Kudos to Portland:
Now the Daily Show et al can run clips of this dance protest party next to Trump’s rhetoric of wild crowds of Antifa (which means “Anti-Fascists,” by the way – boo, hiss!!!) burning down the city, etc. “They’re eating the (hot) dogs” “They’re eating the cats(tchup)” at what point do we start seeing this Administration for what it is? It’s been 9 months people – wake up!!!
Nonetheless, Kristi Noem, who actually does kill puppies, claims to have arrested “the girlfriend of one of the founders of Antifa” and I can’t imagine this evil woman put up that much of a fight since Antifa was founded in Italy in 1920 when Fascism was on the rise in that country – so she’s got to be over 120 by now…
By 1936, the Antifa movement has become so vast that malcontent US athletes refused to salute Hitler on the Olympic podium. You might recognize this picture but your children will not as it has been removed from the Smithsonian – along with almost every other record that black people contributed to American society (or were ever enslaved).
This is Newspeak, taking a word and concept like Anti-Fascist, which is what our grandparents fought and died for in World War II, and not just striking down the word, but subverting it’s definition (it has now been declared a terrorist organization by our current Fascist leader) to be the opposite of what it actually is.
This is precisely the kind of historical memory erasure that authoritarian regimes depend on to consolidate power. When language itself becomes weaponized, we’re witnessing what Orwell warned about in 1984 – the systematic destruction of meaning to prevent clear thinking about political reality.
The economic parallels are unmistakable: Just as “Anti-Fascist” has been redefined to mean its opposite, we’re seeing “Economic Recovery” redefined while real wages decline, “Inflation Reduction” while groceries double in price, and “Job Creation” while workforce participation plummets. The same linguistic manipulation that turns anti-fascists into terrorists also turns economic decline into prosperity.
The Nobel Prize Committee delivered perhaps the most pointed rebuke possible to Trump by awarding the 2025 Peace Prize to María Corina Machado – a woman who embodies everything Trump’s administration has declared “terroristic.” Machado is literally an Anti-Fascist activist fighting authoritarianism in Venezuela, living in hiding for over 14 months because she refuses to accept rigged elections and demands democratic rights for her people. The irony is exquisite: while Trump was publicly campaigning for the prize, claiming to have “ended seven wars” and bragging that “everyone says I should get it,” the Nobel Committee instead chose someone fighting exactly the kind of regime Trump increasingly resembles.
The Committee’s language was unmistakably pointed, describing Machado as “a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness” – a not-subtle reference to global democratic backsliding. She’s praised for “unifying a political opposition” around “free elections and representative government” while Trump simultaneously refuses to seat elected Democratic Representatives and brands peaceful protesters as “terrorists.”
The Nobel Committee specifically noted that “at a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground” – language that reads like a direct indictment of Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook. By honoring someone who literally embodies the Anti-Fascist struggle that Trump has criminalized, the Nobel Committee essentially declared that real peace comes from defending Democracy, not from the strongman tactics that Trump mistakes for diplomacy.
This matters for markets because authoritarian governments historically suppress accurate Economic Data while promoting Propaganda Metrics. When basic concepts like “peaceful protest” are redefined as “terrorism“, how can we trust Unemployment figures, Inflation Data, or Corporate Earnings from companies dependent on government contracts? The same administration that arrests dance protesters as “dangerous radicals” is the one providing the Economic statistics we use for investment decisions.
Consider the timeline: Nine months of systematic disinformation, removal of historical records, redefinition of basic terms, and criminalization of dissent. Yet markets continue as if institutional stability remains intact. This disconnect between political reality and market pricing suggests either massive denial among investors or the belief that Economic Fundamentals can somehow remain insulated from collapsing Democratic norms. History suggests otherwise – Authoritarian regimes eventually corrupt everything, including Financial Markets, Corporate Governance, and Economic data integrity.
Next week we will begin to hear from our beloved Corporate Masters as they report Q3 earnings but none of that REALLY matters as President Trump also tells us what we can and can’t invest in. Clearly Renewable Energy, International Trade, Not Far-Enough Right Media and, of course, any sort of DEI is “verboten” but Trump seems to like AI, Chips, Space, Cyrpto, Traditional Energy, Drones, Robotics, Defense (just passed $925Bn spending package), Healthcare (but not Health Insurance), Rare Earths, US Manufacturing and Self-Driving Cars (see picture).
In absence of Government Data, earnings will be front and center into the next Fed Meeting (Oct 29th) so expect a lot of “experts” making wild assumptions about the economy based on the statements made by random companies every morning and every night – starting on Tuesday.
Until then, let’s enjoy the weekend and get some rest – next week is going to turn wild and god help us if these early reporters can’t impress this 40x market. Oil is already collapsing this morning, back below $60 for the first time since the market crashed 35% in Q1 and Gasoline (more of a demand indicator) is $1.83 – the lowest level since Sept of 2024 (close) but really we have to reach back to early 2021 to find the last time gasoline was below $1.85 – and that was Covid!
It’s funny how many Economic Data Points are “the worst since Covid” but not in the “ha ha” sort of way but in the “How the fuck are people ignoring this?” kind of way that generally precedes a tragic disaster… To an alarmingly small number of people, this is playing out like a horror movie and we know all these kids are going to get slaughtered and we do feel like screaming at the screen to tell them not to leave the group (or have sex – that always gets you killed!) but they’re not going to listen – it’s almost as if their self-destruction is scripted – an economic fait accompli.
Let’s enjoy it until the blood starts splattering,
- Phil
