Trumpworld 2.0: Why Even Billionaires Bow—Personalism, Kleptocracy, and the New American Regime

 

What kind of government is the United States becoming under Trump’s second term?If you’re confused by the headlines—Elon Musk apologizing, GOP senators expressing fear, Republicans voting for bills they privately dislike—you’re not alone. But there’s a pattern: power is now personal, transactional, and enforced by loyalty to Trump. It’s not, as many believe, simply about ideology (like Christian Nationalism or the America First movement) or wealth (such as the so-called “tech bro oligarchy” or the donor class). In Trumpworld 2.0, neither ideological purity nor vast fortune is enough: what matters most is personal allegiance to the leader.

What Is “Personalism”—and Why Does It Matter?

Personalism means a system where all meaningful power is concentrated in one leader, not shared among a coalition of elites or institutions. In Trumpworld 2.0, even the wealthiest and most powerful figures—tech titans, senators, CEOs—function as courtiers. Their status depends not on their money or ideas, but on whether they please the man at the top.

This isn’t classic oligarchy (rule by a stable group of elites), nor is it old-school dictatorship or military rule. Instead, it’s a hybrid regime: part democracy, part strongman show, with a heavy dose of crony capitalism and kleptocracy.

Quick Definitions

• Personalism: Rule by one leader, not by party or coalition.

• Kleptocracy: A system where government power is used for personal enrichment and patronage.

• Competitive Authoritarianism: A hybrid regime where elections and institutions exist, but the playing field is so tilted that real competition is hollowed out—Hungary under Viktor Orbán, for example, is widely recognized as a clear example of a hybrid regime. The United States under Trump shows signs of moving decisively toward becoming an electoral autocracy, not unlike Hungary—a comparison now drawn by both scholars and major news outlets.

The Evidence: How Trump’s System Works

1. The GOP: Fear, Compliance, and the Cost of Dissent

The passage of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) in July 2025 is the clearest sign yet of how tightly he controls his party. Despite widespread misgivings and the bill’s deep unpopularity, nearly every Republican in Congress ultimately supported it, setting aside their own pledges and policy positions. As The Atlantic reported, lawmakers from both moderate and conservative wings abandoned their red lines—on Medicaid, deficits, or local priorities—rather than risk a confrontation with the president.

Senator Lisa Murkowski’s story says it all. In public remarks, she admitted, “we are all afraid”  (Reuters, April 18, 2025) of political retaliation from Trump, describing her own anxiety and the “real” threat that keeps even senior Republicans from speaking out. She ultimately voted for the bill after negotiating carve-outs for Alaska, despite calling it “a bad bill, ” and noting that it will hurt Americans. Other senators who initially objected to the bill’s provisions, like Josh Hawley and Ron Johnson, also reversed course under pressure. The cost of dissent is so high that even lawmakers with strong ideological or constituency-based objections ultimately comply.

Other cases reinforce the pattern:

• Rand Paul was uninvited from the White House picnic after opposing Trump’s bill, a move he called “petty vindictiveness.” He went on to state, "They’re afraid of what I’m saying, so they think they’re going to punish me, I can’t go to the picnic...But petty vindictiveness like this, it makes you — it makes you wonder about the quality of people you’re dealing with.”No GOP figures defended him. After bad press, Trump announced Paul was welcome to the event.(NBC News, July 12, 2025) 

• Thom Tillis voted against the bill, was attacked as "worse than Rand Paul" and"A talker and complainer. NOT A DOER!”(The Hill, 6/29/25)  He was threatened with primaries, leading to his retirement. Since Tillis stepped down, Trump-- true to loyalist form-- announced his number one pick for a replacement is his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump (Newsweek, July 1, 2025).

• Thomas Massie criticized the bill for adding $20 trillion in debt, earning Trump’s ridicule as “Rand Paul Junior” and threatened with a primary. "He's going to have a big opponent, a good opponent, who's going to win. A poll just came out, and it showed anybody I endorse against Massie, Massie loses by 25 points. So he's he's gonna be history I think." (Fox News, 7/1/25)

The result? Loyalty to Trump trumps all else. The party is no longer a coalition of interests, but a vehicle for his authority.

The Sycophantic Spectacle: Ritualizing Party Subordination

The passage of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBB) was marked not only by the near-total compliance of Republican lawmakers, but by an extraordinary display of orchestrated loyalty. As soon as the House approved the bill, Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican caucus staged a celebration that was anything but spontaneous. Trump’s rally anthem “YMCA” blared through the chamber, and lawmakers lined up to pose with double thumbs-up—Trump’s signature gesture—while some performed his trademark fist-pump dance.

