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#propaganda
30 posts28 participants4 posts today
Continued thread
In the lead up to the US 2024 election, I made it a sort of policy not to take anyone claiming Donald Trump was "anti-war" seriously; after all, I was conscious during his first presidency and I have a very clear memory of him engaging in nuclear brinksmanship with North Korea via social media, dropping the largest conventional bomb in Afghanistan just to prove he could, and actively *trying* to start a war with Iran - in addition to his material support for the KSA's war in Yemen, scaling up airstrikes and drone attacks in our ongoing wars, as well as a significant increase in American covert military operations which often had disastrous consequences. Perhaps most tellingly, Trump increased US military spending each and every single year during his first four years in office.
As such I found it pretty laughable when motivated observers, including a few in "independent" media claiming to be progressives, defended the rise of Elon Musk's DOGE initiative by suggesting the Trump regime would find and end "fraud, waste, and abuse" in the Pentagon budget. In so much as I bothered to engage with these arguments, I predicted that neither Trump nor Musk would touch the military budget, or any other part of the US government that's about committing violence against their perceived enemies, including domestically; with the possible exception of an FBI Trump still hates because they investigated him for crimes he absolutely committed. As such, I can't say I was surprised to learn that during a sit-down meeting with noted genocidal fascist warmonger and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump bragged about his intentions to *increase* U.S. military spending to literally a trillion dollars.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-trillion-military-budget
Trump Pledges $1 Trillion for US Military While Hitting Working Class With Huge Tax Hike
"President Donald Trump on Monday publicly backed an annual budget of roughly $1 trillion for the U.S. military as his administration rushed ahead with a destructive tariff scheme that amounts to a major tax increase on American households, with working-class families set to bear much of the pain.
Speaking to reporters at the White House during a sit-down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said his administration has signed off on an upcoming military budget in the vicinity of $1 trillion, which would be a record sum. The military budget for the current fiscal year is $892 billion, more than half of the federal government's discretionary budget.
"Nobody's seen anything like it," Trump said Monday of his $1 trillion budget proposal."
Given that I see no reason to engage with the absurd and typically disingenuous idea that Trump is somehow not a bog standard American imperialist, I'd like to focus in on the budgetary arguments about fraud and waste that are obfuscating and propping up what is clearly a billionaire nazi bust-out operation being conducted on the US government. If you take a step back and simply look at the argument people defending DOGE are presenting here, the whole game falls apart:
- Health inspectors, disease specialists, labor board adjudicators, consumer protection departments, food and drug inspectors, IRS officials working to get the super rich to pay the taxes they owe, feeding starving children in conflict zones, Inspector Generals that oversee government officials, Medicaid and SNAP benefits, the social security check that means your grandma isn't living on cat food? Waste, fraud, and abuse.
- A bloated Pentagon wholly captured by the military industrial complex, that literally cannot pass an audit, is already a source of large-scale fraud and waste, and currently spends more money on "defense" than any other country on earth by a degree that's objectively mind blowing; particularly when you factor in that we're not *officially* involved in a major war at the moment? Vitally important spending and in fact a reason to celebrate!
Look folks, I'm creeping closer and closer to my fiftieth year on this Earth, so you don't need to tell me that imperialism and obscene military spending is a bipartisan objective in American politics. The critique I'm articulating about Trump's spending on the murder machine could just as easily have been written about every Democrat President in the post-war era. But that's also the point; Downmarket Mussolini, a man who just committed a war crime in Yemen, wholly supports Israel's genocide in Gaza, is openly talking about trying to annex Canada, and whose regime is building support to potentially bomb Mexico, is just another fucking imperialist and none of these nazis give a fuck about fraud and waste - they just want to starve your grandparents and poison your children to pay for tax cuts for the uber rich.
Common Dreams · Trump Pledges $1 Trillion for US Military While Hitting Working Class With Huge Tax Hike | Common Dreams"Spending $1 trillion on the Pentagon while hollowing out resources for diplomacy and launching a global trade war is a recipe for international conflict and American decline," warned one analyst.
