A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.

— James Baldwin, “The Fire Next Time”

Whatever is left in humanity’s climate account — if it isn’t already overdrawn — is being spent on war, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency. The cost of gasoline continues to play a major role in U.S. presidential elections.

The biggest funders of fossil fuel expansion are U.S. banks that are breaking their greenwashed climate promises. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup are the top three financial supporters of the fossil fuel industry worldwide. Along with Wells Fargo, which ranks fifth after a Japanese bank, these four U.S.-based banks represent more than 20% of total global fossil fuel financing.

U.S. agricultural policy is nothing more than an assault on the land, by salting the earth with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and poisonous pesticides so nothing can grow uncontaminated again. The result? Polluted drinking water supplies, sick people and pets, dead livestock, injured wildlife, and cancer clusters.

New data show an additional 7 million Americans have drinking water contaminated by PFAS, bringing the total number of people across the United States at risk of consuming water poisoned by forever chemicals to at least 172 million. MAGAs are now moving to kill proposed regulations for PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge that is spread on farmland as fertilizer — to better enable us to wash down poisoned food with poisoned water.

A 2024 mass monarch butterfly die-off in California was likely caused by pesticide exposure, according to new peer-reviewed research. Researchers discovered hundreds of butterflies had died or were dying in January 2024 near an overwintering site. The butterflies were found twitching or dead in piles, which are common signs of neurotoxic pesticide poisoning.

Undeterred, we continue to speed down a highway to hell. This ship of fools is again captained by a petty, grotesque, and cowardly serial liar.

Unfettered capitalism repeatedly rewards sociopathic behavior — currently being exhibited by tech bros, entitled rocket launchers, and the Oval Office interloper — until our culture, economy, government, and society turn utterly manic. We’ve reached that stage.

Riddle me this: How did the net worth of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, MAGA-Ga., jump from $700,000 before she joined Congress, in 2021, to about $22 million now? Her congressional salary is $174,000, and she exhibits no talent beyond being a troll.

Rolling Stone has reported that the Mad King has complained to his inner circle that it was “stupid” of him to leave so much money on the table during his first term and that he planned to rectify that mistake this time. The magazine also reported that the Mad King and his family — between their crypto ventures, real estate deals, licensing agreements, and shakedowns — have made $3.4 billion off the presidency.

Since taking office again, the Mad King has stopped a third of investigations and enforcement actions against tech behemoths, including Google, Meta, and Tesla. These same goliaths have reportedly spent, at least so far, $1.2 billion to influence Putin’s puppet before, during, and since the 2024 election.

E&E News recently reported that Occidental Petroleum could benefit from bigger subsidies for using carbon dioxide to squeeze more crude from sputtering wells. The big, ugly bill the Mad King signed last month includes a bevy of provisions to pump up the fossil fuel industry, most notably this Houston-based petrochemical company. Occidental Petroleum’s chief executive donated $400,000 to the Mad King’s coffers. The fossil fuel industry as a whole bathes their idiot king in riches.

But all those Big Tech and Big Oil bribes aren’t enough, so the White House continues to hold an “Everything-Must-Go Sale.”

A company with Donald Trump Jr. on its board of directors debuts a new service to help pharmaceutical companies launch direct sales platforms — a week after the Mad King demanded drugmakers create such systems.

The biggest contributor to rising consumer prices is profit margins. The Mad King’s juvenile game of to tariff (and at what percentage) or not to tariff provides cover to jack up prices even before any tax goes into effect. Elected MAGAs manipulate the market to enrich themselves and their wealthy masters, and to screw over everyone else. Unelected MAGAs, most of whom are getting screwed, cheer anyway, because some brown guy in a city they have never visited got his face slammed into the pavement by the American Gestapo.

Federal prosecutors dismiss charges against a Florida woman whose attorney is Brad Bondi, brother of the regime’s attorney general. The woman is a former MAGA lawmaker accused of COVID relief fraud. The regime’s AG is also threatening 32 mayors and multiple governors with federal funding being cut off or court action unless they scrap sanctuary policies.

