American Pravda: By Surrendering to Trump, META, X and TikTok Are Making Themselves Tools of the State

While grovelling tech broligarchs ingratiate themselves with the new administration, ChatGPT hasn't gotten the memo.

I had intended to write a piece on the relentless corruption we’re seeing unfold, but I was finding it too grim to write when I stumbled across an idea that not only illustrates the idea, but is funny and revealing.

There’s nothing worse than a bad nerd, and the tech broligarchy are the worst nerds in the world. For decades, they’ve been able to do whatever they want, no matter how horrible or damaging, and they’ve been handled with kid gloves because they were making so much money and using it to elect politicians who would leave them to rip people off in peace.

Balzac wrote, “Behind every great fortune, there is a crime.” The tech broligarchy is a new generation of robber barons.

They have used technology largely created at public expense, are legally shielded from liability by the Millenium Copyright Act, which legalizes intellectual property theft. Their business model is surveillance, control and having others provide their intellectual property for free. What’s been happening is something like the law of enclosures, on a global scale: a seizure of intellectual property by tech companies.

In the last months especially, there have been a series of seismic changes in the US, especially in the way the largest social media companies have agreed to tailor their content and algorithms in order to align with Trump and his policies.

They’re following in the footsteps of Elon Musk, who was already acting like a Nazi well before he started making salutes. Musk, a serial exaggerator and cheat, helped Trump and his campaign lie and cheat during the campaign. Aside from the $250-million Musk donated, the “free speech absolutist” torqued algorithms on Twitter (X) in order to boost misinformation and extremists, and suppress opposition - and has now done the same to MAGA faithful who oppose him, stripping their capacity to generate income on his site.

Not one to be left behind, Mark Zuckerberg appointed a couple of Trump apparatchiks to Facebook’s board, and, while wearing a watch worth $900,000 on his wrist, made a patently false statement about Facebook getting back to its free-speech roots by removing fact-checking, and they would allow for “freer” discussion of immigration and gender, while mentioning Trump by name.

It has to be said that when it comes to every single aspect of the law, the constitution, freedom of expression, rights, the economy and democracy, the Broligarchs are ignorant as shit.

It’s also rewriting history to suggest that Facebook was founded as a free-speech platform. It was founded as a way for people to vote on whether women at Harvard were hot or not, and it was a platform that had so little interest in users’ privacy that one of the employee “perks” at Facebook in the early days was that you could rifle through people’s profiles, pictures, and messages.

Trump’s display of Broligarchs at his inauguration, with his Cabinet seated behind them, was a way of showing them off, like pet poodles at the Westminster Dog Show, all of them outstanding contenders in the obedience category. This is the way Steve Bannon tried to spin it - that Trump has brought them to heel.

The fact that he has, however, really is a signal that these massive organizations, despite all their revenue and the wealth of these owners, are deliberately aligning themselves in order to facilitate the propaganda of the the American President of the day, which makes them useless and untrustworthy as organizations, both in the US and around the world.

The political theatre of TikTok being shut down for a few hours, then relaunching with a thank you message to President Trump was equally servile.

Matt Stoller, who is consistently interesting, wrote a great piece about the shenanigans around TikTok - which, as he noted, does pose security concerns, while making a great point about foreign media ownership.

A few months ago, I ran into a former TikTok employee at a bar at night, and we got to talking. This guy, call him Calvin, told me about how creepy the internal operations of TikTok are in terms of privacy and lurid material, and how he encountered specific operational documents in Chinese that the company explicitly sought to have not translated. He was disillusioned, and said he thought that company officials routinely lied to American officials about how much was managed from China.

Nothing he said was definitive, except for things I won’t repeat for fear of defamation. But let’s just say, TikTok is not trustworthy, and it’s not trustworthy in a way that goes beyond non-Chinese social media apps. TikTok can manipulate what Americans see in ways that we would never realize. It could help politicians China favors, or harm those it disfavors. It could manipulate information about foreign policy. There are an endless set of permutations involved here. The bottom line, though, is that TikTok is a Chinese corporation subject to Chinese national security and intelligence laws. If Beijing demands a change to the algorithm or access to overseas data, TikTok must comply. And that’s bad for America.