This was not the exuberance of a party unified by shared conviction. Behind the music and smiles, many lawmakers were privately uneasy or outright opposed to the bill’s substance, having voted “yes” only after securing carve-outs or under the threat of presidential retaliation. The outward display of unity was, in reality, a performance compelled by fear and the logic of personalist discipline.

The moment functioned as a public ritual: a sycophantic Congress signaling to the country and to Trump himself that dissent had been purged and only loyalty remained. It was the legislative equivalent of a “Trump salute,” a symbolic act that announced—without a word being spoken—that the GOP’s transformation from a coalition of interests to a vehicle for one man’s authority was complete. The event did not simply celebrate a policy win; it made unmistakable that the party’s identity is now defined by personal allegiance to Trump, not by shared principles or policy consensus.

This spectacle, staged at the very moment of new national legislation passing, was the culmination of weeks of intra-party discipline: dissenters like Rand Paul, Thom Tillis, Thomas Massie, and Lisa Murkowski had been publicly humiliated, threatened, or driven to retirement. The House celebration was not a celebration of legislative achievement, but a ritualized affirmation of Trump’s personal dominance—a warning to any who might consider defiance in the future. 

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2. The Executive Branch: Loyalism, Overreach, and Patronage

Trump’s personalist system extends control far beyond party politics to the machinery of government itself.

• DOGE and Project 2025: The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), once led by Elon Musk, is now under Russ Vought’s control. Its mission: mass layoffs, embedding loyalists, and sidelining Congress in favor of direct presidential power.

• The Musk Episode: Musk, after criticizing Trump’s bill as a “debt bomb,” faced threats of contract losses and even deportation. Musk, who had apologized for earlier critical remarks against Trump, once again backed down, writing on X  “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.” (The Guardian, July 1, 2025)  Even the world’s richest man is subordinate to Trump’s will.

• Kleptocratic Integration: The administration’s rescission of $11 billion in research grants was described as “targeted retaliation” against critical universities. (Inside Higher Ed, 5/2/25) Loyalist firms like Palantir have secured lucrative no-bid contracts. Inspectors general who challenged the administration were fired without notice. Deportations to dangerous countries like South Sudan proceeded despite court injunctions, with accusations of “unprecedented defiance”. All levers of state power are ultimately subject to Trump’s personal authority.

3. The Judiciary: Loyalty Over Principle

Even the courts, traditionally a check on executive power, are being reshaped to serve Trump’s interests.

• Break with the Federalist Society: Trump called Leonard Leo a “sleazebag” and “America hater” after their judges ruled against him, clearing the way for the rise of the Article III Project (A3P), which prioritizes loyalty over principle in judicial nominations, and openly boasts of being a "brass knuckles" Trump loyalist pipeline on their own web site.

• Attacks on Judicial Independence: Trump and A3P label GOP-appointed judges “rogue” for unfavorable rulings, proposing funding cuts or impeachment. When a federal judge blocked Trump’s border crackdown, the White House called it “an attack on our Constitution.” A recent Supreme Court ruling limiting nationwide injunctions further enables Trump’s defiance of judicial checks.

Why This Matters: The Big Picture

Trump’s system is not just about policy or ideology. It’s about personal loyalty, patronage, and the subordination of all institutions—Congress, executive agencies, the judiciary, and civil society—to one man’s will.

• Why Ideology Yields to Loyalty: Even ideologically aligned figures like Massie and populist icons like Musk are punished if they cross Trump.

• Kleptocratic Infrastructure: Defunding universities and firing inspectors general removes oversight, enabling patronage networks that sustain Trump’s power.

• Elite Subordination: From Musk’s DOGE leadership to Vought’s Project 2025, all power centers are kept dependent and revocable.

• Digital Personalism: Unlike state-controlled media in other regimes, Truth Social creates a decentralized echo chamber amplifying Trump’s attacks, with standards set only by his will, circumventing both media and social media constraints. Thus, Trump has his own "digital bully pulpit"-- at once a private business, and his main outlet for undiluted statements that inevitably are amplified in media and social media outlets.

The regime’s reliance on Trump’s charisma and personal authority makes it potentially brittle. As Murkowski put it, “we are all afraid.” Should Trump’s grip weaken, the coalition could fracture rapidly.

