Western governments claim to be models of democracy, and demonize their geopolitical adversaries as "authoritarian", but empirical evidence shows that the USA and European countries are oligarchies dominated by economic elites and large corporations. Billionaire Donald Trump is the perfect symbol of this, but he's by no means the only one. Ben Norton explains.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BONnmHRmp_M

Topics
0:00 Narrative of Western "democracies"
0:26 (CLIP) Joe Biden on "democracy vs autocracy"
0:37 Western governments are oligarchies
1:54 Summary of oligarchic Western leaders
2:54 Scientific research shows USA is an oligarchy
4:29 US public opinion on healthcare
5:20 Money buys 80-90% of seats in US Congress
6:27 Citizens United ruling
7:21 Donald Trump: perfect symbol of US oligarchy
7:57 Robber barons
8:44 One Big Beautiful Bill: class war by the rich
9:49 Billionaires pay lower tax rate than most Americans
10:42 US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
11:35 Ex US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
12:16 Steve Bannon worked for Goldman Sachs
12:58 US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
13:07 Crypto was taken over by Wall Street
14:08 Trump is the symptom, not the cause
15:07 Biden promised nothing would change
16:07 Barack Obama: funded by Wall Street
17:53 Mitt Romney: servant of Wall Street
18:48 Super PACs
19:32 Bloomberg funded Biden's 2020 race
19:56 Billionaires funded Trump's 2024 race
20:35 Elon Musk donated $288 million for Trump
20:57 (CLIP) Elon Musk bought 2024 US election
21:11 World's richest man buys US politics
21:34 Wall Street wages war on Zohran Mamdani
22:46 Democratic Party sabotaged Bernie Sanders
24:34 UK Labour Party sabotaged Jeremy Corbyn
26:18 British spy agencies sabotaged Jeremy Corbyn
28:15 Symbol of UK oligarchy: Rishi Sunak
31:37 Neoliberal Keir Starmer: Tony Blair reincarnated
32:35 France's President of the rich: Emmanuel Macron
36:04 BlackRock's man in Germany: Friedrich Merz
37:40 Goldman Sachs' man in Italy: Mario Draghi
39:10 Goldman Sachs' man in Canada: Mark Carney
40:22 Summary of oligarchic Western leaders
41:35 Western governments are not democracies
42:45 Outro

Rule by the rich: Western governments are oligarchies, not democracies

Jess and Teen rail against modernity, a tendency it seems of the young and the old, but not of those stuck in the fat middle slog of life. The retreat of culture from physical real estate, the Hobbesian all-against-all ethic of the social media era, and how none of this is new, it's just getting worse. And an extended discussion in the bonus around pro-/anti-natalism against the backdrop of a society spiraling out.

Part 1 of 2

For bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Ep. 617: The Anti-Modernity of the Young and the Old (ft. Jess)

AOC? Trump? Street Fighter? Pubes? We once again tackle the news of the week.

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In this episode, Joe, Nate, and Tom discuss a lesser-known battle in the Crimean War in which the British attempt to capture a city on the Kamchatka Peninsula after getting massively lost at sea (in an era where this wasn't supposed to happen) and getting waylaid when the King of Hawai'i invited them to the barbecue. We are not making any of this up.

Sources:

JR Stone. RJ Crampton. 'A Disastrous Affair': The Franco-British Attack on Petropavlovsk. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article/abs/disastrous-affair-the-francobritish-attack-on-petropavlovsk-1854/D765F9B46DA8B5A0C6D55460466220A6Mark N Lardas. Petropavlosk: The Crimean War's Forgotten Battle. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/petropavlovsk-the-crimean-wars-forgotten-battle/

John Stephens. The Crimean War in the Far East. Modern Asian Studies. Vol. 3. No. 3 (1969)

Episode 372 - The Siege of Petropavlovsk

To hear the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/TrueAnonPod
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We talk through the curious revelations from the Wall Street Journal’s expose on Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, how it’s tearing MAGA apart, and the omni-lurking lady Loomer. Plus: Jerome Powell, Pulte, and Trump’s war on the dollar. 

