Showing posts with label right-wing whiners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label right-wing whiners. Show all posts

Friday, March 08, 2024

Cryin' and bitchin' from her upscale kitchen, Katie Britt was not a hit

 Katie Britt, psycho mom and rising star in the reich-wing whineosphere, delivered a melodramatic and menacing rebuttal to President Biden's powerful SOTU... and it earned her more jeers than cheers.

Hide the knives, kids, psycho mom is in the kitchen!

As you must surely be aware by now if you follow American politix at all, Alabama republican senator Katie Britt's histrionic, painfully hyper-enunciated, and alternately quavering/menacing State Of The Union rebuttal (aka the "Kitchen Ransom Video") has been ruthlessly mocked all over the media. It even caused shudders and cringes among a significant portion of the MAGAverse, according to, among numerous other sources, Ron Filipkowski, writing on Meidas Touch.com:

Britt's speech...weirdly alternated between bubbly cheerfulness, then concern, then fake anger, then fake outrage, sometimes all within the span of five seconds, leading many to compare her performance to someone auditioning for a high school play for the first time. Naturally, people on the Left were going to criticize her speech. But most surprising was right-wing reaction, where they simply couldn't hide their disappointment.

But to Katie Britt, the critics probably don't matter, since The Mango Monarch of MAGA, His Royal Majesty Donald John Trump, loved the speech.

It has been common practice for years to employ a "rising star" in the opposition party to deliver the counter-SOTU. But this year's choice raised eyebrows for more than one reason.

The rationale for Katie in the kitchen (and Katie at all, for that matter)
Many critics of Katie Britt's SOTU rebuttal focused on the setting of the dramatic diatribe -- her own kitchen -- noting that it was yet another example of not-so-subtle republican/Christofascist messaging that a woman's place is in the kitchen. Critics also noted that Britt is the quintessential young (or relatively young) Stepford Wife or Handmaid's Tale pick to convey the overarching message that Being A Mom and A Wife are by far the most important roles any woman can ever take on, and that Katie's mom-hood status makes her uniquely qualified to expound on how terrifyingly out-of-touch Joe "Bless his heart" Biden allegedly is, and how dangerous he is because his policies are ENDANGERING OUR CHILDREN.

All of those critical speculations are valid. But to me it seems clear that, apart from Kitchen Katie having earned the Mango Mussolini's all-important stamp of approval, the primary (though seriously misguided) intentions for choosing her in particular -- and for choosing her kitchen as the setting for her high-school drama tryout -- include the following:

1. "Kitchen table issues." This one should be pretty obvious. Katie declared right out of the chute that her speech was going to focus on the proverbial "kitchen table issues" -- those matters that are supposedly of utmost concern to ordinary struggling American families, and that they supposedly discuss around their humble kitchen tables during their humble family dinners. Accordingly, some genius(es) decided that the perfect way to convey Britt's supposed empathy with these struggling Americans would be for her to perch at what presumably was a table (it wasn't entirely clear to me) in her clearly upscale (not humble) kitchen. As Jake Johnson, in a March 8, 2024 piece on Common Dreams, put it:

Speaking in hushed tones and intermittently flashing a menacing smile, Britt—the former CEO of an Alabama corporate lobbying organization and the wife of a lobbyist—said from the comfort of her posh kitchen inside her 6,000-square-foot mansion that she understands and sympathizes with "what real families are facing.

Johnson also wrote:

Britt, who has been floated as a possible 2024 running mate for former President Donald Trump, characterized the GOP as the "party of hardworking parents and families"—neglecting to mention the trillions of dollars in tax breaks the party has funneled to the rich and large corporations in recent years while opposing programs such as the expanded child tax credit, which briefly slashed U.S. child poverty in half.

So... major misfire on the whole "kitchen table"/struggling families thing.

2. An appeal to the educated suburban woman/mom demos who currently oppose Trump. Some of Trump's allies caught on to this point right away and defended Britt's disastrous speech.

It would be so much easier for MAGA if we could just go back to the daze when women couldn't vote, but here we are. Although some analysts said that educated (white) suburban women helped deliver the White House to Trump in 2016, those demographics changed their minds during the course of his presidency, and by 2020 had largely turned against him. During the 2020 campaign Trump unsuccessfully begged them for their support, claiming to have "saved their suburbs," but overall they weren't buying it, and ultimately went for Biden.

For the 2024 campaign, Biden's lead over Trump among these demos has narrowed considerably, particularly among white suburban women, but clearly the Trump campaign is still laboring to win their support. And that seems to be a challenge. Consider the state of play in the swing state of Wisconsin, for instance. This is from a December 21, 2023 opinion piece in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Suburban women still hold some conservative views, especially when it comes to finances. They are more likely to agree with Republicans on tax and economic policy. But on all other issues the study explored, Democrats do a better job of matching the values of suburban women, especially on abortion, an issue which is currently consuming the political landscape in Wisconsin and which these women say will be a key deciding factor in 2024 and the state’s 2026 gubernatorial election.

But a major opening exists for kitchen table issues. Suburban women hear very little on Republican-proposed solutions to issues that are particularly relevant to their daily lives, like health care, mental health, and affordable child care, which leads them to trust Democrats more even if they have issues with the liberal approach.  

Yup, there's that mention of "kitchen table issues" again. Given all of these challenges to a total takeover of the hearts, minds, and souls of suburban mommies by Voldemoron, what better Trumpistan ambassador to Normal Momville could there be than a white suburban mommy?

Trouble is, it appears that the mommies aren't buying Kitchen Katie's message.

The idea is that Republicans are desperately trying to sell Republicans as pro-women or pro-mom, [Washington Post columnist Monica] Hesse wrote.

"The trouble," Hesse continued, "is that they are trying to sell it that way once a year, via a televised State of the Union rebuttal, rather than by selling it via policies and legislation. So much of the rest of the night revealed a contrast between what Britt’s party had done for women, and how women and mothers were actually living their lives."

Biden, by contrast, has actually worked to improve the lives of women and their families. So, repubs, good luck with peddling Kitchen Katie as "America's mom."

3. The image of youth/vitality/a new generation of leadership. Ahead of the president's SOTU and Kitchen Katie's rebuttal, Katie was relentlessly promoted (and didn't hesitate to brag about it during her speech) as the youngest woman ever to win a republican Senate seat. This seems to be a subtle but clear message about Joe Biden's advanced age allegedly being a disqualifying factor for the presidency. Never mind the advanced age -- not to mention the clearly abysmal physical condition and mental health -- of the only alternative to Biden in this election: Katie's Cheeto Jeezus Trump.

In the time since I first wrote the above, I've read numerous other comments that are congruent with my initial impressions; in fact Katie herself has since said that the kitchen setting was intended to hammer home that whole "kitchen table" message. But I'm leaving the list above intact even though after so many millions of words have been slung about the matter, it may seem that I am way behind the curve and am simply restating the painfully obvious.