Conclusion: Not a Done Deal—But the Stakes Are High

Trump’s personalist capture of the GOP and federal government—infused with kleptocracy and crony capitalism—threatens the separation of powers, rule of law, and democratic stability. The process remains ongoing, contested, and volatile. Unlike entrenched oligarchies, personalist systems often collapse after the leader’s exit, but as institutional capture proceeds, the window for democratic recovery narrows.

Why does this matter? Because understanding the system is the first step toward defending democracy. If you see more signs of personalist rule, crony capitalism, or elite subordination, share your observations below—or ask questions about what to watch for next.

Key sources: The Atlantic, Reuters, NBC News, Fox News, Inside Higher Ed, and more. For a full list of references and further reading, see the endnotes in the original full-length essay from which this was adapted. .

Endnotes 

1. European Parliament: Hungary as a hybrid regime.

2. NPR: Political scientists on US democratic backsliding.

3. AP: Trump’s GOP likened to Hungary’s “electoral autocracy.”

4. Russell Berman, “No One Loves the Bill (Almost) Every Republican Voted for,” The Atlantic, July 3, 2025.

5. Reuters: Repbulican US Senator Murkowski on threat of Trump retaliation: 'We are all afraid,' April 18, 2025.

6. NBC News: Rand Paul uninvited from White House picnic, July 12, 2025.

7. The Hill: Trump attacks Tillis, June 29, 2025.

8. Newsweek: Lara Trump as Trump’s pick to replace Tillis, July 1, 2025.

9. Fox News: Trump threatens Massie, July 1, 2025.

10. The Guardian: Musk backs down in feud with Trump, July 1, 2025.

11. Inside Higher Ed: Trump Administration Rescinds $11 Billion in University Research Grants, May 2, 2025.

12. Reuters: Deportations Proceed Despite Court Injunctions, June 24, 2025.

13. Article III Project: “Brass knuckles” judicial pipeline, 2025.

 

The new normal: Worse; AI antics

The new normal

Things getting worse is the new normal. The open question now is how bad will things get? That is not clear. djt has repeatedly stated that he wants to use the US military to mow peaceful protesters down. He shows constant, intense contempt and hostility toward all major democratic barriers, including the US Constitution, federal separation of powers, church-state separation, the federal courts, due process, voting rights, inconvenient fact and truth, and the rule of law. His lust for vengeance is off the charts. His level of moral rot, mendacity and corruption is even worse.

djt and congressional authoritarian MAGA Repubs want to spend ~$45 billion to build concentration camps to catch, house, mistreat and deport immigrant prisoners, whether they are illegal immigrants or not. That is an insane amount of money for incarceration, abuse & deportation facilities. That level of funding for ICE detention in djt's proposed tax abuse bill is over five times larger than the entire Federal Bureau of Prisons budget of approximately $8.6 billion for FY 2025. The proposed funding represents a huge increase from the current ICE detention budget of ~$8 billion. One source asserts that the proposed ICE budget is increased by $170 billion over its current funding rate of $10 billion. This level of funding makes ICE the single largest federal law enforcement agency in US history. The US is becoming a rogue police state. 

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Various outlets (1, 2) report that federal judge Dale Ho dismissed the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The case was dismissed with prejudice. That means the charges against Adams cannot ever be refiled, assuming that particular rule of law remains intact. So, another white collar criminal gets off the hook. The judge's reasoning exemplifies the horror of the new normal that djt and MAGA elites have inflicted on us. 

The reporting indicates that djt's corrupted and weaponized MAGAfied DoJ requested a dismissal "without prejudice." That would have allowed the case to be reopened in the future. Judge Ho rejected this, because leaving the case open for retrial gave djt political leverage over the mayor. Thus, if djt got mad at Adams for not doing what Trump tells him what to do, he could simply have his politicized DoJ refile the corruption charges. Judge Ho said that was unacceptable. Thus, Ho took away the leverage over Adams that djt had by letting the sleazy criminal Adams completely and forever off the hook. Ho had no choice at all. This level of moral rot is the new normal.

“Ending the case without prejudice would create an unavoidable impression that the Mayor’s liberty is contingent upon his capacity to fulfill the immigration enforcement objectives of the administration. Everything here suggests a bargain: the dismissal of the indictment in exchange for concessions on immigration policy. If in fact D.O.J.’s immigration enforcement rationale amounts to a quid pro quo to extract policy concessions from the Mayor, then it is difficult to imagine a more egregious example of the kind of prosecutorial harassment [that the rule requiring judges to approve criminal dismissals] is intended to guard against.” — Judge Dale Ho

Q: Will the next bit of progress in MAGA authoritarian law be to ignore federal court orders and case decisions, like Ho's decision, with djt ordering his personal attorney, e.g., Pam Bondi, at the DoJ to refile charges that were previously dismissed against any defendant that djt gets mad at and wants revenge against? 

