In this post-Citizens United era , truth has become a casualty of big money . For example , according to opensecrets . org , the Empower Parents PAC has contributed $ 82.5 million , Susquehanna International Group $ 69.7 million , Citadel LLC $ 59.9 million , and Uline Inc $ 59.6 million to Republican causes so far . And they ’ re just getting started .
Ever since Citizens United legalized literally unlimited contributions to the new category of political action committees it created ( SuperPACs ), just in the 15 months from January 2023 to April of 2024 over $ 8.6 billion has been raised for this year ’ s federal campaigns with over 65 % of that money — $ 5.6 billion — running through PACs . And , as noted , they ’ re just getting started .
Governor Inslee was confident his carbon tax was going to pass , just like Jayapal , Bowman , and Bush expected a comfortable ride to re-election . Then big money came in and lowered the boom . So , get ready . It ’ s going to get ugly . There ’ s not a competitive House or Senate race anywhere in America that ’ s immune from massive dark money that ’ s been thrown together at the last minute to remain untraceable .
And the presidential race will be unlike anything ever seen before : already a South African immigrant billionaire has promulgated a deepfake video of Harris calling herself a DEI hire , while JD Vance is trying to Swift Boat Tim Walz .
To compound the problem , Republicans on the Federal Election Commission just announced that they will prevent that agency from regulating deepfakes in this presidential election . And in Wisconsin , dark rightwing money is attempting to reshape that state ’ s form of governance to give more power to Republicans in its legislature .
Did I mention they ’ re just getting started ? We won ’ t even know the dimensions of the coming onslaught until it ’ s upon us in September and October .
As Senator Elizabeth Warren noted , echoing a position held by fully 72 % of American voters , “ Our democracy shouldn ’ t be bought and paid for by the wealthy and powerful .”
If Democrats survive the onslaught that ’ s coming and emerge victorious at the federal level , the first order of business next year must be to strip the cancer of dark money out of our body politic .
We can ’ t take anything for granted . We must phone bank , canvas , write postcards , talk to friends and neighbors , help people register to vote , and share the good word .
If we fail , the poison Thomas and his Republican colleagues on the Court have injected into our democracy may well prove fatal to our system of government , signaling an end to the American Experiment and the beginning of a full-blown oligarchy .
38 x The Trial Lawyer