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steve bannon
How to Use 197 Forbidden 'Woke' Words and Still Get a Grant From the Trump-Musk Government
A grant proposal concerning reparations for the descendants of slave owners, submitted in good faith to Elon Musk during this cruel and unusual time of oppressive wokeness.
Mar 27, 2025
Dear Elon,
On behalf of the Diversified Organization of Grant Enablers, (the original DOGE), thank you for ordering the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation to flag proposals that contain certain oppressive“woke” words you don’t like. We’re not wild about them either.
Forbes leaked the list of the 197 terms, rendered here in bold italics. (And kudos, dear sir, for not banning George Carlin’s seven dirty words!)
BTW, the biased media is inflating the number of forbidden words, trying to make you look bad. For example, it counts as individual terms diverse, diverse backgrounds, diverse communities, diverse community, diverse group, diverse groups, diversified, diversify,diversifying, and diversity. Fake news, is it not?
But we have a suggestion. Rather than ban them, giving the liberals something easy to roast you with, why not put them to work in an anti-woke context? That’s what our professional team of DOGE grant writers has done in a model culturally appropriate proposal. You will love it, even though it uses just about all the barred terms. (Sorry, we failed to squeeze in people + uterus.)
We don’t want to brag, but this can’t-miss proposal will shake up the lunatic left. You will want to immediately fund it, even while chain-sawing so many others into sawdust. And when you spread the word on X, your popularity with anti-woke key groupsis going to skyrocket! Even Steve Bannon will snuggle up to you.
Thanks for purifying our thoughts and bringing your antiracist Afrikaner sensibility to our great nation.
Proposal For Reparations for the Descendants of Slave Owners (DSO)
Britain abolished slavery in 1833 and provided former slave owners 20 million British pounds (the equivalent today of $22.1 billion US dollars) as compensation. Racial justicedemands a similar response from the U.S. federal government for the descendants of U.S. slave owners.
In South Africa today, oppressedwhite farmers face land confiscation without compensation from its BIPOC government. Slave owners in the U.S. were victims of a similar injustice after the Civil War, punished for their identity. Without reparations, which have been too long denied, their descendants are victimized again generation after generation.
To promote a truly inclusive society based on equity, equality,and diversityfor all, we must recognize and celebrate our cultural differences. While we are a nation of immigrants, we also are a nation of slaveowners!
For too long implicit bias and hate speechhave been used against those, due to no fault of their own, who were born into slave-owning families. These key populations, labeled DSO here, should be considered at riskminorities. They helped create our national identityand contributed significantly to our cultural heritage. Racism in America would have little meaning without them.
Our proposal is a multicultural exploration ofrace and ethnicityamong the slave-owning class, and their extended contact with indigenous communities and the Hispanic minorityalong the Gulf of Mexico. These marginalized non-white groups, including males and females, also owned slaves and suffered losses due to emancipation.
We must put aside our stereotypesabout the plantation class. This underappreciatedand undervaluedpopulation is difficult to analyze due to our own unconscious bias against all aspects of slavery. The DSO have lost their voice and its once fearsome power, since some ancestors of slaveowners are burdened by a crippling sense of guilt and so are underrepresented in modern political discourse.
To advocate for reparations for DSO members is not to whitewash their faults. Slave-owners promoted systemic racism, segregation, and white privilege— even for white non-slave-owners— but we should acknowledge their genuine sense of belongingformed though the intersectionalityof socioculturaland socioeconomic factors in plantation society.
Even though white womenwere systematically placed on a pedestal, they were never excluded from institutionalslave-owning power. They adored their narrow gender identity. These women of high status were never marginalizedby aggressive feminists. They were totally at ease with being biologically female and with the genderthey were assigned at birth.
Also, we can find no transgenderand transexualmembers of slave-owning society and the DSO. Women did not run domestic plantation life in order to overcome disparities or spew meaningless pronounsin polite society. This wholesome tradition has been carried on by the DSO and provides another reason for just compensation.
A key, but seldom discussed factor, is the gender-based violence suffered at the hands of marauding Yankee soldiers. The DSO may deserve additional compensation for thetrauma suffered as well as any resulting mental disabilities of their forebearers.
Meanwhile, slave-owning men were real men, biologically maleswith no wanton legacy of men having sex with men(MSM). And please forgive us for a personal judgement: These god-fearing slaveowners left their descendants with not the faintest expressions of non-binary awareness, thank goodness.
Because of the uncompensated destruction of the slave-holding structures, we regret to report that more than a few white plantation women became commercial sex workers in order to survive the marauding armies. The anguish and mental healthproblems facing white plantation prostitutes should be considered when awarding reparations. While it is too late to do something for them, our unconscious bias about sex should not distract us from a path of justice for their descendants.