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Pxy, my routine AI source, has a hot new offer! One can buy early access to agentic AI, loaded with all the extras, trimmings and backdoors to Musk's secret operations in Russia!

Sheesh, Max is kinda expensive. And that is only for personal use. I thought Pro was pricey. Presumably the cost for commercial users is higher, maybe ~$5,000/month or something like that. Ouch. The marketing says that Max will save ~10 hours/week per employee with access, so ~$5,000/month would probably would be worth it to a lot of employers. 

Q: Hey! What's that gurgling sound? Employees being flushed out by Max? 

(Well, yeah it is employees being flushed, but also small businesses that cannot afford to buy Max to stay competitive with the big dogs)

MAGA floods the zone with horrors & etc.

It's coming fast and furious and it's mostly very bad and getting worse.

A news station in Los Angeles, KTLA, reports that unknown people kidnapped a woman at night and tried to make her sign self-deportation papers. The woman, Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, known as Juli, is a community leader and mother from Los Angeles. She was reportedly taken by unidentified men and transported directly to the U.S.-Mexico border at San Ysidro without standard immigration processing. When she demanded her right to speak to an attorney, she was taken to a warehouse where she wasn’t given any food, and she was being told that she was going to be kept there until she signed voluntary self-deportation paperwork.” Armed, masked men in unmarked vehicles allegedly took her at gunpoint. The men did not identify themselves as law enforcement.

The Department of Homeland Security has categorically denied that Juli Calderon was taken by ICE agents, while her family and attorneys maintain she was abducted by unidentified individuals who may have been operating outside the law. 

Apparently no one knows with certainty if this is a hoax or if Juli was taken by ICE agents, other federal agents, or an outside the law paramilitary group. When Trump said he didn't want to bother with due process, one can reasonably believe that this is what he meant. The problem with the hoax theory is that Trump has shown contempt for due process, the rule of law and inconvenient truth. Maybe ICE is lying. Maybe not.

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Regarding ICE, it appears to be a federal agency that may have gone full-blown rogue criminal. At the least, its attitude toward its job is terrifying.

ICE has time to make trash like this,

but not time to see if someone is being held illegally

Snopes

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The AP reports that a former FBI agent who supported djt's 1/6 coup attempt has been hired by the DoJ to work on weaponization of the DoJ.

A former FBI agent who was charged with joining a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol and cheering on rioters is now working as an adviser to the Justice Department official overseeing its “weaponization working group,” which is examining President Donald Trump’s claims of anti-conservative bias inside the department.

The former FBI supervisory agent, Jared Lane Wise, is serving as a counselor to Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin Jr., who also serves as director of the working group, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Attorney General Pam Bondi called for creating the “weaponization” group in February to investigate claims by Trump and Republican allies that the Justice Department unfairly targeted conservatives during President Joe Biden’s administration.

 

Wise, who worked as a special agent or supervisory special agent for the FBI from 2004 through 2017, was arrested in Oregon on Capitol riot-related misdemeanor charges in May 2023.

Wise repeatedly shouted, “Kill ’em!” as he watched rioters assaulting officers outside the Capitol, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. Wise clapped his hands and raised his arms ”in triumph” after he entered the building through the Senate wing door, the affidavit says. He left the building about nine minutes after entering.

Police body camera footage showed Wise berating police officers outside the Capitol and repeatedly shouting, “Shame on you!”

“I’m former law enforcement,” he told them.” You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it.”

Q1: Who is the disgusting Nazi Gestapo here, lying authoritarians like Pam Bondi, Ed Martin and Jared Wise, or regular police just trying to do their jobs? 

Q2: What is more likely regarding the goal of the DoJ's "weaponization working group", (1) making sure the DoJ is not biased, weaponized or effective against "conservatives" (authoritarians and kleptocrats, especially elites and pro-Trump rioters), or (2) making sure the DoJ is biased, weaponized and highly aggressive against Democrats, political opposition and critics of djt? 

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In her substack, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance comments on various things like the recent USSC recent decision in the Casa case, ICE's alligators and djt's reaction to the concentration camp in the Florida Everglades:

The Roberts Court let Pandora out of the box, and now there seems to be no putting everything back in. First it was criminal immunity and the pass on prosecution given to presidents. Last Friday it was Casa, the birthright citizenship/nationwide injunction case, where Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that just because the president acted unconstitutionally, that didn’t mean the courts could tell him no, in essence taking away the best, quickest, broadest remedy that could be used against a president hell-bent on imposing his own policies on the country, whether or not—and it has been mostly not of late—the Constitution authorizes him to do that.  