The point Stoller makes here is relevant to every single country in the world, especially as regards these platforms. They have no editorial judgment based on safety, their rules are opaque, they all profit from misery, and they are all potential tools for propaganda and manipulation in other sovereign countries.

TikTok’s ownership by a foreign adversary ran straight into the traditional American approach to regulating media and communications infrastructure, which is that foreigners, especially hostile powers, are legally prohibited from controlling what we rely on. These kinds of restrictions go back to the Constitutional convention. As Alexander Hamilton said about attempts to ward off external influence, ”Foreign powers also will not be idle spectators. They will interpose, the confusion will increase, and a dissolution of the Union ensue.”

In everything related to telecommunications law going back from the early 1900s to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, foreigners, especially those from adversaries, are simply treated differently. For instance, even Rupert Murdoch had to become an American citizen to buy certain regulated media assets. Recently, the U.S. government forced the gay dating app Grindr to divest from Chinese ownership over fears of blackmail and coercion. Zephyr Teachout and Joel Thayer have a good amicus brief explaining the history. I wrote up the backstory in March, when the bill passed.

Every country in the world - including the U.S. should be considering these lessons, because these platforms are being used to spread misinformation about everything, they are easily hijacked by bad actors, and they actively resist law enforcement.

TikTok was shut down and then immediately reopened again in a bizarre bit of theatre that promoted Trump as well.

The brief shutdown when there were no Americans on the app had an impact on the people in other countries who briefly had a U.S. free experience. In Canada, posts promoting Canadian conservatives suddenly dried up.

It also made people more conscious of different ways in which TikTok throttled information in different countries, because there are people who have different accounts.

For example, in the UK people who search “Trump Election Rigged” get a range of videos to pick and scroll through. In the US and Canada, the result is that it “violates guidelines”.

On instagram, people reported that they found they had been signed up to follow J D Vance and Melania Trump, and that it was hard to unfollow them.

They were also suggested as follows to many people - myself included. If it were a paid promotion, it might make sense, but this is META rewriting its algorithms to promote the executive branch of the U.S. Government.

The Crypto Connection

At the same time all this was happening, Trump released his own cryptocurrency, which made him one of the richest people in the world.

It’s an open question as to whether TikTok’s Trump- friendly turn had anything to do with the many investors from China and Singapore who were buying his “memecoin”.

A substack writer who goes by Michel de Cryptodamus has been writing insightful and important stories about the complete madness about the crypto mania, especially ties to criminals.

The Trump coin was

“announced as the First Official Inaugural Crypto Ball was taking place in Washington DC9. The crypto ball, as grotesque and utterly classless a sausage fest as the most grotesquely classless sausage fest you can possibly imagine, was attended by both the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United State Congress (Mike Johnson) as well as a delegation from Nexo, the Russian mafia’s favorite “crypto bank” whose offices were hit with a massive raid by Bulgarian authorities early last year.

The TrumpCoin Cometh

“You’re probably wondering something like “wait, is that even legal?” To which the short answer goes something like “well it wasn’t legal yesterday but it’s almost certainly legal now”. A world where pump and dump scams are legal is the world American voters wanted and it’s the world they’re going to get. Buckle up.

Now early on in its lifetime TRUMP was mostly available to trade only on things called “decentralized exchanges” which I’m not going to explain right now though you can read my explanation of some of the details of how useful they are for laundering money for rogue nuclear states here. That changed when Justin Sun, a man who has been indicted by multiple federal agencies for insider trading and market manipulation and is so crooked even the rest of the crypto industry is like “yeah that guy’s a crook”17, listed TRUMP for trading on his crypto exchange named HTX (FKA “Huobi” but the first and most important rule of running a money laundry is that you must rename your company for apparently no reason18 every 2-3 years). HTX, for the record, is a company that has been banned from operating within the United States and is widely believed to have deep ties to the Chinese organized crime groups that dominate the global money laundering industry. Justin Sun is also the largest investor in Trump’s other crypto venture World Liberty Financial (put a pin in that information, we’ll need it later),

I’m sure all of these things are just coincidences.“

The Exception: ChatGPT’s Investigative Satire

In this cesspool of conflicts, the idea of satirical names for new crypto being named after people’s scandals made me laugh.

