The rich turn back to Trump (because they're terrible people)

Politico's Sam Sutton on Republican donors now moving to support Trump after previously revoking that support for, you know, that whole attempting-to-overthrow-our-government thing:

But many Republican donors – including those who had said they’d never support Trump again after Jan. 6 — believe the current regulatory climate for businesses is also an existential danger. Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City — a nonprofit organization representing the city’s top business leaders — said Republicans have conveyed to her that they consider that “the threat to capitalism from the Democrats is more concerning than the threat to democracy from Trump.”

To [former Trump backer Anthony Scaramucci], that argument is “brutally naive.” Trump’s plans to systematically deport what he says are 15 million to 20 million undocumented immigrants, reshape the justice system and politicize the federal workforce, would represent an unprecedented amassing of executive power, and that would ultimately “be bad for business,” he said.

“You need a democracy to have effective capitalism,” he said. “If you don’t, you get cronyism. You get oligarchy. You get crony capitalism. You get arbitrary and capricious administration to the law, which reduces people’s tendency to invest in your country.”

It turns out a great number of the richest people in the country don't understand that last part. Sure, having to follow regulations limiting the ratio of pork to human finger in hot dogs or preventing you from piping aerosolized carcinogens into the nearby elementary school are irritants, from a business standpoint, but the Trump camp's braggadocio about how they're going to be bending or breaking the laws they don't like while launching a full, Yoo-endorsed drive to retaliate against their political enemies ought to alarm them even more.

What the Trump camp is describing is essentially Putinism. If you're on His Team, you can pick and choose what laws to follow while getting special government perks and contracts reserved only for His Team members. And if you're not you get nothing.

But how do you stay on Dear Leader's Team? You do what he wants, and only what he wants. If he says he needs money, you give him money. If he says he needs you to shut down a factory or build a new one somewhere else, you either do it or you pay him enough money to make him "reconsider."

If you're fabulously, obnoxiously stinkin' rich and you're being asked to choose between new hot dog regulations for the next 4 years or having to stay in the constant good graces of every third-rate crony who manages to ooze their way into Trump's notably felonious inner circle, forever, and you'd rather take your chances with the latter? Buddy, I don't even know what to tell you.

There's a good case to be made that a good portion of our upper classes are, and I can't stress this enough, deeply stupid people. Sam Sutton again:

The former president “is a much better choice than what we have now. Just check out the four years that Trump was in office versus the three years that President Biden was in office,” said John Catsimatidis, the billionaire New York radio station owner and real estate investor. Gas and food prices were lower. It was easier to conduct business, he said, and it was a lot cheaper to secure financing for second homes.

“I remember I got a mortgage on one of my homes I bought in the suburbs for 2.75 percent,” said Catsimatidis, who is estimated by Forbes to be worth $4.3 billion. “It’s horrible what’s going on.”

Jeebus McCrackers. I don't even know where to begin with that one.