Rising star, or just another red giant?
If the choice of Katie Britt as the "rising star" -- the one most qualified to rebut the SOTU -- was motivated in any way by an attempt to sweeten the horror that the Party Of Trump (aka the American Fascist Party) has become... or to make the republican party appear to be in tune with the needs of ordinary Americans as opposed to the super-rich... or even to foster that "big tent" image for which they've been striving for years (Katie isn't a person of color but she is a woman)... then, sorry, guys, it was a wash on all counts. And as discussed in Item number 2 above, the appeal to that all-important suburban women/mommies crowd was also a flop.

(By the way, in answer to the favored Trump-campaign question this election cycle, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" -- similar to the question that Katie asked as well at the end of her speech -- here's some perspective that contradicts the grim picture being peddled by MAGA.)

There's one point I want to make regarding republicans' largely tone-deaf approach to wooing the commoners: I absolutely do not wish to imply that being affluent or rich, even super-rich, is incompatible with compassion for those much less fortunate, or with a desire for equality and inclusiveness, or with a genuine wish to do good in the world. As I've said on this blog before, in my life I have known several "haves" who actually tried to make things better for the "have-nots" and the marginalized -- one example being right here in the Great State of Texas, the late Marvin Zindler.

But actions do still speak louder than words, even in these days of inordinately loud words, and while Katie and her republican colleagues, hot and heavy on the campaign trail, may talk a good game of genuine concern for the have-nots, their voting records speak much more loudly and clearly than their empty rhetoric.

Red whine goes so well with cheesiness
I will concede that at the moment it appears that Katie is a true rising star in the reich-wing whineopshere, though in this particular speech she labored to make it appear that she was whining on behalf of all Americans (at least the good, patriotic, godly ones) instead of whining about how she has been oppressed and repressed. Don't be fooled by that apparent altruism: remember that she is in lock-step now with the long-time Whiner In Chief, Trump himself, and is poised to become one of his proxies and possibly even his VP pick. And more than likely, at some point during the long campaign months ahead, she will not hesitate to break out a bottle of acidic red whine and raise a toast to her own brave suffering at the hands of the "fake news" and the "liberal media" and the Democrats and the commies and socialists and whatnot.

And speaking of whining, that insufferable quavery voice that dominated Britt's speech has been another topic of widespread speculation and mockery. Some have said it's totally tradwife, deliberately childlike and intended to convey a message of proper womanly submissiveness. That is not beyond the realm of possibility, of course, and it's likely that the delivery did appeal to tradwives and their manly-man husbands, but I have a different take on Katie's motives.

My impression wasn't that she was attempting to communicate submissiveness or weakness at all; rather, the whiny voice was simply part of her over-the-top histrionic attempt to tug on the heartstrings: authentic faux-emotion (fauxmotion?) at its cheesiest. To me her delivery called to mind those endless late-night mini-infomercials (animal rescue, child rescue, etc.) featuring a tremulous, constantly on-the-verge-of-tears female voiceover. I swear, I half-expected to hear Sarah McLachlan's 90s hit "Angel" in the background while Katie Britt quavered on (even though the song itself is probably far too heathen for Katie and her ilk).

It's not just the bad acting and Christofascist messaging; it's also the gaslighting and the hypocrisy
Apart from the delivery and location, there were other serious problems with Katie Britt's kitchen-table theatrics. To begin with, it was framed around a deep fear for the safety and well-being and indeed the future of "our children." This of course is a typical republican rhetorical tactic; they love to use children as political pawns. As many commentators have pointed out, however, if repubs were truly concerned for our children, they wouldn't be voting against legislation to help children and their families, or for legislation that sacrifices the welfare of kids and families to the endless demands of the ultra-wealthy. I mentioned that point myself toward the end of this July 2023 post about a schlocky hit summer movie, a highly fictionalized tale of child sex trafficking called Sound Of Freedom:

...a few folks on Twitter have pointed out the glaring hypocrisy of reich-wingers' sudden deep concern, inspired solely by Sound Of Freedom, about innocent little children -- brown children, at that!-- who are being so ruthlessly trafficked, a concern that seems incongruent with the general indifference of republicans/reich-wingers to the plight of children in general, particularly brown ones. Consider, for example:

I won't deny that Democrats use children and family issues as talking points too. But overall, they're the party that is actually trying to do something to help kids and parents.

Equally as glaring as the hypocrisy about her grave concern for children is Katie Britt's gaslighting and hypocrisy about the whole border/immigration issue. Her kitchen audition was a flagrant demonstration of Border Derangement Syndrome, the hysterical narrative that immigrants are "invading" the US from the Southern border and that they pose a serious existential threat to America.

It should come as no big shocker that several of Britt's statements about President Biden's border policies were exaggerations, misrepresentations, or distortions. In fact her most dramatic tale by far was downright deceitful, as discovered by journalist Jonathan M. Katz when he did a little bit of digging. (And here it may seem that I am burying the lede, given the huge amount of attention that this story has received since I first published this post, but I'll be damned if I'm going to rearrange this entire long screed just to seem more relevant.)

Katie tearfully told a tale about talking with a young woman who, beginning at the age of 12, had been "sex trafficked by the cartels." She'd been repeatedly raped over a period of years, sometimes many times a day. Katie said the woman told her that she had been put on "a mattress in a shoebox of a room, and they sent men through that door, over and over again, for hours and hours on-end." She immediately followed that by saying, "We wouldn't be OK with this happening in a third-world country. This is the United States of America, and it's past time we started acting like it. President Biden's border crisis is a disgrace. It's despicable. And it's almost entirely preventable."

Context is everything, though. And what Psycho Mom neglected to mention was that even though the woman’s story is true, it all took place in Mexico, not the US, and it actually happened 20 years ago, when Biden wasn’t even VP, much less president. (And no, it wasn’t Obama’s fault either. George W Bush was in the White House at that time, not that it was his fault either.)

Accordingly, the entire narrative as presented by Katie was disingenuous at best, though it was most likely swallowed whole by the same crowd who embraced the aforementioned movie Sound Of Freedom as virtually a documentary.

When I initially amended this post to add this twist in the saga, I speculated, facetiously, that it was possible that Katie intended to say that the abduction and years of captivity and repeated rapes took place two decades ago in Mexico, but that her eyes were so filled with fake Tammy-Faye tears at that particular point in her diatribe that she couldn’t read the TelePrompter or the cue cards or whatever. In a more serious vein I wrote that it was even possible that she would claim that she was talking about a totally different sex trafficking/rape vic than the one named in Jonathan Katz's expose (a woman named Karla Jacinto Romero). But there have been developments since my initial speculations.

At the time I first wrote this, it appeared that up to that point Britt had not addressed the matter directly at all, choosing instead to let a spokesperson do the dirty work of dodging the question. And at first, that spokesperson, Sean Ross, refused to directly answer the question about the identity of the rape victim, and insisted that the story was not deceptive, basically because bad stuff is happening at the border and it's Biden's fault. (Here's a direct link to a Xitter post with screenshots of communications between journalist Kyle Whitmire and Katie's spokesdodger Sean Ross.)

