It’s a simple, straightforward formula: Politicians need money — lots and lots of money — to stay in power. (It isn’t exactly true since their reelection rates are sky-high anyway. But I guess when it’s their jobs on the line, it’s “all hands on deck.”) Businesses lust over the power of politicians: The right tax break or the wrong regulations can make or break your company.
That’s a helluva motivator.
Not too long ago, when politicians had minimal control over businesses, businesses generally ignored politicians. No point alienating half your audience, right? But in today’s age of crony capitalism, favor-peddling, and partisan lawfare, businesses can’t afford to be apolitical anymore. It’s too expensive.
Instead, they’ve gotta pick a side and pay the admission fee. It’s basically the “protection racket” that “Italian gentlemen” (ahem) perfected in the 1950s.
This is what happens when politicians meddle in business: They’re rewarded with riches and showered with money because it’s easier to bribe them than to fight them!
It’s just too dangerous out there today. Your business needs D.C. “muscle” to survive. This means that you must pick one of the two major crime families: The Republican Party or the Democratic Party. You've gotta pick one side or the other.
As Roddy Piper explained it:
So the businesses give money to the politicians. Then the politicians “do favors” for the businesses — helping ‘em out and kneecapping their rivals. (“Fuhgedda bowdit!”) That’s how the political game is played.
For most of the past 50 years, neither party has been incentivized to change the rules of the game. Hey, why should they? In a binary political system, both sides benefited from the arrangement! Partisan politics is literally a billion-dollar industry.
One side is selling candy, cookies, and sugary snacks; the other is selling diet food and weight-loss pills. Whatever side of the ledger you’re on, one of the two parties will be lining their pockets. It’s a fantastic system for entrenched oligarchs!
But the trouble is, the system has a fatal flaw: What happens when one of the crime families loses their muscle?
There’s no point, after all, in paying protection money to someone who can’t protect you.
The Hill published a fascinating story today: “Angry Democratic donors turn off the flow of money.” The first two quotes said it all:
“I’ll be blunt here: The Democratic Party is f***ing terrible. Plain and simple,” said one major Democratic donor. “In fact, it doesn’t get much worse.”
A second donor was equally as pointed. “They want us to spend money and for what? For no message, no organization, no forward thinking,” the donor said. “The thing that’s clear to a lot of us is that the party never really learned its lesson in 2016. They worked off the same playbook and the same ineffective strategies and to what end?”
The three scariest letters to the Democratic Party aren’t GOP — it’s ROI: return on investment. And right now, there just isn’t any. Businesses might as well be setting their money on fire.
Because the worst part is that torching their own money would be safer! Since they’re aligned with the losing losers of the Democratic Party, not only did they waste their money — they’re now vulnerable to political reprisals.
“This is worse than 2016,” the first Democratic donor said. “Our party is so weak and so diminished.”
That’s what happens when your muscle loses its manhood.
“Folks are saying right now ‘what’s the Democratic Party to me as an investment?’ I’m hearing from [DNC] members, they don’t really believe where we’re at right now. They don’t believe that we can counter Trump, so why lose dollars?” said the strategist.
The Democratic Party is starving to death. It lost its muscle and lost its turf. But that doesn’t mean it's dead and buried. Eventually, a new Godfather will rebuild the crime family and monetize a new racket: “Leave the bribe. Take the cannoli.”
Still, it gives MAGA a brief, flickering opportunity to pursue its agenda with minimal pushback. This opportunity won’t last forever. D.C. is still a two-party con game. So enjoy it while you can.
“Forget it, Jake. It’s D.C.”