Hit the tip line: (646) 801-1129 | tips@trueanon.com

Discover more episodes at podcast.trueanon.com


Episode 476: Wonderful Secrets (trailer)

Headlines for July 21, 2025; “Precisely Designed Mass Starvation”: Aid Access as Weapon in Israel’s War on Gaza, Researchers Find; “Like a Video Game”: How Israel Deploys Grenade-Firing Drones in Gaza to Kill, Threaten and Displace; Former EPA Official on Trump Gutting Science Research Office: “People Are Not Going to Be Protected”; “I Do Solemnly Swear”: Audio Series Highlights Federal Workers’ Voices on Trump’s Unraveling of Gov’t

Democracy Now! is a daily independent news hour hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. Visit democracynow.org to watch and listen to the latest interviews, read through show transcripts, search the vast news archive or to make a donation to support our nonprofit news program. Livestream weekdays 8 a.m. ET.

Democracy Now! Monday, July 21, 2025

Pussy Wallace (Branson) and his drinking buddy Dogeyes (Andrew) join a drinking team and discuss which year their favorite bars peaked. Full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e2-91-barflies-134633648

E2 #91 - Barflies [Patreon Preview]

Andy, Charles and Tim discuss the sanctioning of UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese after her report on corporate complicity in Israel's devastating attack on Gaza, the meaning of free speech beyond the Constitution and how the Trump administration is forgetting the point of international diplomacy and the world that the UN grew out of.

Andy - @wyattprivilege.bsky.social
Charles - @ugarles.bsky.social
Tim - @garliccorgi.bsky.social

Thanks to @gloomfather for the music (orlandogloom.bandcamp.com) and @Snxwyfish for the sound editing (snxwyfish.bandcamp.com).

Episode 32: Free Speech But It'll Cost Ya

TWO WEEKS LEFT to pre-order YEAR ZERO: A Chapo Trap House Comic Anthology at badegg.co/products/year-zero-1

Journalist Jasper Nathaniel joins us to discuss his reporting on the West Bank and Israel’s second front in the war on Palestine. We look at the increasingly violent settler movement, Israel’s flagrant violation of international laws, the use of archaeological warfare in the region, and the constant ubiquitous violence that defines life for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. And on the domestic front, we have an update on the good professor Davidai and his relationship to the august institution Columbia University. 

Follow Jasper’s Substack: https://substack.com/@infinitejaz
Follow Jasper on Twitter: https://x.com/infinite__jaz?lang=en
Follow Jasper on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/infinite_jaz/?hl=en


953 - The Hills Have Eyes feat. Jasper Nathaniel (7/21/25)

Headlines for July 22, 2025; ICE Detained 6-Year-Old with Cancer for Over a Month: “He and His Sister Cried Every Night; Trump Revokes Bond for Asylum Seekers, Forcing Immigrants to Fight Their Cases “Behind Bars”; “You Feel Like Your Life Is Over”: HRW Report Exposes Abuses in Trump’s Immigration Jails in Florida; “Life After”: Film Exposes How Medicaid Cuts, Assisted Dying Laws May Bring Disabled to Early Graves

Democracy Now! is a daily independent news hour hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. Visit democracynow.org to watch and listen to the latest interviews, read through show transcripts, search the vast news archive or to make a donation to support our nonprofit news program. Livestream weekdays 8 a.m. ET.

Democracy Now! Tuesday, July 22, 2025

The Wretched of the Earth (French: Les Damnés de la Terre) is a 1961 book by the psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, in which the author provides a psychiatric and psychologic analysis of the dehumanizing effects of colonization upon the individual and the nation, and discusses the broader social, cultural, and political implications inherent to establishing a social movement for the decolonization of a person and of a people. The French-language title derives from the opening lyrics of "The Internationale".

CH5, WOTE, FF

Leftist audiobooks in the making.
Full books are in "Albums". Individual texts are organized by author in "Playlists".
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