Later, however, after Katz's Tik Tok about the issue went viral and other media jumped on it, the Washington Post apparently cornered Ross, and ultimately he admitted that the victim in Katie's story was in fact Karla Jacinto Romero. But he continued to insist, as he had done in initial responses to queries, that the story was not deceptive because bad stuff really is happening at the border, and it's Biden's fault.

After much more coverage about the matter, our stalwart kitchen queen finally spoke up in her own defense. From ABC News, March 10, 2024:

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Britt...said she didn't bring up Romero to intentionally blame Biden for what happened to her -- but rather to point to it as an example of the trafficking that is still going on.

"I very clearly said I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked when she was 12, so I didn't say a teenager, I didn't say a young woman, a grown woman, a woman -- when she was trafficked when she was 12. And so listening to her story, she is a victim's right advocate who is telling this is what drug cartels are doing, this is how they're profiting off of women," Britt said. "And it is disgusting. And so I am hopeful that it brings some light to -- to it, and we can actually do something about human trafficking and that that's what the media actually decides to cover."

Oh, Katie. You know damn well that this was an attempted slam at Biden. You just got caught. And as for that garbled bit about the vic's age, that hasn't been the matter of controversy. The controversy is your deceptive use of the story itself.

Karla Romero has spoken up as well, and apparently she resents being used as a political pawn, either by United States or Mexican pols. From CNN, March 11, 2024:

[Jacinto] told CNN she was trafficked before Biden’s presidency and said legislators lack empathy when using the issue of human trafficking for political purposes.

“I hardly ever cooperate with politicians, because it seems to me that they only want an image. They only want a photo — and that to me is not fair,” Karla Jacinto told CNN on Sunday...

...Jacinto told CNN that Mexican politicians took advantage of her by using her story for political purposes and that it’s happened again in the United States.

From the perspective of Katie’s political standing, however, it’s probably all moot, since as noted above, her personal savior, Lard Cheeto Jeezus, was quite pleased with her audition.

Apart from Katie's shaky and altogether Trumpian relationship with the truth, there's her hypocrisy regarding the border. She was actually one of the republicans who helped negotiate a bipartisan border security deal -- and then, like most of her rethuglican colleagues, she voted against the bipartisan bill resulting from the negotiations because the Orange Overlord commanded it.

And while we're at it, let's not ignore Katie Britt's hypocrisy regarding women's health issues. From Ariel Messman-Rucker on Pride.com, March 8, 2024:

[Britt] also spent part of her excruciatingly long speech recounting the story of a woman who she claimed was raped at the border because of Biden's "senseless border policies" but failed to see the blatant hypocrisy in her statements considering she is vehemently pro-life and would deny a woman in that position the right to get an abortion.

Exactly. (Do read Ariel Messman-Rucker's entire piece, because it lists some of the most hilarious responses to Britt's performance.)

Finally and most egregiously, Katie Britt's speech was, obviously, a clear endorsement of Donald Trump, even though she never mentioned his name. Apparently the impending death of American democracy, and the rise of fascism within US borders, are of absolutely zero concern to her.

Is "republicunt" too strong a word to use here?

This post has been revised and expanded since initial publication on March 8, 2024.
~ CC

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Billionaire Scientologist/Scamworld couple Grant & Elena Cardone are raising money to pay Trump's $355 million fine

In yet another tawdry scene from the unholy marriage between (right-wing) politix and Scamworld, billionaire huckster/Scientologist Grant Cardone and his wife Elena are appealing to the Trumpcult to cover Trump's massive New York civil fraud fine.

While many lauded the $354.8 million judgment (plus approximately $100 million in interest) against #NeverWasMyPresident Donald John Trump in his New York civil fraud case, that development provided yet another splendid fundraising opportunity for him and the Trumpcult. This always seems to be the case whenever Trump has a legal setback.

Among the Trumpcult, the first out of the chute to make the news were prominent social media influencer/huckster/Scientologist Grant Cardone and his wife Elena of Floriduh (that's where their primary residence is, anyway), who are passionately and earnestly boosting the phony Trump-as-hero/martyr narrative that has snookered so many folks into forking over to support the Mango Mussolini. (Elena C is also involved in fundraising for election-denying loon Kari Lake.) On February 16, 2024, just after the news about the judgment broke, Elena started a GoFundMe page to get the rubes to pay Donny's yuuuge fine. The fundraising goal? $355 million big ones -- though apparently Trump is on his own with that $100 million in interest.

Never mind that Trump boasts he's a multi-billionaire, which means that he should have no problem paying that fine as well as other judgments against him. And never mind that the Cardones are billionaires too, and have no business soliciting regular folks, many of whom may be struggling to keep the lights on and food on the table, to give their hard-earned money to another alleged billionaire.

And also never mind that Trump's lawyers are, as expected, preparing to appeal the New York judgment, which may hinge on Trump's "there were no victims" defense. The argument goes that the loans were paid back, and the banks were sophisticated lenders instead of innocent rubes, and they knew darn well what they were getting into, and they made a tidy profit, and nobody was really hurt, and therefore all's right with the world. (Here are some reasons why that defense is bunk.)

At any rate, the appeals process could take more than a year. More than likely Trump will use an appeal bond, secured with his assets as collateral. This would entail Trump putting up a percentage of the judgement, and a third-party guarantor would be on the hook for the full amount, according to Joshua Naftalis, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in New York. At the very least, Trump may be able to get the judgment significantly reduced.

In short, there's no guarantee that every dollar of that big fine will actually have to be paid. The point is that at the moment, nobody knows exactly how much Trump will ultimately have to pay on the New York civil fraud case (and on other judgments against him), or when he will have to pay it.

It's complicated, in other words.

But no scammer worth his or her salt ever let complicated reality get in the way of a good and simple grift. What the Cardones are doing is appealing directly to the great unwashed MAGA cult to donate every dollar possible, which the Cordones pinky-swear will be sent directly to the Trump Organization for the Great One's defense of "this ridiculous judgment." And oh, does Elena ever pour the histrionics on thick on the GoFundMe page:

My name is Elena Cardone and I am a wife of Grant Cardone, mother and an ardent supporter of American values and an advocate for justice, I stand unwaveringly with President Donald Trump in the face of what I see as unprecedented and unfair treatment by certain judicial elements in New York. The recent legal battles he faces are not just an attack on him, but an attack on the very ideals of fairness and due process that every American deserves. It's a moment that calls into question the balance of justice and the application of law, disproportionately aimed at silencing a voice that has been at the forefront of advocating for American strength, prosperity, and security.

In standing with Trump, we're upholding the cause of every business owner and entrepreneur who believes in the fight against a system that increasingly seeks to penalize dissent and curb our freedoms.

The fact that a business owner did a loan with a bank, never defaulted, nor missed a payment, pays back the loan with interest and caused no financial damage to anyone, yet, the government overreaches and slaps a business owner with a $355M ruling should terrify all business owners and entrepreneurs. Is this Government seizing assets? Seeking financial ruin?

