

And you thought that science was not political.

nasa.gov/news-release/presiden

The letters NASA on a blue circle with red and white detail, all surrounded by a black background
NASAPresident Trump’s FY26 Budget Revitalizes Human Space Exploration - NASAThe Trump-Vance Administration released toplines of the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2026 on Friday. The budget accelerates human space exploration of