Brainwashing! Part 2

[In Depth}
A bunch of billionaires are trying to brainwash the children and the right-wingers are loving it!  And the conservatives are eating it up because it is filled with their propaganda.

During the Watergate hearings the catchphrase was “Follow the money!” and that is still true today.

Who are the ones behind PraguerU? And what else do they have their fingers in?

This morning I wrote about how a right-wing talk show host Dennis Prager and oil men Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks created PraguerU, well they also greased some wheels with their billions.
 

 The Cool Down wrote about these two…

"Money talks," or so they say. Unfortunately, in the United States, a pair of billionaires have been sending money to some media outlets to talk about the supposed benefits of oil and gas and deny the existence of human-caused global heating.

What's happening?
According to the Guardian, Farris and Dan Wilks have been sending millions of dollars to pro-dirty-energy and evangelical organizations.

The Wilks brothers, who made their fortune from oil and gas fracking, are trying to promote the narrative that the world is not experiencing a climate crisis.

Among the media entities to have received funding from the Wilks brothers is PragerU, an unaccredited university that provides "edutainment" videos for classroom use. The Guardian cited Texas financial records that show the Wilks have handed over at least $8 million to PragerU.

"The goal of [the] Wilks and those that share their ideology is to gain control of levers of power and control information," Texas-based campaign finance analyst Chris Tackett told the outlet. "That's why they invest heavily into politicians, agenda-driven nonprofits and media organizations like PragerU and the Daily Wire. It is all connected."

And you wounder why PragerU is pushing that global warming is fake, you think it might be that these two oil men are worried about their pocketbooks?

How two Texas megadonors have turbocharged the state’s far-right shift
CNN
By Casey Tolan, Matthew Reynard, Will Simon and Ed Lavandera
July 24, 2022

Gun owners allowed to carry handguns without permits or training. Parents of transgender children facing investigation by state officials. Women forced to drive hours out-of-state to access abortion.

This is Texas now: While the Lone Star State has long been a bastion of Republican politics, new laws and policies have taken Texas further to the right in recent years than it has been in decades.

Elected officials and political observers in the state say a major factor in the transformation can be traced back to West Texas. Two billionaire oil and fracking magnates from the region, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, have quietly bankrolled some of Texas’ most far-right political candidates – helping reshape the state’s Republican Party in their worldview.

Over the last decade, Dunn and his wife, Terri, have contributed more than $18 million to state candidates and political action committees, while Wilks and his wife, Jo Ann, have given more than $11 million, putting them among the top donors in the state.

[…]

 Critics, and even some former associates, say that Dunn and Wilks demand loyalty from the candidates they back, punishing even deeply conservative legislators who cross them by bankrolling primary challengers. Kel Seliger, a longtime Republican state senator from Amarillo who has clashed with the billionaires, said their influence has made Austin feel a little like Moscow.

“It is a Russian-style oligarchy, pure and simple,” Seliger said. “Really, really wealthy people who are willing to spend a lot of money to get policy made the way they want it – and they get it.”
These billionaires want to protect their dynasties and they know the Republicans will protect the oligarchs.

Then we have billionaire John Paulson who orgainzed Trump’s Florida fundraiser,

Trump says $50 million raised from biggest fundraiser yet
Reuters
By Alexandra Ulmer
April 6, 2024

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign said a major fundraiser in Florida on Saturday raked in a massive $50.5 million as the former president seeks to replenish diminished coffers in his rematch against Democrat Joe Biden.

The event, his biggest fundraiser yet, is a much-needed boost for Trump, who has been routinely outraised by Biden and is in the midst of a financial squeeze due to ballooning lawyer fees and legal payouts from his criminal and civil court cases.

The dinner, hosted at billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson's Palm Beach home, will allocate a portion of the money to be raised to a fundraising group that has spent tens of millions of dollars on Trump's legal fees.

While Trump has struggled to get some major traditional Republican donors on board, he retains the support of some heavy hitters. Co-hosts on Saturday, for example, include hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer and his daughter and conservative activist Rebekah, investor Scott Bessent, and casino mogul Phil Ruffin, according to the fundraiser invitation seen by Reuters.

Okay, did you notice billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson who helped Trump rasie the $50 million? Now read…

Trump floats billionaire Paulson as potential Treasury chief, Bloomberg reports
By Reuters
March 13, 2024

Donald Trump, who is set to face President Joe Biden in November's presidential election, has talked about selecting billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson as his Treasury secretary should he win, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Paulson's name has been mentioned in recent discussions, according to the report that cited unnamed people familiar with Trump's thinking.

The conversations were informal and preliminary, the report added. No decisions about a possible cabinet have been made by the former president, it said.

Yahoo Finance reported,

Trump aides have often tried to publicly downplay the validity of the various names being bandied about and didn't respond to a Yahoo Finance request to confirm who might be under consideration.

[…]

Apparently atop the list at the moment is John Paulson, the billionaire hedge fund billionaire who recently co-hosted a massive fundraiser for Trump at his Florida home. Trump has even publicly floated Paulson for the job.

In January, Trump told a New Hampshire crowd that Paulson "makes a hell of a lot of money," adding: "You know what? Put him at Treasury. You want to make a little money?"

Reporters at the recent fundraiser — which Trump said raised $50.5 million — even asked for an update on Paulson's likelihood as Treasury Secretary to no avail.

Paulson appears to be far from the only finance-world figure under consideration.

There is Scott Bessent, a former Soros Fund Management investing chief, who co-hosted the recent fundraiser. Also on the various lists are Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Blackstone CEO, and Jeff Yass, the billionaire known for his giant stake in TikTok.

All have crossed paths with Trump over the years but have not had extended working relationships with the former president.

Follow the money!