All Americans Are Equal, but Some Americans Are More Equal Than Others
Trump has declared a class war against Main Street.
Scott Bessent, the current Secretary of the Treasury, commented in an interview the other day that the Americans should accept the rising prices on goods like strollers, toys, pencils, and so many other things. His justification was that the short-term pain today would ensure that tomorrow, the future, would be better for them than the present. Like Trump and other extremely wealthy members of his cabinet, Bessent wants Americans to be grateful for the rising prices thanks to Trump’s inexplicable trade war.
“Golly, I just don’t understand why these lunkheads don’t see that thanks to the foresight and courage of our dear leader, America tomorrow will be wealthier than it is today for everyone. So you pay a little extra now (145 percent extra) for diapers, but tomorrow those diapers will be made in America.”
There is a problem here, though, and it is one that most cultists will never be able to wrap their Fox-saturated brains around: To begin manufacturing diapers in the U.S., it will require a multi-billion-dollar investment, at least 3 to 5 years from the start of construction to the first box of finished goods coming off the line, and last but not least, the diapers will be more expensive than then ones currently being made in Asia because of America’s higher cost of labor — or, Americans will have to accept considerably lower wages and longer hours with fewer “perks” like health care.
The other problem, and it has been in the making since Ronald Reagan turned our economy upside down and launched us down this path to Trump’s MAGA cult, is how radically out of touch Bessent, Trump, and the other billionaires in Trump’s cabinet are. Scott Bessent recently sold one of his 15 homes (!!) for $20 million. The asking price for the Charleston, South Carolina home was $22 million, but poor Scott and his husband ended up letting it go for $2 million less. Yikes, right? That kind of price reduction would raise eyebrows at the Hampton’s cocktail circuit.
“Now we have to put off our purchase of the island we had our hearts set on until next quarter. It’s so unfair.”
“Now-now, Scott,” his husbands says, taking his hand and pulling him close, “we’ll manage somehow.”
These people, Scott Bessent and his husband, Elon Musk, and the hordes of very wealthy people surrounding Trump are Americans, too. But, they are the “other Americans.” They are the ones that are more equal because with each passing executive order, with each itch Trump scratches, and each one of his insane notions made reality, they become more equal than the rest of us. The government of “We the People” radically narrows its reach and begins to serve only the chosen handful of Americans close enough, and in love enough, to Donald Trump.
“Four legs good, two legs bad (Animal Farm Quotes).”
This quote reminds me of how Trump and his cult have always rejected any attempts by Democratic presidents to interfere with the free flow of unbridled capitalism. The sale of LED light bulbs was bad because Trump didn’t like how they made him look and because they promoted a truth he refused to accept: climate change. The sale of green toilets, which use less water per flush, was bad because they were also designed with climate change in mind. Now, Trump is openly suggesting that Americans restrict consumption of things they want because of the rapidly rising prices brought about by his policies.
As Main Street and working-class Americans are told to be patriotic and buy less of what they want or need, the “Trump class” of Americans is making a killing thanks to insider trading, arbitrage, and so many more ways, thanks to the economic chaos. As Americans pay more for everything, it eats more of their income and savings. Scott Bessent, Harold Lutnik, and Donald Trump will, thanks to the chaos, actually end up paying less for surviving these “Trumped times.”
Here are the “seven commandments” from Animal Farm.
“THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal (Animal Farm Quotes).”
Play along and consider how much of these seven commandments now relate to the lives of Americans.
Here are some more quotes:
“Napoleon (Trump) is always right.”
“All that year the animals (Americans) worked like slaves. But they (MAGA) were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them (As Scott Bessent told us yesterday), and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings (Democrats and immigrants).”
“They had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere (ICE, Marshals, and the FBI under Trump), and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.”
“Some of the animals remembered — or thought they remembered — that the Sixth Commandment decreed, ‘No animal shall kill any other animal.’ And though no one cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings which had taken place did not square with this.”
As we grow used to seeing the authoritarian chaos created by Trump, some of us do recall that none of this is right — none of this is Constitutional!