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All these rich guys are donating the same amount? Yeah, that doesn’t feel like a donation but more like a purchase/fee/protection money.
At that level it is like giving pocket change to the crazy homeless guy so he doesn’t yell at you
Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
Nothing will meaningfully improve until there's a cap on how rich someone can become.
Yup, look at them, people. Look at the big-named people all lining up to kiss the biggest corrupted ass that this country has ever seen. It's like they're paying a million just to suck Trump's flaccid old cock. Look at them!
Don't just look at them - take notes. These are names we will want to remember later.
It's going to be a long line.
Luigi
Luigi
Luigi
True American hero!!!
“EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
lmfao
What a fucking idjit.
Trump has no friends, never has.
He is. He is also the one getting paid, so he's not alone.
I guess this is how we make a list.
To be fair, they didn't start the tradition of having ridiculous expensive coronation ceremonies paid with legalized bribes every four years. And even that is just a symptom of the monarchical nature of the US presidency.
All paying their tithe.
This is way less than 10%. He's a bargain.
The percentage isn't the point. The amount is. It's telling the world who is under his thumb.
Did you ... Did you donate $420,000.69 to my inauguration fund?
Why is it trump’s fund? I thought musk was the president
It must be like the charity bowl they put out at events. Musk doesn't need the money but Trump is desperate for it.
He's acting president.
Overthrowing a democracy is expensive
Pretty cheap if you're a billionaire
That's because they socialize the cost.
Anyone got a full list? Asking for a friend...
Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sam Altman (OpenAi), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber), Jim Loree (Black and Decker), Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Intuit, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and many other undisclosed in the article.
The part particularly concerning to me is
Trump aides have indicated that the fundraising isn’t about the money but a symbolic means to exact an apology for any previous perceived lapse of loyalty.
a very fascist wording. You don't have to be "loyal" to the President, unless he's a dictator.
Heh. I only use one of those. Time to make a change, then.
RIP US democracy.
Will they be paying people to fill the mall during the inauguration this time?
No need to pay when you can force them at gunpoint.
It's the only way they'll get anyone to show up. And with how fragile his ego is, this is likely high on his list.
It'll be hilarious if the crowd is even smaller than last time.
Dumb Donnie will keep most of the money and everyone will get 1 cocktail weenie as a snack. Fleecing the idiots is his job.
Bribes
One more reason to hate these guys.
Spineless fuckers!
They donate to every inauguration. Apparently that's traditional. Expecting billionaires to show spine here is to expect them to go against their financial interests. They wouldn't be billionaires of they were willing to do that.
That's another reason why there should be no billionaires.
Yes. But your statement seeks to normalize trump as any other president. He is not.
The point isn't that they've given before, it's that they are giving to him, now, with all of his clearly stated intent to harm people and American democracy.
Meta is least surprising, they hired one of the actual authors of Project 2025 and he still works there today AFAIK.
I think it's useful for people to consider that he's not that out of the ordinary. Instead he's just blatantly transparent, whereas others have been more covert. E.g. Reagan did receive a handbook from the Heritage Foundation. He implemented 60% of it within a year. That's the same Heritage Foundation that produced Project 2025. I think understanding that could help people look for solutions that stop perpetuating the ordinary that's gotten us to where we are today. And yes, of course there are differences between any two candidates or presidents, some significant in the way they affect the majority. Placed on a timeline however, they seem more like slight changes on the trend line towards a strong oligarchy.
Again, you're seeking to normalize trump, and you're wrong to do so. "He's not that out of the ordinary"... maybe among other ghoulish republican pieces of shit that had historically negative impacts on the stability of our democracy and again, trump is an order of magnitude beyond anything before him. Regan was a cancer, but he didn't allow for and encourage a Jan 6th insurrection as trump did and does, for example.
This isn't regan, as insidiously horrible as he was - if you'd like, regan was a surgeon with a scalpel, a patient list provided and clear instructions of how to execute select victims. trump is an unhinged serial killer that uses a bowling ball covered in rusted nails to kill, and his victim choice depends a lot on who looks at him on the bus that day. And he's also sundowning in parallel, so sometimes you didn't even look at him on the bus and you're still getting the ball to the back of the head because he shit his pants and the sound startled him into a blind rage.
Indeed, here are some of the donors for the Obama inauguration: https://www.opensecrets.org/obama/inaug.php
I don't see Facebook/meta, Google or Amazon on that list?
Indeed. Fascinating if true...
I don't know about Obama inauguration, but for the Biden inauguration both Google and Amazon donated a lot. Jeff Bezos also gave $100 million to the Obama Presidential Library.