Corruption has always been lucrative and toxic, but it is now running rampant across the federal government and in many state legislatures because MAGAs rule.

A sign of our broken times: In Ohio, state “leaders” prioritize private school students over public school students when it comes to busing. It’s all tied to the MAGA-controlled Legislature’s budget choices and the broader ongoing effort nationwide to trash public education.

MAGA law means that Ohio public school districts are responsible for transporting students who attend private and charter schools. When they fail to do so, they risk fines of millions of dollars. This threat of fines, combined with a shortage of drivers and buses, means some public school districts are relegating their own students to the back of the bus.

Another sign of our broken times: A well-organized campaign led by manufacturers of dark roofing materials — yes, such a movement exists — was successful in lobbying the Tennessee Legislature to eliminate the state’s requirement for reflective roofs on many commercial buildings. The measure was designed to save energy, lower temperatures, and help protect communities from extreme heat.

Also in Tennessee, the state’s MAGA governor has said Tennessee will give Elon Musk as much free land as he needs to build a Teslas-only tunnel.

The free market has long been defined by the fact the public has to pay for the cleanup of messes caused by for-profit corporations and the filthy rich who pollute and devour the commons at will. The Mad King, like many before him, see both nature and human beings as disposable, nothing more than poker chips and crypto coins to be cashed in.

The regime recently sent letters to a handful of countries urging them to reject the goal of a global initiative that includes limits on plastic production and plastic chemical additives.

In March, the regime created an easy and friendly way for companies to potentially avoid complying with environmental rules: send an email to the Environmental Protection Agency and request an exemption. In response, at least 15 coal-burning power plants, four steel mills, four chemical facilities, and two mines wrote emails to the EPA this spring, according to The New York Times.

All 15 coal plants were exempted from requirements to curb several hazardous air pollutants, including mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause developmental problems in infants and children. All four chemical facilities were exempted from restrictions on other harmful air pollutants, including ethylene oxide, a gas linked to several types of cancer.

Those email exemptions The Times reported were part of a broader wave of more than 100 granted so far by the regime to facilities across the country, including oil refineries. The exemptions apply to Biden administration rules that were set to take effect in the coming years.

The Mad King ignores real problems — the scourge of plastics, air and water pollution, the climate crisis, poverty, a broken health care system, corruption — and constantly concocts fake ones, by, for example, claiming Washington, D.C., is “the worst place on earth,” worse than “Bogota and Mexico City,” and is being “overtaken by drug maniacs and homeless people.”

When he isn’t lying or ogling young women, the Mad King picks on the weakest, most politically impotent groups, and then takes delight in their suffering. He pours fossil fuels on the major existential crisis of our time.

The sexual predator routinely calls elected women of color low-IQ individuals, morons, and dumb. His racism, hate, and jealousy define everything he says and does.

His regime uses lies and the disappearance of people, laws, and rights to obliterate truth and justice. It manipulates the media and data to spread disease and unjustified fear. It relentlessly tries to rewrite history, to erase the accomplishments of Black, Indigenous, brown, and gay people. It recklessly spends taxpayer money to build concentration camps and to deport Home Depot employees to foreign gulags.

The Mad King fires the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the same day agency numbers show a dramatic slowdown in the economy. His pick to take over the BLS has argued for “sunsetting” Social Security and has called it a “Ponzi scheme.” He’s 37.

E.J. Antoni — an alleged economist at the MAGA Heritage Foundation, the Brownshirts behind the Project 2025 blueprint for the Mad King’s second term — was part of the Jan. 6 MAGA mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Last week the Mad King asked Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon to fire Jan Hatzius because the well-respected economist predicted the regime’s tariffs would increasingly strain the economy.

The National Guard patrols cities with Black mayors, who also happen be women, to create an illusion of control. The regime uses taxpayer money to trick out pickups and SUVs in new livery, all painted black with “ICE” and a logo printed in gold on the side — the Mad King’s name appears in gold on the back window — and then shoots a rap video in D.C. to post on social media.