This is more than a legal fund; it's a call to all businesses owners and entrepreneurs to rally in defense of all businesses and for man who has never hesitated to stand in defense of us.

This fundraiser, therefore, is not merely about raising the “ruling” amount. It's about making a stand. It's about showing that when one of us is targeted for championing the values that make America great, he does not stand alone. We stand with him, shoulder to shoulder, ready to support, defend, and fight back against a system that threatens to undermine the very foundations of our republic.

Now, more than ever, it's time for business owners and entrepreneurs to unite, to show our collective strength and resolve. Let's stand with Trump to ensure that justice prevails and that we continue to fight for a country that respects freedom, honors courage, and rewards the unwavering spirit of its people.

So the Cardones claim to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Trump, fighting back "against a system that threatens to undermine the very foundations of our republic?" Huh. Apparently they don't seem to be at all concerned about Trump and gang's serious and deadly threats to American democracy -- and last time I checked, democracy was also a pretty important foundation of our republic.

And what's this about Trump never hesitating to stand in defense of "all business owners and entrepreneurs?" It's true that he has been good to select business owners who were his buddies, as well as to large corporations). But overall Trump, who has a long and infamous history of stiffing small businesses and entrepreneurs, and whose tax cuts largely benefited huge wealthy corporations rather than small businesses, has never actually stood, or stood up, for anyone but Donald Trump. (Demagogic rhetoric at fascist pep rallies and reich-wing gatherings doesn't count; talk is cheap.)

When I started writing this post, the GoFundMe had raised more than $67,000 towards that $355M goal, and at the moment, the tally is nearly $138,000 -- and the donations keep pouring in. The "words of support" following the pitch are, for the most part, sickeningly culty praises for the Lard God Trump (with the NY AG and the judge cast as the Devils in the narrative), but there are, fortunately, some trolls as well. One cannot troll for free, however. You have to donate in order to be able to comment, and some, I am happy to say, have sacrificed a few bucks for the privilege of trolling. For instance, one woman donated $5 in order to say this:

Hi everyone, my name is Billie N*****. I am raising funds to prove that my grift is stronger than Donald Trump's. I have set a lofty goal of $355,000,000, but with your help, we will beat Donnie's numbers and prove ONCE AGAIN, that he will never be smarter, faster, nor better than ANY FEMALE EVER! It's a GRIFT, a GRIFT, and nothing, BUT the GRIFT, so help me, GOD! Donate here at my link above, and watch as I blow right past him. After all, how hard can it be to beat him?

There were a few other $5 donors who used more spicy language to describe the orange abomination. It's quite entertaining, and it's almost worth sifting through the worship and the groveling to find those kernels of truth. Even if the trolls' money goes into the same black hole that the supporters' cash does.
[Update, February 22, 2024: Unfortunately, it appears that commenting has been disallowed on the Cardones' GoFundMe page, and apparently all existing comments have been disappeared. At least I can't find them anymore, either on my mobile devices or my desktop computer. ~ CC]

Grifters who have each other's scaly backs
Grant Cardone himself has spoken up several times on Xitter about the judgment against Trump. For example, there's this February 17, 2023 post:

Regarding Trump $355M Judgement I have bought over $5,000,000,000 of real estate in my career… Every loan requires by law the lender get an independent appraisal, including an estimate of the property’s value. My estimate of value does not & cannot make for fraud.

Sure, Grant. In response to Cardone's Xitter post, a person named Mitch had a helpful suggestion.

so lend him the money if you and your wife trust him so much. he is suppose[d] to be a billionaire. so sure he will pay you back. go fund me is for health issues, homeless and poor to middle people in wealth. obviously you don't believe he would pay you back.

Good suggestion, Mitch. In any case, Cardone's passionate defense of Trump is to be expected, since Grant and Donny apparently have quite the sleazy bromance going on. From HuffPost, July 20, 2023:

In March 2022, businessman Grant Cardone stood onstage at his annual conference at the Diplomat Beach Resort in South Florida, preparing to introduce a special guest.

“The gentleman I’m about to bring to the circle right here is massively, massively successful,” he said, his voice reverberating through a room filled with thousands of his adoring fans.

As the crowd roared and Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the USA” blared across the sound system, former President Donald Trump emerged from a corner of the room and strode to center stage, spotlights and smoke machines erupting around him.

Trump, smiling, fist-bumped Cardone, who seemed uncharacteristically starstruck as the former president told him, “You have a great reputation.” He added that if Cardone ever went into politics, “You would automatically have my vote. I don’t care whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you have my complete and total endorsement.”

That endorsement has been shared by millions of fans who eagerly follow Cardone’s advice; A-list celebrities like John Travolta, Tom Brady and Kevin Hart who routinely appear at his events; and finance websites like CNBC’s Make It and Forbes that tout him as an expert.

Ah, John Travolta, a fellow Scientologist (who nonetheless has shown recent signs of disillusionment with the evil cultchurch). And Tom Brady, a fellow huckster (as observed on this Whirled back in May of 2016). Turds of a feather...

Cardone's journey from minor scammer to major scammer (with some help from Scientology)
The key to Grant Cardone's success has been his social media skills, which he has leveraged to sell his "training" programs and real estate "investments" to his millions of devoted followers. As one of the world's leading "finfluencers" or financial influencers, he uses the classic Scamworld come-on of flaunting his opulent, ostentatious, celebrity-infested lifestyle while repeating the ancient Scamworld mantra: "And you can too!" From the HuffPost article cited above:

Cardone’s promise is simple: His fans, too, can have a slice of the high life, provided they attend his seminars to learn his sales techniques or invest money in his real estate company.

But as is always the case, sooner or later, with the and-you-can-too grifters, there have been some pesky legal problems as a result of some folks waking up and recognizing that they'd been had.

...lawsuits examined by HuffPost show that he’s been involved in a series of business disputes over the years and that people around him have been accused of fraud by federal authorities. His twin brother, Gary, who put up the seed money for Cardone’s booming real estate business, has been the target of Federal Trade Commission civil action, which alleges his company helped scammers evade credit card fraud alerts. The FTC is petitioning the court to close Gary Cardone’s business and order him to pay money to consumers impacted by his activities. (Gary Cardone did not respond to requests for comment.)

Court records from lawsuits involving Grant Cardone’s training programs include claims from former clients who say they were trapped into lengthy, inflexible contracts that they were unable to pay for or get out of.

The owner of an Ohio power-washing business claims he tried to cancel the firm’s $497-a-month contract after eight weeks but said he was unable to do so. An employee from Cardone’s training company stated they could only cancel after their contract was completely fulfilled, and the firm later sued for the remaining $16,401 of the contract. The case was settled.

Lisa Williams, the owner of Jubilee Family Chiropractic, a struggling family business in Virginia, signed up for a six-year training contract at $795 a month. A fan of Cardone, she claims she maxed out her credit cards to attend training sessions with him....

