‘The great capitulation’:
Why key US figures are seeking Trump’s favor

People from tech executives to foreign leaders and even some mainstream media figures are ‘acquiescing in advance’, experts say,
because of greed and fear

When “Justice for All”, a dirge-like version of the national anthem sung by defendants jailed over their alleged roles in the January 6, 2021 insurrection,
was played last month at Mar-a-Lago in Florida,
guests stood with hand on heart.

Among them was Mark Zuckerberg,
the billionaire founder of Facebook.

Although it is not clear if Zuckerberg knew the back story of how this tinny version version of The Star-Spangled Banner was recorded over a prison phone line,
his mere presence at Donald Trump’s
“winter White House” said it all.

Facebook had banned Trump after the shocking events of January 6.

Now Zuckerberg had come to kiss the ring.

He is far from alone in what has been dubbed
“the great capitulation”
following Trump’s re-election.

Tech chief executives, media organisations and foreign leaders are seeking the president-elect’s favor through donations, self-censorship and appeasement.

Analysts say the surrender is driven by a combination of greed,
fear of Trump’s unfettered power
and a belief that resistance is futile.

“Part of the shock of the Trump win is how quickly and how many people in various areas,
from the media to politicians,
are acquiescing in advance,”
said Tara Setmayer,
a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill.

“People are resigning themselves to self-preservation over the good of maintaining a free and fair democracy and resisting Trump.”

It is an astonishing turnaround.

When Trump was impeached in the wake of the January 6 riot nearly four years ago, he appeared to be a political pariah.

Dozens of major corporations publicly pledged to freeze their financial contributions to 147 Republican members of Congress who had voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Earlier this year Trump became the first former US president convicted of a crime
and had three more cases looming over him.

Over the years he has has been caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by their private parts,
accused of sexual assault by more than two dozen women
and found liable by a jury for sexually abusing the columnist E Jean Carroll

👉And yet his victory over Kamala Harris in the 5 November election has seemingly expunged his record in the eyes of the rich and powerful.

He returns to the White House with the momentum of victory in the national popular vote,
a supreme court ruling that implies presidents are above the law
and diehard loyalists in the White House and Congress.

Steve Schmidt, a political strategist and former campaign operative for George W Bush and John McCain, said:
“He’s entering office is the most powerful president in American history.
He is an American Caesar, unrestrained.

Trump has made a threat and said,
I’m coming after people,
and he’s appointed people that will do what he wants without him having to tell them to do it.”

Many of those who once condemned him are eager to cosy up to an incoming president who offers both a carrot
– tax cuts, deregulation, business friendly appointees
– and a stick.

Trump mused to reporters at Mar-a-Lago:
“In the first term, everyone was fighting me.
In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.
I don’t know, my personality changed or something.”

theguardian.com/us-news/2024/d…

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