From The New Republic:
Empty Threat: How Big Business Lost Its Big Bet on Trump
The captains of industry that many assumed would keep the president in check all turned out to be paper tigers. Democrats, take note.
Felipe De La Hoz
October 16, 2026
…………..
If there is one shred of silver lining from Trump’s total rolling of business and civil society, particularly in the first year and a half of his second term, it’s the pretty conclusive falsification of the idea that Big Money was going to be the ultimate arbiter of what policy was possible in Washington. There have doubtlessly been rewards for those who have sucked up to the president and his political movement, in the way that regime-affiliated oligarchs always find some spoils in authoritarian governments. But as for the money men who were ostensibly going to fly in and curb Trump’s wanton destruction, they either meekly acquiesced early on or they watched powerlessly as Trump tossed Molotov cocktails into the postwar economic order. As bad as the truth has been to witness, it’s good to shed ourselves of this myth.
The fact of the matter is that the so-called captains of industry have fully ascended into cloud-cuckoo-land. The markets have kept riding high on the fabled promise of some AI renaissance (or AI domination, as some investors are certainly hoping for), but outside of that bubble, the dollar is volatile and down despite short-term rallies, longtime trading partners are restructuring their exports and imports away from an unreliable U.S., and our once gold-standard attraction of global talent and scientific discovery is smoldering…
When increasingly irate voters return power to ostensibly liberal political leaders, they will expect the latter to use it—and forcefully so. There can be no “We have to work in concert with the job creators”; none of this “We can’t stare down all of Wall Street.” Defeatism is a dead letter. A popular mandate around improving lives with social programs, a resurgence of antitrust, a reassertion of privacy rights, and a corporate sphere that exists under regulatory scrutiny instead of the other way around will require going head-to-head with the moneyed and entrenched interests that nonetheless folded like a cheap suit before a single, now wildly unpopular narcissist and his cabal of misfit toys. It can be done. It must be done.
Yes. They played themselves and betrayed the very foundation of this country. Don’t have to be a socialist to recognize that they need regulation.
National treasure Dave Roth, at Defector [gift link]:
David_j_roth
@davidjroth.bsky.social
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Huge co-sign from Trump on Ramaswamy’s shockingly vile ad just now. It has to feel amazing, if you’re running as an abusive predator, to get this kind of endorsement from the number one abusive predator in the game.
Defector
@defector.com
· 4d
Vivek Ramaswamy is going after the abusive parent vote: defector.com/vivek-ramasw…
Cheri DiNovo
@CheriDiNovo
Canada announces: Telesat, homegrown satellites, will be expanded and Starlink usage will soon be removed. This is what every country on earth should do asap.
7:26 AM · Oct 18, 2026
Tim
@trouble_man90
12h
Not sure where this new rule got started; usually the losing candidate gives a concession, endorses the winner, and then just kinda goes away. Expecting her to be his top surrogate is weird; that’s never been the norm, and leftists aren’t doing the same in races they lost
The United States versus Elon Reed Musk
@Needle_of_Arya
This part. When the far left began winning primaries more often, they asked of normies something that they have never given normie candidates: an immediate & full-throated endorsement. If things don’t go both ways and all ways, it’s a selfish & one-sided relationship.
This was so romantic and adorable :)
Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1
The Ramaswamy ad has pushed the largest newspaper in Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, to reverse its position on endorsements. “A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party. We are better than this. We have a responsibility to show it. Today we endorse Democrat Amy Acton for governor.” cleveland.com/open/2026/10/w…
RIP
The Hollywood Reporter@THR
Walter Koenig, the Russian Crewman Chekov on ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 90
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