And then there's a class action lawsuit, filed in 2020, that alleges he used his mighty social media prowess to mislead investors with overblown promises of high returns. Natch, Cardone has denied the allegations, accusing his accusers of suing in order to "hold a company that is doing great things hostage." [There's more about this class action suit in the February 23, 2024 Whirled post. ~ CC]

Cardone is also accused of infusing Scientology teachings into his business methods. He settled a 2017 lawsuit filed by former employees, though the terms of the settlements haven't been made public. And although none of the settled or ongoing lawsuits have named Scientology as a co-defendant, a rep for the cultchurch wrote this to HuffPost:

The slanted and offensive allegations you have sent us, while mostly unsourced, from their tenor, appear to be lifted from a handful of anti-Scientology bigots who shriek at any successful Scientologist. The fact is there are many Scientologists and they are everywhere around the world. You can find them in their homes, at work and helping others in the community.”

And that, as you may know if you know even the basics about Scamworld and cults, is a variation on the standard reponse of both cults and scam artists to criticism: The critics are nothing more than jealous losers who hate success.

For his part, Cardone credits his involvement with Scientology with propelling him to new heights of success.

While Cardone’s training business empire was on the ascent, he was still intent on building something much bigger — and when he joined the Church of Scientology in the early 2000s, his path to wealth accelerated. When asked if he is still a Scientologist, Cardone did not respond. In its written response, the Church of Scientology stated: “While Mr. Cardone is undeniably a prominent parishioner, he holds no official nor unofficial position in the Church hierarchy and has no special ‘status.’”

You really should read the entire Huffpost article (here's that link again), because it provides the history of Grant Cardone's rise in both Scamworld and the Church of Scientology, and it details some of the ways he has tried to leverage his Scientology connections to enhance his own scampire.

Teach your children well...
Unfortunately, it appears that Grant and Elena are encouraging their fourteen-year-old daughter to carry on the scamily tradition. The young girl has made a few headlines for her Tik-Toks where she offers tips on how to become a millionaire before the age of twenty. She has outlined her own plans to do just that by working for her dad, apparently. From Unilad, January 18, 2024:

She said she works for her father, and is paid $4,000 to $5,000 a month. For doing what? Not quite sure, to be honest.

This hefty monthly sum then goes straight into real estate, and according to her own calculations, each year that money is doubled and tripled and will allow her to reach $1 million in the next six years.

Fortunately, not a whole lot of folks seem to be taking her seriously.

Rather than thank you messages for the pseudo financial wisdom, social media users were quick to dispute her method.

Many remarked that most teenagers don’t have access to jobs that merit $60,000 a year.

Others added that they also don’t have a luxury of being able to put all of their money into investments, with their hard earned cash more likely ending up in the pockets of landlords, utility companies, coffee chains, etc.

But apparently the youngster is learning from the best, so she may very well have a great grifting career ahead of her.

For now, her shameless parents are waving the Trump banner proudly, profiting from their promotion of Trump's hero/martyr mythology.

Another Scamworld parallel: Kevin Trudeau's ongoing grift
If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you very likely saw this bit coming a mile away. This is the part where once again, as I have done so many times before, I compare Donald Trump's hero/martyr shtick to that of serial scammer and convicted felon Kevin Trudeau, aka KT, aka Katie on this Whirled. (Katie, by the way, has been a devoted Trumpster for years, as have many of his followers.)

Like Trump, Trudeau has built an entire fundraising scampire around the lie that he is not just fighting for himself, but for each and every one of us, and that when "they" (the government, law enforcement, etc.) come for him, they are coming for us too. Like Trump, he is the mighty warrior who is standing between us and "them." And just like Trump, Kevin Trudeau has an army of sycophantic proxies who spread his message and endlessly fund-raise for him. People are still giving thousands of dollars a month to Kevin Trudeau, a known fraud, because he appeals to some of their basest emotions and because they believe his slick lies that he is looking out for them.

As I often like to say, Donald Trump is Kevin Trudeau, writ large, and conversely, Kevin Trudeau is Donald Trump, writ smaller. Again, turds of a feather...

By the way, Kevin has something in common with Grant Cardone (I mean besides Trumplove, and being an inveterate grifter who brags about his successful lifestyle): an abiding love for Scientology, which, like Cardone, he has infused in various ways into his businesses. Not only did he foist Scientology and Dianetics on his employees in the past, but just recently (January 29, 2024), his "Official Fan Club" page highlighted Speaking From Experience, a business book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, as "the 1st book that Kevin Trudeau has all new staff read." As well, he borrowed heavily from Scientology indoctrination techniques to advance his mega-scam GIN (the Global Information Network).

While we're on the topic of Scientology, there have been some eyebrow-raising Trump-Scientology connections, as noted by The Daily Beast in the July 2020 article linked to in this sentence. And the Cardones aren't the only wealthy Scientologists who luv Trump; there's also another Florida Scientologist named Trish Duggan, who donated many millions of bucks to the Trump campaign in 2020, as well as in 2024 (though she and her fellow donors haven't been able to keep Trump's Save America Super PAC from running out of money). But Trump/Scientology is another rabbit hole, which you're welcome to explore to your heart's content. I don't want to get too far off topic.

And lest you think that I'm beginning to sound like one of the conspiranoid loons I'm always snarking about, I am not suggesting that there is some tightly woven conspiracy or collusion involving Trump/Trudeau/Scientology/the Cardones et al. I'm simply pointing out connections and common threads. For now, though, let's get back to the Cardone con, whose GFM page I just now checked again, and it's already approaching $167,000. Suckers!

How long can the Cardone GFM grift go on?
Some have suggested that the Cardone GoFundMe page violates GFM's terms of service, mentioning, for instance, that GoFundMe has rules against raising funds to pay criminal fines. But Trump's case is civil, not criminal, and so far GoFundMe hasn't taken the page down.

Even so, potential donors would be wise to question the Cardones' promises about the disposal of the funds. Until and unless the Cardones actually get nabbed for fraud, it looks like a win-win situation for them. As a writer on the National Zero blog put it on February 16, 2024:

In the first of what is sure to be many crowdfunding efforts to pay Donald Trump's $355 million judgment, Elena Cardone, the wife of wealth fund manager Grant Cardone–himself worth a reported $700 million who runs a website called 10xGrowthCon (c'mon people, the word "con" is right in the name)–wants everyday people to pay for Trump's malfeasance by setting up a site on GoFundMe.

"In standing with Trump, we're not just supporting an individual; we're upholding the cause of every patriot who believes in the fight against a system that increasingly seeks to penalize dissent and curb our freedoms," Cardone asserts defiantly. "This is more than a legal fund; it's a clarion call to all patriots to rally in defense of a man who has never hesitated to stand in defense of us." It's also a way to generate a fantastic mailing list of people who want to experience 10xGrowth.

Yes, there is that.

All of this puts me in mind of another Trump-related scam from a few years back, We Build The Wall, in which a few shameless Trumpsters, including the terminally repulsive Steve Bannon, suckered the rubes out of millions of bucks to go towards building Donnie's big Wall because the big bad government was refusing to fund it. That scheme did turn out to be a big fraud, with legal consequences.

