Heard you discuss this on the podcast, Anne, and it’s even more chilling reading it all laid out in one place.
The crypto political spending angle is exactly the kind of institutional capture that doesn’t show up in traditional corruption metrics but fundamentally warps democratic accountability.
What struck me: this isn’t even subtle. Single-issue super PACs spending half of all corporate money to install friendly candidates and remove “enemies of the crypto industry” while simultaneously removing the few consumer protections that existed. That’s not lobbying. That’s buying the regulatory apparatus wholesale.
The main story is the human cost of that capture. Life savings gone, no recourse, no investigation. The FBI says “fill out a report” knowing there’s less than 1% chance of recovery. Meanwhile, the industry that enabled the theft is spending hundreds of millions to ensure it stays that way.
This connects to the Venezuela oil kleptocracy—-Same playbook: create unregulated revenue streams, capture the institutions that might provide oversight, use that money to entrench power further. Crypto PACs funding friendly candidates is structurally identical to oil proceeds in Qatari accounts funding presidential discretion.
It’s all building the infrastructure for sustainable kleptocracy. And they’re not even hiding it anymore.
Absolutely correct. "Venezuela may not be an aberration, but a model. If so, it is a model that will allow national policy to serve private enrichment, in a manner and at a scale we have never experienced in contemporary America." Perhaps it could have been more accurately stated as ". . . never experienced in the history of the world." This will dwarf Russian scale corruption. Trump will be proud and Vlad will be jealous. Trump had better be careful or Vlad's jealousy might lead him to release the Epstein Files.
I always appreciate the counterpoint to the Trump horrors you report provided by photos of beauty, whether natural or created. It is a necessary reminder that soul work must be done alongside our political work.
The March issue of the Atlantic contains an article by David Kagan that is a must read. Trump is heading the world back to just before WWI-the power struggle between “empires”.
Always a pleasure listening and reading your work and thoughts. Have passed on the information about crypto currency to others that have now decided to put a lot of their money into this platform. Some have rethought and have gone other ways, some not. There are more people sometimes that fit the narrative that PT Barnum said, “There is a fool born every minute”
Will say you can lead them to the water but can’t make them drink…
Heard you discuss this on the podcast, Anne, and it’s even more chilling reading it all laid out in one place.
The crypto political spending angle is exactly the kind of institutional capture that doesn’t show up in traditional corruption metrics but fundamentally warps democratic accountability.
What struck me: this isn’t even subtle. Single-issue super PACs spending half of all corporate money to install friendly candidates and remove “enemies of the crypto industry” while simultaneously removing the few consumer protections that existed. That’s not lobbying. That’s buying the regulatory apparatus wholesale.
The main story is the human cost of that capture. Life savings gone, no recourse, no investigation. The FBI says “fill out a report” knowing there’s less than 1% chance of recovery. Meanwhile, the industry that enabled the theft is spending hundreds of millions to ensure it stays that way.
This connects to the Venezuela oil kleptocracy—-Same playbook: create unregulated revenue streams, capture the institutions that might provide oversight, use that money to entrench power further. Crypto PACs funding friendly candidates is structurally identical to oil proceeds in Qatari accounts funding presidential discretion.
It’s all building the infrastructure for sustainable kleptocracy. And they’re not even hiding it anymore.
—Johan
Absolutely correct. "Venezuela may not be an aberration, but a model. If so, it is a model that will allow national policy to serve private enrichment, in a manner and at a scale we have never experienced in contemporary America." Perhaps it could have been more accurately stated as ". . . never experienced in the history of the world." This will dwarf Russian scale corruption. Trump will be proud and Vlad will be jealous. Trump had better be careful or Vlad's jealousy might lead him to release the Epstein Files.
And the accounts in Qatar seem very suspicious. It’s no doubt to stop oversight.
I also read that the Trump regime doesn’t want oil companies who had expropriated assets in Venezuela getting any of the new oil money.
Anne applebaum bringing us the truth
I always appreciate the counterpoint to the Trump horrors you report provided by photos of beauty, whether natural or created. It is a necessary reminder that soul work must be done alongside our political work.
The March issue of the Atlantic contains an article by David Kagan that is a must read. Trump is heading the world back to just before WWI-the power struggle between “empires”.
Always a pleasure listening and reading your work and thoughts. Have passed on the information about crypto currency to others that have now decided to put a lot of their money into this platform. Some have rethought and have gone other ways, some not. There are more people sometimes that fit the narrative that PT Barnum said, “There is a fool born every minute”
Will say you can lead them to the water but can’t make them drink…