I wrote down a few, and then as an experiment I thought I would ask ChatGPT’s AI, and I was surprised by the answers as being better than I expected - because they did not suppress scandals - in fact, they delivered some I didn’t know about.

Like all AI, it’s not perfect. The coin names are pretty basic and not that funny, but the taglines are surprisingly good.

Even when they make no sense they’re funny in an absurd way, and they are relevant to the ethical scandals they were embroiled in. The taglines are pithy, but the more impressive achievement is that it’s related to the allegations, which are spelled out.

First I ran the Trump cabinet and family (which is partial) and then ran members of the Supreme Court with ties to billionaires, with no political affiliation mentioned.

These are the results.

*****

Here’s a list of satirical cryptocurrency names based on the personal scandals and controversial moments associated with various members of President Trump’s family and his cabinet. These are all fictional and just for fun!

1. IvankaCoin

Tagline: "Because 'business as usual' means using daddy's name to trade on your brand."
Scandal Reference: Ivanka’s involvement in the family business, her brand and controversies surrounding her trademarks and ethics in the White House.

2. DonJrCoin

Tagline: "For the 'big game' hunters and conspiracy theorists."
Scandal Reference: Don Jr.'s involvement in the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians and his history of questionable online statements.

3. EricCoin

Tagline: "Trading as hard as we golf."
Scandal Reference: Eric Trump’s involvement in running the Trump Organization during his father’s presidency, with accusations of mismanagement and ethical concerns.

4. MelaniaToken

Tagline: "Limited edition, non-refundable."
Scandal Reference: Melania’s silent stance on many controversies and her infamous "I really don't care, do you?" jacket.

5. KushCoin

Tagline: "Because nepotism has never been so profitable."
Scandal Reference: Jared Kushner’s various roles in the White House, his family’s business dealings, and questions about conflicts of interest and security clearances.

6. ManaFortCoin

Tagline: "Your first step in laundering digital assets."
Scandal Reference: Paul Manafort's conviction for financial crimes, including tax evasion and working as a political consultant for pro-Russian forces.

7. PenceCoin

Tagline: "Token of a loyal second-in-command."
Scandal Reference: Mike Pence’s unwavering loyalty to Trump during the administration, despite criticisms, and his involvement in suppressing the 2020 election results.

8. BetsyCoin

Tagline: "Education in a blockchain. Your children can’t afford it!"
Scandal Reference: Betsy DeVos's privatization efforts in education and her controversial wealth and business connections.

9. RickPerCoin

Tagline: "Because oil, gas, and bad decisions go hand-in-hand."
Scandal Reference: Rick Perry’s leadership at the Department of Energy and his role in the Ukraine scandal during the Trump administration.

10. WilburCoin

Tagline: "Trade in tariffs, not goods."
Scandal Reference: Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, had his wealth and shady business dealings scrutinized, especially around his role in the 2018 tax return controversy.

11. GinaHaspelCoin

Tagline: "For the surveillance experts in your life."
Scandal Reference: Gina Haspel’s controversial role in the CIA, including her ties to the agency's past involvement in torture.

12. StephenMillerCoin

Tagline: "Tokenizing your worst immigration nightmares."
Scandal Reference: Stephen Miller, known for his hardline immigration policies and controversial role in shaping Trump’s border policies.

13. KellyanneCoin

Tagline: "Flip-flop your way to profit."
Scandal Reference: Kellyanne Conway's credibility issues with “alternative facts” and her role in various misleading statements during the Trump era.

14. LindseyCoin

Tagline: "Trade at your own risk — loyalty is for sale."
Scandal Reference: Lindsey Graham's flip-flopping political stance, particularly his switch from Trump critic to staunch supporter.

15. RudyCoin

Tagline: "Making legal advice... questionable."
Scandal Reference: Rudy Giuliani’s involvement in various scandals, particularly the 2020 election and his role in spreading baseless conspiracy theories.

16. TrumpTowerToken

Tagline: "The more you inflate, the higher it goes."
Scandal Reference: Trump Tower's controversial dealings, the various legal cases involving his business, and his role in the Trump Organization.

17. MarLagoCoin

Tagline: "For those who prefer to store secrets in a private club."
Scandal Reference: Mar-a-Lago's use as Trump’s private residence and the legal challenges related to classified documents found at the property.