As for the Cardones' GoFundMe grift, at this point, I am inclined to agree with one of the commenters on the National Zero post I linked to above. In response to the suggestion that folks should report the Cardone page to GFM for violation of TOS, one person wrote:

It's beautiful, but part of me does not want to interfere with the separation of fools and their money. Particularly since these monies are likely to go to GOP campaign funds if not diverted.

As for me, I'm finding it more and more difficult to sympathize with anyone who is willingly screwed by a grifter, whether that grifter is Grant Cardone, Kevin Trudeau, or Donald Trump.

The takeaway, once again: Caveat emptor. And if you want to save democracy in America, vote blue.

PS added on February 18, 2024: I checked the Cardones' GoFundMe grift page, and the donations now total more than $306,000.00. Granted, that's a long way from $355 million, but still. One of the people I follow on Xitter, Brian Kassenstein, posted about the grift page yesterday, writing:

A billionaire, Grant Cardone's wife, is raising $355,000,000.00 for another alleged Billionaire, via GoFundMe, because the one billionaire was found to have committed FRAUD.

So far hundreds of non-billionaires have donated money to the billionaire, who committed fraud, in order to help that billionaire pay off his fine, of which would indirectly go to the taxpayers of New York.

I'd rather light my money on fire. At least I'd get a few seconds of entertainment..

I'm just waiting for it to be shut down because it appears to violate Gofundme's rules.

I'm surprised these people have money left after all the NFTs and gold Trump coins they have purchased over the years.

Since the page remains up and running, I'm thinking that it will be allowed to stay up and running, most likely because it doesn't violate GFM's rules. Here is the link to GFM's terms of service, which may or may not be helpful to you if you're trying to figure out whether or not the Cardones' grift actually violates those terms.

Just for grins I copied and pasted the top 99 donations at the time, eliminating last names. I wonder how many of these folks who donated hundreds or thousands of dollars to help Trump are also bitching about how horrible the economy is under Biden, or are griping because food and gasoline prices are still too high. You can buy a lot of food and gas for $2,500. Just saying.

1. Aaron J.         $5,000
2. Anonymous         $2,500
3. Anonymous         $2,000
4. Anonymous         $2,000
5. Anonymous         $1,500
6. Stuart G.         $1,000
7. James W.         $1,000
8. James F.         $1,000
9. Anonymous         $1,000
10. margaret k.         $1,000
11. Edward L.         $1,000
12. Diana O.         $1,000
13. Michael D.         $1,000
14. Anonymous         $1,000
15. Anonymous         $1,000
16. Luke & Toni Ann R.         $1,000
17. joseph p.         $1,000
18. Anonymous         $1,000
19. Theresa K.         $1,000
20. Trey M.         $1,000
21. Anonymous         $500
22. Anonymous         $500
23. Jeffery R.         $500
24. Brook N.         $500
25. Anonymous         $500
26. Russell B.         $500
27. Brad M.         $500
28. Maria B.         $500
29. Anonymous         $500
30. Marie E.         $500
31. Glenn S.         $500
32. Anonymous         $500
33. Anonymous         $500
34. Scott B.         $500
35. ALICE A.         $500
36. William L.         $500
37. Anonymous         $500
38. Moon P.         $500
39. Don W.         $500
40. Anonymous         $500
41. Anonymous         $500
42. Gordon S.         $500
43. Anonymous         $500
44. Anonymous         $500
45. Anonymous         $500
46. Anonymous         $500
47. Eva P.         $500
48. Judy S.         $500
49. Javier R.         $500
50. Matthew I.         $500
51. Yvette B. G.         $500
52. Anonymous         $500
53. Yvette G.         $500
54. Anonymous         $500
55. Anonymous         $500
56. Anonymous         $500
57. Zachary T.         $500
58. Anonymous         $500
59. Anonymous         $500
60. Brock B.         $500
61. Anonymous         $500
62. Bethny H.         $500
63. Joseph M.         $500
64. brian N.         $500
65. Anonymous         $500
66. Donna I.         $500
67. Richard A.         $500
68. Angela G.         $500
69. Anonymous         $500
70. Anonymous         $500
71. Jay C.         $500
72. Barry C.         $500
73. Lisa C.         $500
74. Anonymous         $400
75. Brandy M.         $400
76. David B.         $360
77. Terence M.         $355
78. Anonymous         $355
79. Erick G.         $333
80. Anonymous         $300
81. Anonymous         $300
82. Lance L.         $300
83. KEVIN F.         $300
84. Anonymous         $300
85. margaret k.         $300
86. Sophia M.         $300
87. Anonymous         $300
88. Cambridge C.         $300
89. Kenton A.         $275
90. Anonymous         $253
91. Ronald L.         $250
92. Donna M.         $250
93. Anonymous         $250
94. Anonymous         $250
95. Anonymous         $250
96. Karla H.         $250
97. Anonymous         $250
98. T E         $250
99. Anonymous         $250 

Update/addendum, February 22, 2024
The bucks keep coming in to the Cardones' gift page; when I checked just now the total was approaching $975,000.00, and it's still steadily climbing. As of a couple of days ago, the top donation was an anonymous gift of ten grand. $975k is still a long way from $355 million, but there's no indication that GoFundMe has any intention of taking the page down any time soon, and apparently there's no deadline for reaching the goal, so it may stay up indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Elena Cardone has added a few paragraphs to her original pity-the-poor-billionaire-business-owner screed:

Given the circumstances, my husband and I have also now decided to cancel all future events in NY and halt all our real estate ventures there. I believe NY is not safe nor a place to conduct business at this time.

Thank you to all who are showing support. We ARE standing for what’s right. We ARE being seen and heard.

My lawyers are diligently working to ensure the funds are utilized properly.

Thank you for Standing With Trump, and thank you for Standing for This Country.

This would be merely funny if not for the fact that so many dimwits believe it. Anyone who is Standing With Trump is, undoubtedly, Standing With Trump, but is emphatically not Standing for This Country and is certainly not standing up for what's right. Elena is either gaslighting, or she is willfully blind to the grave danger Trump poses for American (and world) democracy.

As for the Cardones boycotting New York -- wow, what a devastating blow to a state (and city) that have already been felled by the latest stupid MAGAtrucker boycott.

Another update, February 23, 2024:
The GoFundMe sucker fund total has now exceeded $1 million, and Elena Cardone added an extended Update about this milestone to to her original begging-for-bucks missive. She also took time to assure donors that the funds are really, really, really going to be used only as intended, i.e., "to cover fines related to the New York civil fraud case, its appeal, and any related expenses." Hmmm... "any related expenses" could cover, well, just about anything.

And there's also this: "We are currently in communication with President Donald Trump's team to ensure that he can and will accept the funds raised. It's crucial that we navigate this process carefully and legally, and we appreciate your patience as we work through the details."

So, if it's determined that Trump can't or won't accept the funds, will everyone who contributed get a refund? Elena pledges "transparency," but I'm thinking that with hucksters, particularly Trump-aligned hucksters, the use of the word "transparency" could be like Vizzini's use of "inconceivable" in the movie The Princess Bride.