The big things are bad. Presidents can’t rewrite amendments to the U.S. Constitution—there is a process for doing that. But in 30 days, birthright citizenship will be gone, unless the Supreme Court, which has just left on vacation after delivering the bad news in Casa, decides to step back in. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “The gamesmanship in this request is apparent and the Government makes no attempt to hide it. Yet, shamefully, this Court plays along.”

It’s also the small things. Like the official White House account retweeting an absolutely disgusting image, associating Trump with the alligator and swamp-snake guarded prison Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has apparently built to house noncitizens who are being detained by ICE. Perhaps it’s by way of an apology to Trump for having the temerity to attempt a run at him in the primary.

Q: Are we up to our eyeballs in alligators, literally, figuratively or both?

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In light and fluffy news, which we need a lot more of, the NYT reports that Malaysia has just banned all shipments of plastic waste from the United States. That amounted to about 35,000 tons last year. The ban was prompted after some jackass sent more than 100 shipping containers of hazardous materials, improperly labeled as raw materials, from Los Angeles. Also reported is that about 91% of all plastics used in the US are not recycled. Most of it winds up in landfills. 

Well OK, that wasn't very light or fluffy. But it's better than all that DoJ, ICE, alligators and kidnapping stuff.

Regarding high home cost and high homelessness in California

A long NYT article (not paywalled) reports that CA has rolled back its landmark 55 year-old environmental protection law CEQA (SEE-kwa)(California Environmental Quality Act), allegedly because it is the main driver of high housing cost and high homelessness: 

Democrats have long been reluctant to weaken the law, known as CEQA, which they considered an environmental bedrock in a state that has prided itself on reducing pollution and protecting waterways. And environmentalists took them to task for the vote.

But the majority party also recognized that California’s bureaucratic hurdles had made it almost impossible to build enough housing for nearly 40 million residents, resulting in soaring costs and persistent homelessness. In a collision between environmental values and everyday concerns, Democrats chose the latter on Monday.

Discussions about changing the environmental law have repeatedly surfaced at the State Capitol over the past decade, only to be thwarted by opposition from environmentalists and local governments. This year was different.

Mr. Newsom threatened to reject the state budget unless lawmakers rolled back CEQA. Democrats were also aware that voters nationwide had blamed the party last year for rising prices.

So, the NYT posits this as choosing human needs over the environment. Is it really that simple? Probably not. But one needs to look deeper than the barely surface-scratched reporting the NYT gives. Pxy was tasked with identifying and ranking the main factors that cause high home costs in CA. The public Pxy link is here. 

 

So, that analysis indicates that CEQA contributes about 5% of the reason for high home cost. It is the least important of the six factors that Pxy identified.

High land and construction costs (35%) is the dominant factor. That assertion is supported by data showing California construction labor costs are approximately 20% higher than the national average 2 4. Construction materials and government development fees also contribute significantly to this burden 4.

Restrictive zoning laws and community resistance, i.e., NIMBYism, (25%) is the 2nd largest cost factor. Research shows that over 56% of California jurisdictions identified neighborhood opposition as playing a notable role in constraining housing production 5. Additionally, restrictive zoning practices significantly contribute to the housing affordability crisis, with 70% of residential areas in major cities restricting or banning apartments 6.

Lack of federal and state investment in affordable housing is 3rd (15%). This reflects the substantial funding gap. Despite California doubling affordable housing production in recent years, the state is only funding 12% of what is needed to meet its goals 8. The national housing shortage includes approximately 2.1 million units for extremely low-income households 9.

Proposition 13 Tax structure impacts rank 4th (12%). Research demonstrates that Proposition 13's introduction led to a 15% increase in house prices and a 3.3% decrease in moving rates 10. The "lock-in effect" reduces housing turnover, limiting supply for new buyers 11.

Local opposition to affordable housing development is 5th (8%). This factor is a distinct but related factor from general NIMBYism, specifically targeting affordable housing projects with additional delays and cost burdens 7 12.

CEQA's impact is 6th (5%), is notably smaller than commonly perceived. Survey data from the Association of Environmental Professionals found that CEQA review was selected only 4 times out of 112 responses for market-rate housing constraints and just 2 times out of 124 selections for affordable housing constraints 13. Only 6% of housing projects require full Environmental Impact Reports 1.