18. StormyCoin

Tagline: "For when your financial decisions storm the media."
Scandal Reference: Stormy Daniels' alleged affair with Trump and the hush money payment controversy.

These names blend some of the more notorious moments from the Trump era with the world of cryptocurrencies. Of course, this is all in jest—no actual tokens are being issued!

I also ran a query about the U.S. Supreme Court. While the first query was about Trump, this one is more general and does not mention any partisan affiliation.

You said:

give me a list of satirical names of cryptocurrencies for US Supreme Court Justices who have had dealings with billionaires

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT

Here’s a satirical list of cryptocurrency names for U.S. Supreme Court Justices who’ve been involved in controversial dealings with billionaires, based on their financial ties, connections, and judicial decisions that raised ethical questions. These are all for fun and fictional!

1. JusticeCoin (Clarence Thomas)

Tagline: "Privately funded, publicly endorsed."
Scandal Reference: Clarence Thomas’s ties to billionaire Harlan Crow, including undisclosed luxury gifts, private jet travel, and real estate transactions, which led to ethical questions regarding his impartiality.

2. AlitoToken (Samuel Alito)

Tagline: "Supreme profits with a personal touch."
Scandal Reference: Samuel Alito’s controversial connection to the Koch network and his ties to wealthy conservatives who advocate for deregulation, which critics argue influence his decisions.

3. KavanaughCoin (Brett Kavanaugh)

Tagline: "Raising funds, raising eyebrows."
Scandal Reference: Brett Kavanaugh’s financial dealings during his confirmation process, including mysterious loans and the involvement of wealthy figures like casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, which sparked concerns about transparency.

4. GorsuchCoin (Neil Gorsuch)

Tagline: "For those who want to hedge their bets."
Scandal Reference: Neil Gorsuch’s sale of a property to a major GOP donor while sitting as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, raising questions about the potential for conflicts of interest.

5. RobertsCoin (John Roberts)

Tagline: "The chief has spoken… and invested."
Scandal Reference: John Roberts’s connections to wealthy individuals and the conservative legal establishment, particularly concerning his family’s financial interests in law firms that deal with big corporations and political donations.

6. ThomasTrustCoin (Clarence Thomas)

Tagline: "Trust me, I’m ethically compliant... I think."
Scandal Reference: Beyond Harlan Crow, Clarence Thomas’s alleged lack of transparency about financial dealings, including his wife Ginni Thomas’s ties to conservative groups and donors, raised serious questions about judicial ethics.

7. BarrettCoin (Amy Coney Barrett)

Tagline: "A token of conservative values and billionaire backers."
Scandal Reference: Amy Coney Barrett’s connections to conservative groups funded by wealthy donors, and the rapid rise of her career in the context of partisan judicial appointments influenced by large financial backers.

8. ScaliaCoin (Antonin Scalia)

Tagline: "Death, taxes, and trust funds."
Scandal Reference: Antonin Scalia’s long-term friendship with wealthy figures such as hedge fund managers and political donors, raising concerns about the influence of money on his judicial decisions, particularly in cases involving corporate interests.

9. ThomasHarlanCoin (Clarence Thomas + Harlan Crow)

Tagline: "For those who want to invest in silence and secrecy."
Scandal Reference: The cozy relationship between Clarence Thomas and billionaire Harlan Crow, with the latter funding extravagant vacations, housing, and even personal items for Thomas, prompting calls for more transparency.

10. TheDonorCoin (Supreme Court Donors)

Tagline: "Where your opinions can be bought... legally."
Scandal Reference: A nod to the broader issue of wealthy political donors shaping the judiciary, especially through groups like the Koch network and the Federalist Society, which helped select and fund conservative justices.

11. KochCoin (Justice Connections to the Koch Network)

Tagline: "When big money meets big decisions."
Scandal Reference: Several justices have ties to the Koch brothers' network, including Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, leading to concerns that big-money donors have outsized influence on Supreme Court decisions.

12. ChevronCoin (Chevron v. NRDC)

Tagline: "The corporate shield that keeps on giving."
Scandal Reference: The landmark 2009 Chevron v. NRDC case, in which justices with ties to corporate interests, such as former Chief Justice Roberts, ruled in favor of corporations, influencing regulatory decision-making with possible conflicts of interest.