This post has been updated and amended several times since its original publication on February 17, 2024. ~CC

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Old Glory: banking on reich-wing conspiranoia

 

Old Glory Bank wraps itself in the American flag and the bogus banner of anti-wokeness to appeal to reich-wingers' grievances and fuel their conspiranoia.

For years I've been harping on the theme of reich-wing/"conservative"/Christofascist whining -- members of those interrelated tribes are perpetually griping about being "censored" or "cancelled" or "deplatformed" or some such -- so The Great Debanking Narrative, one of the more recent vintages of the same tired old red whine, comes as little surprise.

The Great Debanking Narrative holds that good, patriotic, law-abiding Americans are being "cancelled" by big banks solely because of their political and/or social and/or religious values. A driving force in this narrative at the moment is a relatively new digital financial institution, based in Oklahoma, that calls itself Old Glory Bank, which uses the debanking issue as its primary marketing hook.

Formerly the First State Bank of Elmore, Oklahoma, Old Glory was founded by a quartet of reich-wingers. These include conservative political commentator, radio host, former GOP presidential candidate and ardent Trumper/election denier Larry Elder; country music singer and reich-wing zealot/Trump supporter/former Celebrity Apprentice winner John Rich; former Trump HUD secretary "Sleepy" Ben Carson; and former two-term Governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin-Christensen, a woman with impeccable reich-wing credentials (anti-LGBTQ... anti-public-school-teachers... anti-affordable-health care... anti-reproductive-rights... but pro-Big-Oil and a Trump ally to boot).

Old Glory proudly declares that its mission statement is the United States Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights, with a focus on the First and Second Amendments. Judging from examples cited in the press release linked to in the previous sentence, that focus is framed in a host of imaginary grievances:

If the government requests that Old Glory Bank punish or cancel a customer for lawfully attending a protest, Old Glory Bank confirms it will not comply. If the government requests that Old Glory Bank cancel a customer for participating in the American lifestyle and using fossil fuels and lawful firearms, Old Glory Bank states it will not comply.

I noticed that the press release neglects to mention customers who -- armed with tear gas, stun guns, pepper spray, bear spray, metal bars, flagpoles, baseball bats etc. -- attend a "peaceful tour" of the United States Capitol Building (which is, after all, the people's building!), and break its windows, smear feces on its walls and floors, threaten to murder legislators and the vice president, beat police officers within an inch of their lives, and attempt to violently overthrow the United States government in order to keep their Cheeto Jesus in power. But maybe that wasn't mentioned because it goes without saying that the J6 "patriots" are among the oppressed/repressed/censored/egregiously wronged target market for Old Glory.

Old Glory Bank has been popping up on my Xitter feed frequently of late, due to its paid ads, most notably this one from October 17, 2023:

Too many law-abiding Americans are having their bank accounts canceled simply because their bank doesn’t like what they stand for. That’s un-American. Old Glory Bank’s mission statement is the Constitution. Open your account today at [old glory bank dot com].

When one reader expressed cynicism about Old Glory Bank's allegation, the bank responded with a flustercuck of multiple links defending its opinion that good, God-fearing, patriotic Muricans are in fact getting debanked solely because of their anti-woke beliefs and values. That response was copied and pasted several additional times on the thread, and on other Old Glory posts where the bank's allegation was challenged.

Links that prove... not much at all
Since I don't believe in presenting multiple links as a flustercuck, I'll break them down for you here [with annotations by me], in the order in which they were (repeatedly) presented by Old Glory Bank. You can follow the links and decide for yourself whether or not they actually prove the allegations or merely document them.

Before you accuse me of engaging in ad hominem arguments and failing to prove my point, I'll add that I am aware of the fact that my annotations to the link list and my criticisms of the debanked accusers do not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were not targeted by their banks purely for their personal values and beliefs. That said, the only completely honest statement about the accusations against the banks is that we just don’t know for sure. Anecdotal evidence and opinions do not constitute proof.

Much to the credit of Xitter-at-large, there has been plenty of trolling on the Old Glory ad cited above. Overall the responses are skeptical, with several folks declaring that OGB is most likely just another Trumpian grift. (One naughty wag expressed distrust in a bank that was named after a glory hole.) Apparently Old Glory gave up on responding to every one of the doubters. But at least the remarks have been allowed to stand, so far, so it could be said that OGB is at least honoring its stated commitment to free speech.

* * * * *

As you can imagine, the reich-wing media were all agog at the news about the formation of Old Glory Bank. For instance, Western Journal had this to say:

Financial organizations including PayPal, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase Bank, and online fundraisers including GoFundMe have all canceled customers merely because they support conservative causes or traditional American values.

In June of last year, for instance, two Florida-based banks, BankUnited and Professional Bank, canceled President Donald Trump’s accounts after the left falsely accused him of fomenting an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2020.

"Falsely" accusing Trump of fomenting an insurrection... yeah, okay. Totally objective reporting there.

The American Tribune wrote:

A group composed of Larry Elder, Ben Carson, John Rich, and other American patriots has banded together to buy a bank in Oklahoma, First State Bank of Elmore City, so that they can run it as a bank that caters to ordinary Americans that don’t want to be “debanked” for supporting the same values as their ancestors, as many conservatives, particularly those in the punditry and firearms industries, have been in recent years.

So it's all about the guns and the punditry (gunditry?).

The Daily Wire focused its announcement about Old Glory Bank on the evil censorship and "cancellation" of conservatives by Big Tech. Other outlets basically parroted the Old Glory Bank press releases. Press releases are the eternal blessing for lazy journalists.

Real values or empty words?
Some might argue that there’s nothing inherently bad about establishing a business based upon specific political/social values or principles, nor with choosing that company’s products or services based on one’s support of those values. It happens all the time, and certainly there are businesses -- yes, even financial institutions -- that are based on or cater to progressive or liberal or "woke" values such as environmental friendliness or social responsibility. Live and let live, give consumers a wide range of choices, let the market decide, and so forth. And, in general, I would agree with these arguments, but in the case of blatantly right-wing factions these days, there seems to be a glaring double standard.

For instance -- and I hope you'll pardon what might appear to be a digression -- consider the intensive effort by red (MAGA-poisoned) states in the US to seriously restrict ESG (environmental, social, governance) investment of public funds. ESG investing means, in theory, that in addition to financial analysis of the investment, environmental, social, and corporate governance factors are also taken into account.

Never mind the credible argument, calmly and rationally laid out in this February 2023 piece from The New Republic, that the whole "woke investors" thing is mostly a fabrication (the CRT of the investment world?), since the so-called "woke" money managers really care only about their bottom line. The red pols have deemed ESG to be "woke" and they don't like it at all -- partly on general [fascist] principle, and partly or mostly because they reflexively fight anything that might possibly smooth the transition from fossil fuels to more sustainable energy. Mustn't let the big oil and gas companies down.