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They’re trying to divide us. Don’t let them.
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♬ 
Day 15 cont 
“The #Nationals #leader, #DavidLittleproud, called it a “slip of the tongue” when Price, the shadow minister for #GovernmentEfficiency and Indigenous #Australians, told a campaign rally she wanted to “make #Australia great again” on Saturday. The #senator later claimed she hadn’t “even realised” she made the comments, then accused the media of being “obsessed” with the US president.
Guardian #Australia has obtained an image of the senator at an event with her family over the Christmas period wearing a Maga hat.
…
Guardian Australia has approached #Coalition campaign headquarters for comment.”
#AusPol / #Liberals / #LNP / #HQ / #propaganda / #slogans / #JacintaNampijinpaPrice <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/13/image-emerges-of-jacinta-price-wearing-maga-cap-one-day-after-she-says-coalition-will-make-australia-great-again>
The Guardian · Image emerges of Jacinta Price wearing Maga cap – one day after she says Coalition will ‘make Australia great again’
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Day 14 cont 
“Price was appointed to lead a government efficiency unit if the #Coalition government is elected after 3 May. The unit, which would sit within the prime minister’s department, has been compared to one led by US #tech billionaire Elon Musk (#TechWeenie, #Oligarch), whose Department of Government #Efficiency, or Doge, is taking a razor to US government departments.
“Let’s be very, very clear, media, you’re obsessed with Donald Trump 
. We’re not obsessed with Donald Trump. We’re actually obsessed with ensuring that we can improve the circumstances for #Australians,” she said.”
Devoid of any #policy, #analysis, #costing, #ideas an LNP Senator makes a word salad of foreign phrases about making the “Bond market” sexy again, from a #BowlingClub on a Saturday in #Perth.
Repeat the slogans,
Repeat the slogans,
Repeat the #slogans.
#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #propaganda / #JacintaNampijinpaPrice / #indoctrination <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/12/jacinta-price-says-coalition-will-make-australia-great-again-then-accuses-media-of-being-obsessed-with-trump
The Guardian · Jacinta Price says Coalition will ‘make Australia great again’ – then accuses media of being ‘obsessed with’ Trump
"As Washington’s cold war with China escalates, we can expect to see a massively reinvigorated anti-China propaganda campaign in the west. As this unfolds, please know that everything you learned about the mass media’s dishonesty regarding Gaza is equally true of empire-targeted nations like China." Caitlin Johnstone
Apr 12
#China #USA #Propaganda #MediaBias
Continued thread
Continued thread
The most influential promoter of #antisemitism in the United States isn’t Elon Musk, with a Sieg Heil salute; nor is it Kanye West, who tweeted that he loved Hitler, or Candace Owens, who promoted the blood-libel conspiracy theory. The pro-Israel lobbying organization #StopAntisemitism wants you to believe the real danger is actually a lady in overalls and a pink headband who sings about how bubble gum is sticky.
The organization, which has spent the past year and a half publicly identifying pro-Palestine protesters, is now coming after Ms. Rachel, a beloved YouTuber known for her videos for babies and toddlers. In a letter posted to social media on Monday, StopAntisemitism asked attorney general Pam Bondi to investigate whether Ms. Rachel is “being funded by a foreign party to push anti-Israel propaganda to skew public opinion” and referred to her as an “amplifier” of pro-Hamas content.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/stop-antisemitism-ms-rachel-doj-investigation
The Guardian · Pro-Israel group asks DoJ to investigate Ms Rachel over posts on Gaza children
AI Slop Farms Are Churning Out Fake Heartwarming Videos About Trump Figures
Machine-made YouTube videos are racking up views while fooling the MAGA faithful.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/04/ai-slop-donald-trump-youtube/ #AI #Disinformation #Propaganda #Tech #AISlop #MAGA
Mother JonesAI slop farms are churning out fake heartwarming videos about Trump figures Machine-made YouTube videos are racking up views while fooling the MAGA faithful.
