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Trump Scams MAGA Faithful Again - The Monday AM Quickie 10/21/24

By Jacob Silverman —

This is a pro-Dodgers newsletter 2.5 days a week, so today we celebrate the Boys in Blue going to the World Series. -Jacob

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THE BIG NEWS

With Truth Social, Election Lies, and Crypto, Trump Once Again Scams the MAGA Faithful

In the last weeks before the presidential election, Donald Trump has found new ways to lie and grift from his fans. Last week, Trump launched his crypto platform World Liberty Financial, which appears to be an obvious scam driven by his sons and a hilariously shady group of crypto lifers. The project aimed to sell about $300 million worth of digital tokens – essentially, free money in Trump's pocket – but managed about $10 million. That might be in part because World Liberty Financial's terms of service explains that their tokens are non-transferrable, locked indefinitely, and can't be sold or moved off the platform. Another word for that is "worthless."

At the same time, Trump's most vocal and important backer, Elon Musk, has done everything from promise money to voters (illegally) to fund a dark money group that is spreading stories of a fictional Democratic plan called Progress 2028. The canvassers that Musk's America PAC hired in important swing states may have lied about visiting many homes of potential voters. Future Coalition PAC, another Musk-sponsored organization, is micro-targeting Muslim and Jewish voters in Michigan, showing them opposite messages designed to turn them against Harris and the Democratic Party.

A new whistleblower complaint from an anonymous employee at Trump Media is threatening to draw attention to that company's sketchy operations. According to ProPublica, which published details of the complaint, an unnamed employee, purportedly representing a number of senior company employees, believes that Trump Media has "substantial risk of legal action" under the slipshod management of CEO Devin Nunes (who you may remember as a greasy Trump loyalist when he was a member of Congress). The whistleblower complaint also makes clear that Trump's "America First" company is outsourcing jobs abroad, mostly through a Macedonian IT company founded by Chris Pavlovski, who's CEO of the right-wing video platform Rumble. Finally, the complaint alleges that employees were pressured to sell their volatile stock at an inopportune time.

As for Trump, he continues to live in his own bizarre, violent fantasy world of American doomerism, bouncing between apocalyptic rallies, NFL luxury boxes, and half-baked media stunts. In Pennsylvania yesterday, Trump appeared at a McDonald's that was closed to the public and pretended to serve food as cameras filmed the action. Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz took credit for provoking Trump into stepping behind the fast-food counter. "Can you imagine that guy skydiving?" he told reporters. "See if I can bait him into it."

Despite Killing Sinwar, Israel Continues Bombarding Gaza and Lebanon

After killing two of Hamas' leaders in quick succession, Israel has not slowed its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. The Israeli air force claimed on Saturday that it had attacked 175 targets in 24 hours. In northern Gaza, where residents are suffering under a horrific siege, 73 people died in one air strike. Residents of Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp, spent the weekend posting goodbyes on social media, not knowing when their turn would come. Amidst reports of summary executions, pictures emerged of men and young boys, their hands bound, being led on a forced march by Israeli soldiers. (An Israeli radio station claimed they were "citizens" being "evacuated.") Dozens of Gazans were reported killed as Israeli tanks and ground forces hunted Hamas militants in the area. A senior Israeli officer was killed in the operation.

In Lebanon in recent days, Israeli forces fired at UN peacekeepers, prevented them from getting supplies, and destroyed their watch towers; burned schools; destroyed Christian villages and bombed refugees seeking shelter in northern Lebanon; and began bombing branches of a financial institution that it claimed helped finance Hezbollah but is better known for providing small loans to farmers and other working people in local communities.

On Friday, a Hezbollah drone struck near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private home. Netanyahu wasn't there.

Israel Plans to Attack Iran, According to Leaked Intel

Classified assessments of Israel's preparations for an attack on Iran have leaked online, first appearing on a "pro-Iranian" Telegram account and then spreading across the internet. The documents describe Israel moving military assets into place to prepare yet another round of bombing, this time in response to Iran's Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack – which itself was a response to Israel blowing up then-Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, among other provocations.

US officials are concerned about how the information might have leaked. A foreign hack, some kind of negligence, or a disaffected service member are possibilities. One official told CNN that it's "deeply concerning." But most reporting on this episode seems to have ignored the blaring headline: Israel plans another attack on Iran that may further escalate this disastrous regional conflict, and the Biden administration seems unlikely to do anything about it.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Boeing and Machinists Union May Have a Deal After striking for five months, the union representing 30,000 machinists at Boeing has agreed to a potential deal with the company. The new agreement calls for a 35 percent pay increase over four years and better retirement benefits. via CNBC and Reuters.
  • Is Elon Musk Illegally Paying Off Voters? The richest, most annoying man in the world has been conducting all kinds of schemes to get voters to support Donald Trump. Musk's latest – an offer to pay $1 million each day to a different registered Pennsylvania voter who signs a petition – seems to actually violate federal election law. Will he ever be indicted? For anything? via Election Law Blog.
  • North Korean Soldiers Might Be Assisting Russia in Ukraine The South Korean government claims that 1,500 members of the North Korean special forces are assisting Russian forces in their invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has been a steady supplier for weapons and ammunition to its Russian ally. The United States and NATO have yet to confirm that North Korean troops are deployed in Ukraine. via WaPo.
  • Campaigning In Georgia, Harris Hits Trump on Abortion Rights Vice President Kamala Harris called Donald Trump "cruel" for his role in dismantling abortion access that has since led to the deaths of women in states like Georgia. "Donald Trump still refuses to take accountability, to take any accountability, for the pain and the suffering he has caused," said the Democratic presidential nominee, who has lately tried to remind voters that her opponent is an unfeeling monster. via AP.

SOME NUMBER

3

That's how many of the largest tech companies – Microsoft, Amazon, and Google – have announced plans to buy nuclear power in order to serve their insatiable energy needs for gigantic data centers powering AI applications. In the case of Microsoft, the company reached a deal to re-start operations at the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear facility. What distinguishes these deals is that the tech companies want all of the available power (and then some). Amazon and Google are investing in small "modular reactors" that could serve their data centers directly.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

10/21: Happy Monday! Sam & Emma speak with Grace Blakeley, English economics & politics commentator, staff writer at Tribune, to discuss her recent book Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Elon's Dork MAGA Rally Gets AWKWARD

Does he know we can see this?

Trump STRUGGLES Answering Simple Question

There's no way that Donald Trump understands what his crypto platform is doing. That doesn't mean he can't try to sell it.

PARTING WORDS

“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women. This is a guy that was all man. When he took the showers with other pros, they came out of there. They said, ‘Oh my God. That’s unbelievable.’ I had to say it. We have women that are highly sophisticated here, but they used to look at Arnold as a man.”

-- Deranged felon Donald Trump talking about legendary golfer Arnold Palmer's dick to a crowd of MAGA voters during a rally in Palmer's hometown in Pennsylvania. Trump was supposed to be giving his "closing pitch" to voters in a crucial swing state.

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