Accordingly, red states from Texas to Florida to West Virginia have labored mightily to stop public pension funds from using ESG as a consideration when making investment decisions, and they have pulled billions from asset management firms such as BlackRock, despite concerns that doing so would cause financial harm. To them, anti-woke values are clearly more valuable than woke ones, potential adverse financial consequences be damned.

Since we're on the topic of values and principles, let's get back specifically to Old Glory Bank, which proudly proclaims its own values as "American" ones while flagrantly catering specifically to the reich. I wonder, as it seems that others have wondered (judging from the Xitter trolls) if the bank would be equally willing to embrace individuals or companies with blatantly “woke” values such as LGBTQ rights, racial equality, reproductive choice, assault weapons bans and other sensible gun safety measures, the phasing out of fossil fuels in order to address the climate crisis, and the like. And what about flag burners, who are only exercising their First Amendment rights, after all? Or advocates of police defunding/abolition? Would OGB remain true to their slogan, “We stand with you, no matter where you stand”?

Finally, I think it's appropriate to address Old Glory Bank's general branding as having the customer's best interests at heart, as opposed to the evil big banks. I have to wonder why the reich/republicans -- whose base is clearly the target market for Old Glory Bank -- seem so determined to undermine larger efforts at real, widespread banking reform and consumer protection in general. Yes, I know that unfortunately the banking lobby is so powerful that even some Democrats, fearing their reelection chances, joined forces with the republicans in 2018 to weaken banking regulations. But by and large it's the republicans who fight regulation of the banking and finance industries, mainly because they're deeply beholden to Big Banking. Repubs are even trying to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other hard-fought-for consumer protection agencies and initiatives.

For that matter, the reich/republicans and their allies seem hellbent on destroying as many consumer protection agencies, laws, regulations, and practices as possible, taking us back to the bad old daze. Xitter owner Elon Musk has been preaching the word about the urgent need for "comprehensive deregulation." One of my favorite Xitter wags, Mrs. Betty Bowers, responded to one of Musk's tweets a couple of days ago:

Bring back: Lead paint. Asbestos. Flammable pajamas. No seatbelts. Canned tuna fish with mercury. Grocery stores bleaching chicken to make it look less rancid. Car companies, like Tesla, endangering drivers with exploding cars. Payday loans that steal from people.

Viewed in that greater context, Old Glory Bank's expressed concern for protecting their customers in any substantial way is hypocritical, and their overall mission amounts to little more than grandstanding on behalf of reich-wing identity politics. They may be fooling MAGAts, but they aren't fooling the rest of us.

"Anti-wokeness" is a growth industry
The marketing strategy for Old Glory Bank is rooted in two intertwining myths: (1) that the American reich holds the undisputed monopoly on patriotism, faith, support for liberty and freedom of speech, support for first responders and the military, concern about national security, and every other fine American value you could name; and (2) that because of their embrace of these stellar values, the reich are being grievously oppressed by the government, the courts, the media, Big Tech, the education system, and now, the financial system as well. In this garbled hero/martyr narrative, every aspect of American life has been "weaponized" against the good guys.

As it happens, Old Glory Bank wasn't the first bank to attempt to do the very thing they accuse big banks of doing: weaponizing the financial system. In late 2022, a banking startup called GloriFi collapsed before it had even begun. From Rolling Stone, November 21, 2022:

Pitching itself as a financial institution that allowed one to be “free to celebrate your love of God and country without fear of cancellation,” GloriFi’s marketing read more like a campaign ad than an enticing APR offer on a new credit card. Highlights from the “about us” page include: “OUR BILL OF RIGHTS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE” and “WE ARE ONE NATION UNDER GOD.” 

In its short tenure GloriFi, managed to launch checking and savings accounts as well as credit cards, with plans to offer mortgages and insurance in a future that will no longer take place. Founder and CEO Toby Neugebauer pitched plans to offer gun owners discounts on home insurance, credit cards made of shell casing material, and assistance paying legal bills if customers shot someone in self-defense. Over the summer, GloriFi secured conservative commentator Candace Owens as a co-founder and spokesperson for the brand. 

Wow... there are those gun-nut/ammosexual values again. These people are obsessed with their firearms. Alas, GloriFi was unable to put its real-world money where its grandstanding mouth was. Reported chaos among staff and financiers, and clashes with Texas financial regulators, caused it to miss its planned launch date several times. The drinking habits of Toby Neugebauer, who converted his Dallas mansion into the company headquarters, didn't help matters at all. In the end, GloriFi went down in a blaze of... well, not exactly glory.

But the idea of "anti-woke" banking just wouldn't die, and along came Old Glory, proudly waving its colors and its ideology. And it's not just banking that has captured the anti-woke crapitalist imagination. There is a whole parallel economy developing in America, composed of firms whose stated mission is to fight the perceived threat of "wokeness" -- you know, such devilish concepts as LGBTQ rights, racial and ethnic diversity and equality, reproductive autonomy for women, rational gun safety laws, acceptance of climate science, and so on.

But again... not surprising. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, fascists gotta fash.

Debunking the debanking narrative? Maybe it's just the algorithms
Reich-wing whining aside, there are plenty of reasons to hate big banks. I get it. At one time or another, many if not most consumers (me included) have been frustrated by banking policies and practices, such as outrageous fees for every activity or mistake; incomprehensible and seemingly arbitrary terms and conditions; lousy customer service; systemic racial bias in loan practices; big banks' support of predatory lenders; lack of transparency; data breaches; and on and on. And yes, banks have been known to close customers' accounts for reasons that don't make sense and/or that the banks refuse to divulge to bewildered account holders.

And, indeed, if any of the above-mentioned reich-wing whiners' accounts were closed solely because of their political beliefs or their faith, that is unacceptable, no matter how strongly I may disagree with those beliefs.

But from what I have seen so far, there is no hard evidence that right-wingers/conservatives/religious (translate: right-wing Christians) are being targeted for those reasons. What we have instead is only their own and their allies' anecdotal evidence, rooted, as always, in an intractable persecution complex.

More importantly, suffering consumers are not, in fact, limited to members of the conspicuously righteous reich. In recent years, banks have been suspending, restricting, or closing accounts belonging to a broad demographic of hapless consumers, oftentimes citing "suspicious activity" as a reason but refusing to offer the account holders any further explanation.

And while some may claim that attributing the arbitrary actions to "algorithms" is a convenient coverup for nefarious activities on the part of the banks, in many cases the problems may very well be rooted in algorithms, and exacerbated by confusing and conflicting laws and regulations as well as plain human incompetence. An article in the New York Times (April 8, 2023) went into these issues in some detail.

Whatever your opinion may be of the Times, the article is worth reading if you can get past the paywall. For those who can't, here's a Bing search results link to other resources.

But I really don't expect my little shout into the void to make any difference at all in the reich-wing persecution narrative, which has become such rich marketing/fundraising fodder not only for politicians and theocrats but also for "anti-woke" businesses such as Old Glory Bank. Reality is nuanced and complex, but marketing strategies almost never are. The ongoing attempt to repress the righteous is their story, and by golly, they're sticking to it.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)