13. TaxLoopholeCoin (For the Privileged Few)

Tagline: "Make your tax deductions and investments work for you."
Scandal Reference: This cryptic nod to justices like Roberts, Alito, and Kavanaugh, who have presided over cases involving tax breaks and corporate loopholes that benefit billionaires and the ultra-wealthy, all while potentially profiting from similar financial interests.

14. BillionaireJusticeCoin (The Super PAC Edition)

Tagline: "Funded by the rich, approved by the Court."
Scandal Reference: The increased influence of billionaires and Super PACs in Supreme Court decisions, especially following the Citizens United decision, which allowed unlimited corporate and billionaire donations to influence political campaigns.

15. Chevron2Coin (Chevron v. EPA)

Tagline: "Because sometimes you need to rule in favor of big oil."
Scandal Reference: Justices with financial ties to energy companies or lobbying groups that have a vested interest in rulings that benefit industries like oil, gas, and coal—highlighting a pattern of decisions favorable to business interests.

16. GOPDonorCoin (For the Conservative Majority)

Tagline: "Where political donations and legal decisions align."
Scandal Reference: A tongue-in-cheek nod to the conservative justices who have received substantial donations or support from political groups funded by billionaires and corporations.

17. TheBillionaireInfluenceCoin (Billionaire Court Edition)

Tagline: "Because justice should always have a price tag."
Scandal Reference: A satirical take on the broader influence of wealthy individuals and corporations over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions, especially in cases that benefit the ultra-wealthy.

These are, of course, exaggerated and fictional names meant to highlight the controversial intersection of wealth, politics, and the judiciary, especially as it relates to high-profile Supreme Court cases and justices with questionable financial ties.

It’s notable that in the U.S. people are using words like oligarchs, robber barons, Gilded Age, and Kleptocracy.

It has to be said that part of what has happened in the U.S. - and around the world - is that corruption has been normalized, as it has insinuated important institutions.

A culture of reverence of authority and wealth means that, for all the claims of free speech, liberty and rebellion, these are not used to question authority or speak truth to power, but are weaponized in order to threaten and silence people into submission.

In this atmosphere, people are genuinely afraid to challenge Trump for fear of retribution, or that he will destroy their business - which is a particular skill of Trump’s, both in and out of office.

All the people asking how to challenge this and deal with the broligarchy, starts with calling it what it is - corruption. They want to be able to be free to do whatever they want with no law constraining them. They want absolute power, and they are willing to accept the absolute corruption that comes along with that. It is not just that there are oligarchs. It’s that there are oligarchs who don’t think the laws should apply to them.

Trump already pardoned criminals from January 6, including people who assaulted police officers. He pardoned a drug dealer who ran the Silk Road, a website where you could buy illicit drugs, who had also plotted to murder someone who stole from him.

The reality is that we don’t have to put up with it. The Trump administration is planning on dismantling and defunding all sorts of “guardrails” that prevent corruption.

Corruption is not just a quality: it is a process - the process of something or someone being turned rotten. We are all being pulled down into a mire of corruption, and that’s what we need to push back against, everywhere - in all parties.

Sunlight is a great disinfectant.

The other thing that should seriously be considered by governments concerned about the impact of foreign ownership of propaganda platforms and media is to start shutting them down, compensating users and businesses with an income supplement and capital.

The U.S. was willing to shut down TikTok, and in its presentation to the Supreme Court, the U.S. said that while they opposed TikTok gathering information for the Chinese Government (a rule all companies in China are subject to) that they had no problem with American companies collecting information.

Incredibly, when the EU tried to enforce laws against X’s abuses, Vice-President Elect J D Vance said that if they did so, that the U.S. would pull out of NATO, which is yet another example of the completely maniacal behaviour of this administration.

For any country to refuse foreign ownership of their media is completely in line with the stated beliefs of the U.S. founding fathers. Constitutional originalists can cite Alexander Hamilton, “Foreign powers also will not be idle spectators. They will interpose, the confusion will increase, and a dissolution of the Union ensue.”

Wise words. One of the answers to what to do with all of the threats, bluster cruelty and manipulation is to call it out for what it is. We don’t have to put up with it.

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