One of the stranger things about analyzing Downmarket Mussolini's fascist executive orders is the way folks around me are always prepared to write off some of the most dangerous things Der Leader tries to do as mere "petty vindictiveness." Take for example Trump's recent executive orders targeting a law firm that sued Fox News for spreading lies about an electronic voting machine company, and two former members of his previous administration - a DHS official who refuted Trump's blatantly false claims that the 2020 election was rigged for Joe Biden, and a whistleblower he's accusing of Espionage Act violations and has accused of treason in the past. Is this about revenge for our (not so) beloved tangerine tyrant? Of course, but particularly in the first two cases, this is also about establishing Der Führer's "Big Lie" about the 2020 election being rigged against him, as the only officially sanctioned truth the government, and by extension its judiciary branch, should recognize.
First up we have the president signing an executive order designed to punish Susman Godfrey for forcing the Trump regime's quasi-official state news outlet, Fox, to settle with Dominion Voting Systems after they spent literally months openly broadcasting fascist conspiracy theories about the 2020 election (that Trump lost) being rigged:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-executive-order-fox-news-law-firm
Trump signs order targeting law firm behind $787.5m Fox defamation suit
"Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday punishing the law firm that helped Dominion Voting Systems obtain a $787.5m settlement from Fox for lies about the 2020 election.
The order against the firm, Susman Godfrey, marks the latest effort by the president to punish attorneys and firms who have opposed his interests.
The order seeks to harm the firm by limiting its attorneys from accessing government buildings, revoking security clearances and essentially making it impossible for it to represent anyone who has business before the federal government."
Like a lot of Trump's efforts to punish or intimidate law firms, this blatantly unconstitutional executive order is mostly about trying to put Susman Godfrey out of business by denying them access to the federal government, and the courtrooms it controls. What's telling here is that Trump isn't even trying to make the argument that the firm broke any laws, or violated any rules; no reason for the executive order was given, and the president has only said
"there were some very bad things that happened with these law firms,” because Trump hasn't found a valid excuse for this ideological policing and he's not ready to just up and admit he's trying to take out his perceived political enemies for A) disputing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and B) forcing his friends at Fox to pay for its libelous claims about Dominion.
Which then brings us to Trump's blatantly authoritarian use of the DoJ to target two of his political "enemies" that served in his administration, but spoke out against the regime and in Krebs's case, actively debunked "The Big Lie" Trump has been telling about the 2020 election being rigged against him since it happened:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-justice-department-critics
Trump orders DoJ to investigate duo who debunked claims of election fraud
"Donald Trump’s persecution of critics intensified on Wednesday when he ordered the justice department to investigate a whistleblower and a cybersecurity director who refuted unfounded claims of election fraud.
The US president signed memorandums targeting Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, former homeland security officials who served in the first Trump administration."
Look my friends, I'm not expecting you to find much sympathy for a Big Law firm rolling in filthy lucre, or two former fascist collaborators that are now finding out the leopards will indeed eat their faces, but in this situation the "who" of this story, is far less important than the "what." What Trump is doing here is weaponizing the US government to punish folks for contradicting his "enforced unreality" surrounding the 2020 election, and let me assure you that there are a lot of people in the judiciary, legal profession, and media who have gone on record saying that Trump's claims where baseless (fascist) conspiracy theories, so that isn't just a question of the president arguing with the experts about some bullshit he picked up on Fox News. Furthermore, Trumps actions ultimately seek to make his enemies, the enemies of the United States government; this is a classic sign of a state sliding into an authoritarian dictatorship and thus cannot be dismissed as Trump simply being a petulant vengeful manchild.
Smoke em if you got em, because if Trump gets away with this, we're through the looking glass and his every utterance becomes our new reality.