Rep. James Comer, MAGA-Ky., says sending troops to Washington, D.C., “is an experiment that’s probably needed in a lot of the Democrat-run cities in America.”

(The same 10 states, in alphabetical order, routinely show up with the highest rates of violent crime, traffic accidents, and environmental hazards: Alabama; Arkansas; Florida; Louisiana; Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; Oklahoma; Tennessee; and Texas.)

Masked goons kidnap people, routinely of color, off the streets and from their homes without due process. Warrants are issued for elected representatives for defending the Constitution. Journalists are threatened and muzzled for reporting the facts. Judges are attacked for upholding the law.

This is the Nazi blueprint of how to build a concentration camp regime. Lies and conspiracy theories divide society until it becomes unstable. A psychopath then rises to power. He smashes norms, ignores laws, feeds the oligarchs, and scapegoats marginalized groups. He and his supporters spew propaganda to instill enough fear and hate for society to let human beings get kidnapped and beaten.

Public and environmental health are left to suffer. History is erased.

The Mad King’s top pesticide regulator at the EPA is a former chemical agribusiness lobbyist. A former Tyson Food executive oversees the safety of the U.S. meat supply. The multinational corporation has accumulated a disturbing list of violations.

A 35-year-old who practiced insurance law in Florida with no experience in historiography or the arts curates the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian. Lindsey Halligan suggested to the Mad King that the Smithsonian museums are filled with “woke ideology” and exhibits that are much too negative. She was told to “remove improper ideology.”

A former Fox Propaganda host is the regime’s secretary of defense. A former Fox Propaganda host and reality TV D-lister is the transportation secretary and interim NASA administrator. A former Fox Propaganda host is the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. The regime currently employs about 30 people who used to work for the cable “news” network that was fined $787 million for lying to its viewers.

No one in the MAGA cabal is a serious person. They don’t care about public health, human well-being, the environment, the climate crisis, or history. They’ll burn it all down out of spite. The regime is filled with self-obsessed, empty, covetous, needy, and greedy boys and girls.

The Mad King posts on social media that he has ordered the U.S. Department of Commerce to “immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024. People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”

He has no power to change the timing of the U.S. Census, which is mandated by the Constitution to take place every 10 years and requires that all people be counted. Neither the Supreme Court nor Congress will hold him accountable. They never do, no matter the pain and suffering his words and actions cause.

In fact, elected MAGAs and their ignorant supporters enable his authoritarianism. They want to install a dictator. They hate America and its democratic allies. They want to rule like the Taliban. They want to create a Russia, where the oligarchs rule and overindulge themselves, or a North Korea, where a numb dictator and his sycophants live in privilege and everyone else suffers or starves. They’ll attempt another coup to make it happen. It’s already underway.

The Mad King tells Texas to find him five U.S. House seats. The MAGA governor and the MAGA Legislature immediately begin work to further gerrymander the state. The MAGA House on Wednesday approved a redrawn congressional map ordered by the Mad King. The MAGA Senate and governor are set to do the same.

Gov. Greg Abbott asks the Texas Supreme Court to let him expel the leader of the House Democrats, because he dared to disobey the wannabe dictator. Sen. John Cornyn, MAGA-Texas, asks the FBI to find and arrest the Democratic legislators who left the state in an attempt to keep the Texas Legislature from illegally creating more congressional seats for the Mad King.

The Brennan Center for Justice recently warned the regime “has launched a concerted drive to undermine American elections.” The independent and nonpartisan law and policy organization noted this effort began with the pardon of the Jan. 6 defendants who sought to overturn the 2020 election results.

It also listed actions taken by the regime this year to undermine election integrity: attempting to rewrite election rules to burden voters and usurp control of election systems; targeting or threatening to target election officials and others who keep elections free and fair; supporting people who undermine election administration; and retreating from the federal government’s role of protecting voters and the election process.

