Power Trumps Everything

By Rob C.

Art by Russel Herneman

TL;DR
When people tell you “it’s about values,” they’re lying. In America, it’s about power — raw, unchecked, billionaire-fueled power. Politicians, preachers, and CEOs all wrap their grift in patriotic speeches, biblical verses, or buzzwords like “innovation,” but the endgame is always control. From pulpits to boardrooms, from Congress to Mar-a-Lago, the real “value” system at work is who gets to control the rest of us.

Trump and his cronies aren’t hiding, their bathing in it.

The Political Puppet Show

Politics in America has turned into a ventriloquist act where billionaires move the lips and politicians pretend to talk. Senators talk about “the hardworking middle class” while quietly cashing checks from Wall Street, Big Pharma, and fossil fuel CEOs. The 2025 Republican tax bill is the perfect example: advertised as “relief for working families,” it handed trillions to billionaires while telling working people to “tighten their belts” as childcare, healthcare, and affordable housing vanishes. At the same time, Trump has been living out his strongman fantasies, openly using the Justice Department as his personal weapon against political opponents. It’s less “public service” and more “authoritarian improv theater,” where every accusation is really just an admission of his own corruption.

God as a Business Model

In theory, religion is supposed to provide moral guidance. In practice, it’s another hustle for power and money. Mega-preachers on TV don’t look much like Jesus. They look like CEOs running multilevel marketing schemes, hawking salvation with a side of snake oil. Joel Osteen’s mansion could house an entire small town. Mega-Churches preach “obey or burn in hell” while living in sprawling mansions and flying private jets. The Catholic hierarchy spent decades covering up child sex abuse scandals to protect it’s monopoly on God. Even worse, pastors have turned politics into revival tents, blessing Trump rallies and cheering for Project 2025 — a theocratic fever dream that would fuse church and state into a single authoritarian monster. When salvation becomes a profit center, faith isn’t holy; it’s just another business model. — and don’t forget to donate on your way out.

Business: Consolidate, Corrupt, Control

Corporations love to talk about “innovation” and “freedom,” but their business model is monopoly + manipulation. They lobby to kill regulations that protect our health and safety, then cry about “government overreach” when called out. They buy media outlets to make sure the story of their greed gets a glossy spin. And they poison rivers, pollute the air, and jack up prices because… they hey, that’s Capitalism.

After the 2008 crash, big banks got bailed out, then turned around and bought up foreclosed homes — not to resell, but to rent back at inflated rates. UnitedHealth rakes in billions while denying legitimate claims, leaving Americans bankrupt or dead. And in the latest billionaire chess game, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison — a Trump backer — sits atop one of the largest data empires in the world, while his son David plays media mogul by merging Skydance with Paramount and now eyeing Warner Brothers. That’s not “competition,” that’s a monopoly on information. They buy the platforms, shape the narratives, and gaslight the public into thinking their greed is good for us. Spoiler: it’s not.

Trump: Power, Distilled

Donald Trump is the poster child for the power obsession. He doesn’t care about policy; he cares about control. His allies at the Federalist Society stacked the Supreme Court to enshrine presidential immunity. His Project 2025 lackies are purging civil servants, blackmailing the media, and crushing dissent with military troops. And let’s not forget his foreign deals, tariffs, and crypto grifts designed to enrich himself and his billionaire donors while the rest of America drowns in higher costs. He doesn’t even pretend anymore — the grift is the point. For Trump, every podium is a throne, every rally a coronation, and every indictment just proof (to his cult) that their Cheeto Messiah is “fighting the deep state.”

The Real “Values” Question

This is the ugly truth: what we call “values” in America is really just a code word for power. Politicians, preachers, and CEOs wrap their power grabs in patriotic language, biblical verses, or slick ad campaigns — but it’s the same hustle every time. It’s always about control — who gets it, who loses it, and who profits from it. If we don’t elect leaders who reject this obsession with domination, and actually serve the public good, we’ll be left with nothing but hollow slogans while billionaires laugh all the way to the bank.

Power doesn’t just corrupt. In Trump’s America, power is the only value left.