The Guardian · Trump signs order targeting law firm behind $787.5m Fox defamation suit
“Documenting All The Lies We Were Told About Ukraine”
by The Dissident on Substack
“A Comprehensive list of (most) of the lies we were told about Ukraine”
@EFJEurope
@BBC5Live
@BBCRadio4
@guardian @Independent @thetimes
@CNN @msnbc @nytimes @politico @latimes @miamiherald @NewYorker @seattletimes @BostonGlobe
https://open.substack.com/pub/the307/p/documenting-all-the-lies-we-were?r=27oltk&utm_medium=ios
The Dissident · Documenting All The Lies We Were Told About Ukraine
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Says Trump Supporter Ben Shapiro Is Among Canada’s ‘Allies’ 
https://www.desmog.com/2025/04/10/danielle-smith-says-trump-supporter-ben-shapiro-is-among-canadas-allies
#TransLivesMatter
#Christofascism #transgenocide #Poilievre #DanielleSmith #Trumpism #propaganda
Transgenocide
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/114186381298087870
2025 Election: Uphold Values
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bmrrFxNnX6YhDsgo_44Roq-Qgdjd3UxueaGTqIAYcVw
QuIRK-E Call to Action
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/114305429532018275
CAVE: collaborate, advocate, vote, educate
#unionize #solidarity #socialism #ecosocialism
Social democracy
https://persagen.org/wpi/docs/social_democracy.pdf
DeSmog · Danielle Smith Says Trump Supporter Ben Shapiro Is Among Canada’s ‘Allies’The Alberta premier defended The Daily Wire podcaster at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference in Ottawa.
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I can’t believe we are now halfway through this election and #PierrePoilievre still refuses to get his #securityclearance!
The issue has only grown cold because Poilievre controls and limits questions while his online #propaganda campaign deems it a nothing burger.
Poilievre could have easily taken this issue off the table by getting security clearance months ago, instead he continues to make ridiculous excuses and commits to running for PM without it. Unconscionable.
There couldn’t be a sketchier choice for PM. Pierre is clearly just another political trump hiding his skeletons in plain sight. Possibly one of the most #compromised Canadian PM candidates ever.
The worst thing about this is that if #Poilievre were to win, he would be given security clearance regardless, and he knows it. Honestly, he shouldn’t even be qualified to run for PM without it.
An online influencer whom Elon Musk frequently boosts on X has been conducting in-person interviews with Russian figures and key allies of #Putin
Musk has consistently reposted and engaged with Mario Nawfal, a Dubai-based Australian influencer who with Musk has given a platform to far-right figures and movements around the world.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/10/mario-nawfal-putin-interview-elon-musk
The Guardian · Elon Musk boosting influencer who platforms far-right Putin allies
Official #propaganda & #disinformation designed to help destroy democracy.
This is why Trump put this particular cabinet in place.
https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-intelligence-agencies-cia-trump-6c7a3e9671a95827b31375fe52fe1c0f
Wir haben einen neuen #Workshop zu #FakeNews und #Propaganda entwickelt und dabei eine Kooperation mit der #DokumentationObersalzberg wiederbelebt. Unser Grafiker-Kollege hat tolle Karten dazu gemacht 
Chief Propagandist "Trump Press Secretary Says Everyone Is Lying About Hating the Tariffs"
https://newrepublic.com/post/193760/donald-trump-press-secretary-everyone-lying-hating-tariffs
According to Karoline Leavitt, all the backlash to Donald Trump’s tariffs is made up.
The New Republic · Trump Press Secretary Says Everyone Is Lying About Hating the TariffsAccording to Karoline Leavitt, all the backlash to Donald Trump’s tariffs is made up.
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Well, there it is…
#Trump has signed #ExecutiveOrders aimed at reviving the #coal industry.
The moves include loosening #environmental #law & #regulations.
Trump signed 4 EOs Tues aimed at expanding the mining & use of coal in the #US.
Flanked by dozens of miners in white hard hats [#propaganda photo op], Trump said he was instructing the #DOJ to identify & fight state policies & regulations that were “putting our coal miners out of business.”
#climate #PublicHealth
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/climate/trump-order-coal-mining.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=5781E5BA-F178-4261-92CB-848513C43ED2
The New York Times · Trump Signs Executive Orders Aimed at Reviving U.S. Coal Industry