This week the Mad King threatened to do away with both mail-in voting and voting machines. His Monday social media meltdown promised an executive order to “help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm elections.” He also lied by claiming the United States is the only country to use mail-in voting; it’s actually used by many others, including Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Elections are only rigged when MAGAs lose.

The Department of Homeland Security continues to echo the language of Nazis, recently posting on social media to “Serve your country! Defend your culture!” in its desperate search for more ICE recruits. You can be as young as 18 to join Trump Youth.

In a related development, The GEO Group Inc., a publicly traded corporation that invests in private prisons, recently reported a better-than-expected second quarter, thanks in part to a pair of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracts that, together, are expected to produce $145 million annually for the company. The company also announced a $300 million stock buyback — a process that increases the value of the stock held by shareholders.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a 71-year-old nepo baby with no medical experience or health care knowledge, cancels $500 million worth of contracts to develop mRNA vaccines. The vaccines include those that addressed COVID-19 and were being explored for protection against HIV transmission and cancer.

MAGA-ruled Idaho was the first state to ban businesses and schools from mandating vaccinations or face masks. Kennedy quickly dubbed Idaho “the home of medical freedom.”

Childhood vaccination rates are decreasing across the country. The trend is largely driven by a decline in trust in public health experts and science generated by MAGA conspiracy theories. The same people who claim chemtrails — one of the most popular conspiracy theories — are poisoning us show little concern about measles, mumps, COVID, the flu, hepatitis, and polio.

They scream that the climate crisis is fake and vaccines cause autism. They whined that they should have been able to fly mask-free during the COVID-19 pandemic. I thought commercial airplanes, like crop dusters, released dangerous chemicals that are being used by sinister forces in a conspiracy to kill off the weak, mind-control the population, or to dull our minds in preparation for a government takeover. … Wait. What?

The regime’s energy secretary, Chris Wright, a former fossil fuel executive, says past national climate assessment reports, produced by scientists and peer reviewed, will be reexamined — by lying, manipulative MAGA hacks.

Two wildfires in the western United States, including one that became a “megafire” on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, were so hot they created the formation of “fire clouds” that can create their own weather systems. The Mad King and his minions simply dismiss the problem of intensifying wildfires as cases of arson.

Around the same time these western wildfires were erupting, the U.S. Department of Energy posted on social media a gleaming picture of a hunk of coal with the headline “SHE IS THE MOMENT.” The post also noted “She’s an icon” and “She’s a legend.” They seem to believe coal grows on trees and is picked by skipping children reciting Bible verses.

The Mad King is threatening to pull the United States out of the International Energy Agency if it doesn’t bring its independent forecasts in line with the regime’s support for a more fossil-friendly future.

Ignorant MAGAs know more than experts. They take no responsibility. It’s always someone else’s fault. They believe they hold public office to enrich themselves and the oligarchs — the ones here and in Russia.

The world’s wealthiest 10% are responsible for two-thirds of global heating since 1990, driving droughts and heat waves in the poorest parts of the world, according to a study published in May. The study’s lead author told The Guardian that “Our study shows that extreme climate impacts are not just the result of abstract global emissions; instead we can directly link them to our lifestyle and investment choices, which in turn are linked to wealth.”

The Lever recently reported that the Mad King’s military occupation of D.C. was encouraged for months by corporate lobbyists. In some cases, they posed as small business owners allegedly besieged by rising crime.

Last February, the American Investment Council, private equity’s lobbying firm, wrote a letter to city leaders demanding “immediate action” to address an “alarming increase” in D.C. crime. The Lever reported the letter’s signatories “included some of the biggest trade groups on K Street,” such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, and Airlines for America. The story noted these lobbying juggernauts spend tens of millions every year lobbying lawmakers to get their way.

Crime in the nation’s capital is at a 30-year low, but that doesn’t stop corporate lobbyists, the Mad King, and MAGAs from fear-mongering about rising crime. It’s good for business.

MAGAs are a vicious menace we haven’t seen since Germany in the 1930s and ’40s. The only thing they want to make great is hate. Don’t let them. Don’t be spineless.

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.