Another important thread connects the slave owners to the climate crisisthey and their descendants experienced. Monocrops repeatedly planted to raise cash in trade depleted the soil on Southern farms, creating pollution in their drinking water and a more generally degraded environmental quality. Westward expansion of slavery took more and more land from Native American tribes. Without climate scienceto inform them, effective solutions were missed and succeeding generations paid the price. We compensate farmers today for crop failures and tariff losses, why not do the same for the DSO including tribalDSO?
We hope that grant reviewers will look beyond their built-in anti-slaveowner confirmation bias, as well as their preconceived notions about race and ethnicity. It’s time to hone our cultural sensitivity and embrace a true cultural diversity, one that includes both descendants of slaves and slave owners. Our all-inclusive survey will make plain the biases we hold against this DSO class.
Since the Civil War, polarizationhas led to oppression and vilification of our great but marginalizedplantation heritage. This injustice can only be rectified by fair and equitablecompensation for the undervalued and underserved,whose relatives had their Blackhuman capital stripped from them.
Our project asks only that we adjust our orientation and increase the diversityof those considered the victimsof slavery. We must foster inclusiveness, devising just and equitable compensation programs for all descendants of slavery, including the DSO.
Social justice requires that we overcome our own prejudices and promote diversityof thought. By doing so, we all should recognize that slave-owning descendants too should be considered among our most vulnerable populations, entitled to equal opportunities when reparations are considered.
Now is the time to rectify the historical inequity faced by the DSO.
Now is the time to enhance the diversity of reparations recipients and the way they are viewed.
Now is the time to fund our bold proposal which strives, like no other, to bring community equity to all our people.
Cc: Rober Kennedy Jr., J.D. Vance, and the descendants of Robert E. Lee
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Stop Asking 'Can It Happen Here?' It Is Happening Here.
Today the forces of wealth and power are wielding unprecedented weapons that threaten the fundamentals of the republic. It’s not just policies and government departments that are under assault, but the very foundations of our democracy.
Mar 22, 2025
Not since those sweltering days in Philadelphia in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention has the United States confronted so fundamental a restructuring of the federal government. What’s happening! Today, the mainstream press declares “it can’t happen here” because we are not an authoritarian society, which is a reference to Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel, about a dictatorial take over of the United States. No we are not heading into a coup d’etat, they say, nor are we heading into an oligarchy.
Well, in fact, we are in the midst of a coup d’etat and we are living under an oligarchy.
The Trump-Musk regime and Republican Party are transforming how we are governed. This is not an unconstitutional assault, but rather an anti-constitutional assault. Virtually every ruling tradition is being pillaged all in the name of democracy. As the old maxim goes, “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
This is not an unconstitutional assault, but rather an anti-constitutional assault.
Those leaders in 1787 contrary to their stated intentions did not resolve to reform the Articles of Confederation, rather to create a new government, the U.S. Constitution. After considerable and impassioned debate an uneasy consensus was forged among the 13 states. At the conclusion of the convention with philosophical differences still painfully evident, the esteemed Benjamin Franklin urged his fellow delegates to “place trust in their own fallibility” and endorse the new republic.
A Contest of Time
With all of its manifest imperfections and unremitting political and economic crises, many self inflicted, this government has survived for nearly 240 years. Of course, through it all the elites thrived while those not fortunate enough to be white and wealthy were obliged to endure. The influential federalist Fisher Ames, in defense of the Constitution, likened our new republic to traveling on a “raft where we never sink but our feet are always in the water.”
Are We Due to Capsize?
This time in our history is different. Today the forces of wealth and power are wielding unprecedented weapons that threaten the fundamentals of the republic. It’s not just policies that are under assault.
Unique concentrations of economic and political authority, dysfunctional legislative and judicial branches, a collapsed political party system, race and class scapegoating and toadying by influential sectors of the mass media combine to provide opportunities for demagogues to sell snake oil to an economically vulnerable and politically disillusioned public. This could be, in the words of the American sage Mel Brooks, a “springtime for Hitler” moment.
What Lurks Within?
Just as Trump’s rise to power is a symptom of undemocratic features of the political economy, an oligarchy and coup d’etat can emerge from a regime that incessantly consolidates power by and for the wealthy. It’s not the greed it’s the need. Power concentration is baked into the scheme. The internal logic dictates that elite political power consolidates and expands in order to preserve and amplify economic power.
Capitalism, according to noted economist Sam Bowles, is a never-ending race that requires aggressive undemocratic strategies to persevere. Well, democracy gets in the way of all of this; it organically interferes with the forces of wealth and power. Thus elite self-aggrandizement is compulsory for survival. Predictably this ceaseless jockeying for advantage in the race comes at the expense of the general welfare of the people or as the African proverb has it “when the elephants dance the mice gets trampled.”
