Hartmann Report

We need a new phrase to identify these oligarchs who are reaching out to seize control of our government, our economy, and our culture... What should we call them? Attending Trump's inauguration today will be six of the wealthiest and most powerful men in America: Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and the respective leaders/owners of TikTok, Google, and ChatGPT. Want near absolute power in America with the approval of at least half of the American public? Simply tweak the top-secret algorithms that determine what posts you see most often on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, and TikTok; algorithmically filter the search results of Google and ChatGPT; and control the content of The Washington Post. The massive wealth of these men, along with their political and media power, resembles the oligarchs America has seen rise and then repeatedly get rejected or defeated throughout American history.

The idea of democracy is simple: issues are put to voters, each person gets one vote, and whatever position gets the most votes becomes law. Our country was not established as a direct democracy, though, and citizens aren’t given an affirmative right to vote in the US Constitution; the issue is placed in the hands of our “laboratories of democracy,” the states. When people think of voting, they tend to think of the presidential election every four years. Many people don’t pay attention to local elections, and more and more Americans have found the political landscape so divisive that they’ve simply tuned out.

— What's your survival plan for the next 4 years? For Monday, January 20th? How are we all going to make sense of and survive the next 4 years of of the Trump Oligarchy? — Will the TikTok ban stick? — Is CNN the next media operation to bend knee to Trump? — Republican legislators in five Red states want to prosecute women for murder if they get abortions or use certain types of birth control. — Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary warns there will be an "economic calamity" if Trump's billionaire tax cuts are not extended....really?! — Putin just sent Alexei Navalny's lawyers to prison. — The Costs of Treating Healthcare as a Business Alert! Doctors and dentists are pushing medical 26% credit cards on patients. — Hunter in a Farmer's World: ADHD: Visualize the person you want to be, and determine what will be necessary to get there — Wisdom School: Is Your Brain Rigging the Game?

Dictators rise by weaponizing fear and dividing the people. Trump is following the playbook step by step; now, it's just a matter of who he'll target first… Dictators require archenemies. It may seem counter-intuitive, given that most people think of dictators as bad guys themselves, but the simple reality is that without proclaiming enemies — larger than life enemies — dictators have a hard time hanging onto power and accomplishing the things they want to do.

How ancient Rome's democratic collapse set the stage for America's current crisis… Last night, President Biden warned America that an oligarchy is forming in Washington DC and that it threatens our republic. Turns out, this is not a new story. For 482 years (509 BCE–27 BCE), ancient Rome ran as a democratic republic. America has lasted in that state for 236 years (1789-2025). The end of the democratic phase of the Roman republic was brought about by wealthy, elite Romans like Marcus Licinius Crassus (115–53 BCE) — the richest man in the nation at the time — who frankly hated the Roman "free bread for all" welfare system.

Evil doesn't negotiate—it devours: The perils of trusting Republicans with America's future. The GOP isn't interested in Democracy, and it's time to wake up… There's no compromising with evil, although some Democrats apparently think they can. Evil, by its very nature, will always win in such situations, even when it appears to have compromised or cooperated. "Evil" is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "a force that causes bad things to happen."

Why Democrats must build their own outrage machine now: it's time for a coordinated attack on Trump's grievance empire… As you're reading these words, Trump and his Republican allies are spraying "a firehose of lies" accusing Democrats of responsibility for the fires in LA. And those lies are working; even mainstream media like The New York Times and The Washington Post are repeating them. Not to mention they're being pushed like peanuts at a ball game into the faces of hundreds of millions by the right-leaning algorithms of social media. If Democrats were to create a "Shadow Cabinet," they could effectively neuter much of this BS. Details on that in a minute, but first some background.

A single memo launched a strategy to control media, courts, and public opinion, reshaping American democracy. To reclaim it, Democrats must build a powerful media and policy network. "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." —Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816 Republicans are using their massive structural media and social media advantage to try to destroy Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, and the California Democratic Party. It follows an old script, that's recently been played out in Russia and Hungary, among other nations: Want to seize control of a nation and turn it into a neofascist state with the consent of the people? Just take control of the channels of public information and news, and then turn lies about your opponents and their supporters into a perceived reality.

The Republicans have successfully pushed their monstrous lie of double voting and non-citizen voting because of the ways that states handle voter registration rolls. Ideally, a state’s voter registration rolls should carry only the names of people who are both currently legal residents of the state and qualified to vote. The reality is much different. For example, I grew up in Michigan and voted in that state until I was 27 years old, in 1978. That year, we moved to New Hampshire, where I registered to vote—and never told Michigan that I’d left.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — The fossil fuel industry is apparently paying off Republicans — in a practice legalized by Republicans on the Supreme Court — to make sure Congress never passes legislation to hold them accountable for all the death and destruction they've caused by lying about climate change for the past 50 years. — Convicted Felon Trump now has the "Scarlet F": Our first felon President. — It's not just social media that's giving violent white supremacists a pass... — Greedy insurer interrupts cancer surgery in shocking mid-procedure call... — Indiana Republicans want to threaten rape victims with felonies if they try to get an abortion. — Wondering why Trump is on a jeremiad against Panama? — James Carville suggests Jeff Bezos is trying to buy Trump via Melania. — Crazy Alert! Greenlanders really hate Trump, so Don Jr. had to hire homeless people to make it look like somebody was welcoming him. — Hunter in a Farmer's World: ADHD: Wrong or Different? — Wisdom School: Talking Circles — Knights Templar: Challenging Reality: The Mind-Matter Connection