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It appears Trump is doing my work for me - proving he’s running a Sloptocracy as evidenced by his Sunday AI bender.
I dedicated my “Hot Type” column in Byline Times this weekend to the Trump regime’s accelerating use of AI slop, and how it’s being used as primary tool of governance to push the regime’s political agenda.
I call this form of government a Sloptocracy, and unfortunately, it’s very serious.
As I wrote:
Trump is using AI slop to paralyze and traumatize the population for political gains. Evidence that he is attempting to turn the US into a Sloptocracy has been available since his first term, when he shared manipulated and edited videos on social media, becoming the first president to earn a ‘manipulated media’ warning label on a tweet.
But over are the days of the occasional video release, often violent and cruel as Trump took aim at perceived political enemies. Now, his administration releases a constant stream of videos created with AI-technology.
He and his loyalists are engaging in psychological warfare on a massive scale, for political and personal gains. Since my column was published on Saturday, Trump went on AI-generated rampage, posting content of himself as a superhero, more Iran slop and territorial manipulations, more targeting of perceived enemies, all in a ten-hour burst.
Germany Update
We’ll discuss the ‘why’ of this, as well as updates on Germany’s regional elections — where anti-immigration, extremist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) made gains but fell short of a majority.
Look for Vienna-based disinformation analyst Dietmar Pichler to join us with updates, and hopefully, geopolitical analyst Monique Camarra will be able to hop on the zoom to offer her perspective.
Here is Elon Musk once again putting his finger on the scale for AfD.
But as Monique told me this morning:
“The region has 2 million inhabitants, and Germany’s overall population is 83 million (for perspective). Saxony is not Berlin or the other metropolises across Germany: totally landlocked and rural. It was part of the DDR, and like many Italians, its inhabitants haven’t caught on to what democracy means that much. They are riddled with patronage politics to begin with, and the idea that the State should take care of them. The parents have passed this on to their children, whose age group voted for them (35-55 yo). The only thing now that matters is that if they do end up forming the regional government (they have to find a coalition partner to do so), they will have access to information that they can pass along, and they will have more press coverage.
We had the same problem with Orban’s government. Whether Musk is bankrolling these people or not (other people are also interested in shaping GER politics), the Ulrich guy mentioned him to increase his visibility, and it’s a great way to trigger everyone on social media. Btw, Weidel doesn’t even live in Germany: she lives with her partner in Switzerland.”
She’s referring to the AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, an anti-immigrant, opponent of gay marriage, who is a gay woman in a partnership with a Sri Lankan immigrant. Like UK’s Nigel Farage and France’s Marine Le Pen, Weidel is shadowed by investigations into illicit campaign donations.
As Dietmar notes:
“Much is rightly being discussed about the extremely high AfD result in the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. In addition, it should be noted that the “successor to the successor” of the SED, “Die Linke,” crossed the finish line with over 8 percent, and the split-off from the Left, even better known for its Russia positions, with over 5 percent. If one knows the foreign and European policy ideas of all these parties, the question arises as to how securely Germany’s “Western alignment” is at least represented in this federal state.”
Bette’s Book Club
In addition to the news updates, I’ll be making book recommendations based on our upcoming author events in October. Among our guests will be French historian, author, and information warfare expert, David Colon; investigative reporter and author Craig Unger; and intellectual historian and author Marci Shore. Look for invites in coming weeks.
Looking forward to seeing many of you as we continue to stay informed about world events, culture, and trends.
New members: I began the Tuesday Happy Hours three years ago as a way to keep people buoyed and into action during difficult times. We also meet periodically on Sundays for our Speakeasys, where we meet historians, authors, and cultural icons. Please keep scrolling all the way to the bottom of the post to find the zoom registration link for our Happy Hour.
Thankful to all of you who have stood beside me as I do this work.
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. A No. 1 Amazon best-selling author and award-winning film director, Cuda writes the Hot Type column in Byline Times, an independent UK-newspaper. She executed produced the film Kherson: Human Safari. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism and culture reporting.
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