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The Reason For The Lack Of A Pushback Against Trump [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-02
Here’s what Scott Galloway, when appearing on The Bulwark podcast with Tim Miller and Jessica Tarlov, had to say about our current situation. He gave an articulate explanation of why he thinks there isn’t enough pushback against Trump. Keep in mind that Galloway has a personal wealth of supposedly $100 million. He’s not simply a NYU professor but someone who has started companies and profited (along with losses) from it. (Starts at 7:29)
“What has me raging is that I believe there’s been a conspiracy between the most powerful among us, who are the richest among us, who pretend to give a flying fuck about the violation of the Constitution and the slow burn erosion of our democracy, but don’t really speak out. Don’t really contact our representatives. Don’t really risk their own reputations. Don’t protest. Don’t call their Senator. Don’t use their platforms to really aggressively punch back because here’s the bottom line: we’re getting richer. And that’s the conspiracy.”
“The conspiracy is the following: that rights are portable and rich people have figured that out.”
“Everyone in my life will have access to (unintelligible). If anyone decides to weaponize the DOJ, I can lawyer up like no tomorrow. If things get really scary and they start rounding up people as they did 80 years ago, I can put a USB with Bitcoin, shove it up my ass, and peace out to Dubai.”
“Democracy and rights….have become purely a function of how wealthy you are in America.”
“The wealthiest 1% are protected by the law but they’re not bound by it. The bottom 99 are bound by the law but not protected by it. And that in itself is incredibly upsetting. But the most powerful in the United States, which is disproportionally populated with progressives or people who claim to be progressives, are kind of “Stop, stop, it hurts so good.” Because they’ve uploaded their W-2s into Chat GPT, and if the Trump tax cuts go through, they’re going to get richer.”
“And so there’s this unhealthy conspiracy where the wealthiest among us realize our rights are entirely portable. Our rights are not under threat. I could be in the deepest, darkest red Mississippi and if someone I care about gets pregnant- no problem figuring it out. None whatsoever. Rights in America are now a function of money.”
“And the whole point of the Constitution, the whole point of a democracy is that it’s primarily there to protect the lower 50. Because the top 1% have always figured out a way to have rights. And it’s never been more true.”
“So what I am raging about? A bunch of very wealthy progressives who all claim that they’re really upset about what’s going on and aren’t doing a fucking thing but bitching and moaning to their friends, under their breath, because they’re getting richer and and they know that they are not truly under threat.”
At 11:28 Galloway addresses Tim Miller’s question about why the rich- who did so well under Biden and are looking at economic chaos with Trump- choose Trump.
“I think the math that’s happening subconsciously is the following- if you’re part of the fastest growing demographic class in America- it’s not Latinos, it’s not seniors, it’s billionaires. We’ve gone from 500 to 2500 in the last 10 years.”
“You’re probably in your 60s. Yeah, climate change is a problem, but it’s a problem for your grandkids. Yeah, having a move towards kleptocracy that creates a less competitive economy where nations do workarounds in terms of supply chains...Yeah, that impacts probably the next CEO or the next CEO.”
“If you’re in your 60s and you’re rich, you think you’ve tapped into the easiest way to get richer. And that is “this guy is pay-for-play.””
“If I know someone who knows someone and I can donate a million bucks to the campaign and get a lunch at Mar-Lar-Go. That day he announces- this happened- that Ripple will be a part, one of the crypto currencies included in the new strategic Treasury Bitcoin program. And Ripple surges in value. So, oh, I’m the head of a tech company. Give him a million bucks. Be paraded around like some fucking whore for his benefit. This is the cheapest, easiest way to get rich over the next 5, 10, maybe even 20 years.”
“And the long term damage to our democracy, just as climate change, probably will not effect us. It may, but it probably won’t.”
“Who’s really going to get screwed is our kids. My generation has proven that we’re just not long term thinkers. That when you see everyone else getting really rich, really fast, the downward spiral is really “Fuck it, I’m going to get really rich really fast. I’m going to play the game. The game is cheap.” The most disappointing thing about our elected representatives, including the president, is not that they’re whores. We’ve known that for a long time. It’s that they’re just cheap whores.”
“And the wealthy and corporations have figured out that for a small amount of money that they can weaponize government to their benefit.”
“So I think it’s a lot of short term thinking as evidenced by my generation which continues to vote themselves more money. Continues to ignore the long term effects of climate change. Continue to see this oncoming train wreck of deficits because baby…. I’m in the club, doing rails of cocaine with champagne. And young people, you can give me your credit card but sorry, boss, I’m the one in the club. You’re outside. You’ll have to pay my bill when I die. But until then the credit card keeps getting approved and going through.”
Starting at 14:30 Galloway talks about the economic conditions-
”But they (Bezos, Zuckerberg, etc.) decided, under the auspices of….they should never use term “stakeholder value” again. Because they clearly don’t care about the long term health of America, or the Constitution, or some of the people in their organization that are rich. They’ve decided, and they can make the argument for shareholder value, it’s worth it for them to show up in a tie, say that he’s handsome, give him a million dollars to the Inauguration Committee, put out a fake press release that is totally fabricated…..they done the math that for short term, shareholder value, this is the way to go.”
A couple of caveats here. The “wealthy progressives” that Galloway is referring to are undoubtedly very well off New Yorkers that he knows. They are certainly more progressive than any MAGA clown or your average Republican voter. I don’t know that I would label them as “progressive” just for that. And I don’t like to label entire generations. Most people aren’t long term thinkers. Most rich people- especially the nouveau rich- aren’t long term thinkers. He may have a romanticized notion about the previous oligarchs who felt enough guilt to build libraries and universities, but this is not something simply with his “generation.”
But the bottom line- TL:DR-
- the people with the most money are not threatened by a loss of rights, a threat to democracy, or any action that the Trump administration could personally take against them. This is not simply because of Trump but because large wealth now puts you over and above the system.
- they see that the cheapest and easiest way to deal with Trump is to give a “little money” and what he wants. They even stand to profit from it.
- they rather give Trump a little money than use their wealth to fight him and protect democracy.
This is why we are seeing a lack of pushback against Trump from those with the greatest ability to do it. The caveat remains- if Trump loses them money through his incompetence and corruption, then it’s a different story.
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