Monday, December 05, 2022

HOW THAT GOP BREAKUP WITH CAPITALISM GOING THESE DAYS?


We've all read commentary like this:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ... public vendetta against Disney over its opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed by critics the “Don’t Say Gay” law, sends a clear message to boardrooms across the country: Stay the heck out of politics.

... But the DeSantis versus Disney imbroglio is a mere preview of a much larger collision underfoot within the GOP between the MAGA-inspired cultural warriors who now control the party and the traditional low tax and deregulation conservatives. It’s a clash that is finally breaking the decades-long alliance between Big Business and the GOP.

... The cultural zealots that have hijacked much of the GOP are pushing America to the precipice of the biggest political realignment in nearly 100 years.
DeSantis hates Disney! DeSantis hates Big Tech! DeSantis thinks capitalists are "woke"!

But Politico reports this today:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s inauguration celebration is expected to be spread out over two days — and will give up close access to donors willing to contribute between $50,000 and $1 million, according to a breakdown of sponsorship packages.

Five donors who give $1 million to the Republican Party of Florida will be recognized as “inaugural chair” sponsors who will receive tickets to a candlelight dinner the night before the inauguration, VIP seating at the inauguration ceremony held on the steps of the Old Capitol as well tickets to the inaugural ball and a “Toast to One Million Mamas,” the campaign group put together by first lady Casey DeSantis, and a photo opportunity with the governor.
I'm pretty sure this access won't be going to any janitors or pipefitters or other representatives of what I keep hearing is the new blue-collar GOP.

DeSantis isn't an anti-capitalist. He's a Putinist. He's running Florida in a Putinist way, and he wants to run America in a Putinist way.

You know, like this, but without the brutality (so far):
In the summer of 2000, 21 of the richest men in Russia exited their bulletproof limousines and entered the Kremlin for a historic meeting.... Through shady deals, outright corruption, and even murder, these rapacious "oligarchs" — as Russians had come to derisively call them — had seized control of much of Russia's economy, and, increasingly, its fledgling democracy. But now, their nation's newly elected president, Vladimir Putin, wanted to tell them, face to face, who was really in charge....

Putin offered the oligarchs a deal: bend to my authority, stay out of my way, and you can keep your mansions, superyachts, private jets, and multibillion-dollar corporations.... In the coming years, the oligarchs who reneged on this deal and undermined Putin would be thrown into a Siberian prison or be forced into exile or die in suspicious circumstances. The loyalists who remained — and the new ones who got filthy rich during Putin's long reign — became like ATM machines for the president and his allies.
DeSantis's style is lite Putinism, but the priniciple is the same: Line my pockets and don't cross me politically, or you'll regret it.

DeSantis needs an enemy every time he hasn't been on Fox News for a few weeks, and corporations are satisfying targets. But rich businesspeople and heirs to business fortunes have funded his past and future campaigns -- here's a partial list -- and they'll fund his inaugural. Ron DeSantis is not a working class hero.

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