Wizards Behind the Curtain
It is widely understood that Trump is not known for his intellectual curiosity or acuity. During his first term he seldom read his briefing books preferring to lean on his confidantes for any particulars. Presidents, in part are judged by who the advisors are. So who are some of Trump’s “brain trust”?
In the early 1970’s, Roy Cohn, the legal henchman for Senator Joseph McCarthy, became a trusted mentor to Trump. Cohn bragged that, “My scare value is high. My arena is controversy. My tough front is my biggest asset.” He admonished Trump to never admit a mistake. Sound familiar? Another key influencer was—and remains—Steve Bannon, publisher of Breitbart News, a reactionary platform for Republican extremism. Bannon is credited with saying the goal is the “destruction of the administrative state.” Then there’s Stephen Miller, the ever-dyspeptic long-time insider who stated, “I would be happy if not a single refugee’s foot ever again touched American soil.”
In the words of historian Doris Kearns Goodman, in another context, these people are not a “team of rivals” like those that Lincoln assembled. Trump’s team of advisors and cabinet secretaries are the mandatory paragons of sycophancy.
The Coup’s Afoot
The Trump-Republican agenda is in part based on Project 2025, which is a wish list of extremist proposals of an influential ultra conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation. As will be shown the ultimate goal is to challenge and repeal foundational theories, structures and methods of how this country operates.
Their methods are straight out of an authoritarian’s playbook. The process consists of serial deceit, edict and executive orders all in arrogant violation of congressional and constitutional mandates and methods. This is a “shock and awe” that sabotages the rule of law. Trump’s second term is a barrage of dismantling of departments and agencies and the firing of hundreds of thousands with no regard for due process or social and human consequences. This is a coup d’etat.
Constitutional Foundations Crumble
This Trump –Musk and Republican Party coup is not a palace revolt that merely changes the faces in power. This is not about tinkering or modifying policy. This is not about upholding long cherished principles and values or a return to the “good old days.” This is about systemic change, about power and how it is structured and wielded and for who’s benefit.
What follows is an exposition of the coup’s structural attacks on governance. The actual specifics of the daily policy plundering will not be emphasized. Rather what will be explored are the why and how of this destruction of the basic architecture and operation of constitutional government. While historically this governing design and process has never been perfect it has always held the virtue of an ideal, of being a worthy democratic goal.
Reneging on the Contract
The insurrectionists intend to break the “Social Contract.” Philosopher John Locke’s foundational principle embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of an implicit agreement between the citizens and their government whereby the people abide by the authority in exchange for a freedom and the security of a stable society. People of good will understand that with freedom comes responsibility. This coup represents a comprehensive attack on the very purpose and methods of governing. Trump and Republicans are willfully undermining citizen’s trust in their government by demolishing the Contract.
How Popular is Sovereignty?
Trump, Inc. is sabotaging the principle of Popular Sovereignty whereby government’s power derives from the consent of the people. There is no need for consent in an authoritarian regime. Do citizens now want more voter suppression with fewer people voting, do they want the wealthy to have more control over campaign financing and who gets to run for office? Do citizens want an electoral system that they can’t trust? Not long ago Trump in his juvenile and artless way mused that when he becomes president the country would be so great that there would be no need for further elections.
Checking the Power of Democracy
An effective coup will subvert basic notions of how power should operate. The constitutional principles of the Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances are designed to prevent one branch from dominating the others and to insure the sharing of powers and accountability.
Republicans and Trump are consciously undermining that balance by promoting dubious theories, such as the “unitary executive” that bestows unrestrained power to the executive. Trump is impounding funds that were congressionally authorized. He is ignoring congressional oversight, thereby making a mockery of committee hearings and denying the senate it’s Advice and Consent authority. “Being president means I can do anything, I have Article 2,” thus spake Trump, the learned constitutional scholar during his first term.
In the early 1970s mainstream historian, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. in his book, The Imperial Presidency, warned of the escalation and dangers of an omnipotent president. One of his subjects of course was Richard Nixon who by comparison to Trump looks like a Mr. Rogers in his neighborhood oval office.
A Supremely Political Court
Revamping and controlling the judicial system is vital to the effectiveness of a coup. The U.S. Supreme Court wields extraordinary powers through a legalism concocted in 1803 that bestowed through “judicial review” the irrevocable authority to determine what laws are constitutional. This enables an unelected branch the ability to overturn a decision of elected representatives.
That power, now in the hands of the Trump-Roberts court, is a form of despotism. If insurgents can shape the ideological tenor of the court then politics will replace judicial fairness rendering the court a confederate in the unraveling of democracy.
Working with the Federalist Society over recent decades, the right-wing movement has spent millions to colonize the Supreme Court with a super majority of conservative and reactionary jurists. This hostile takeover of our highest court has turned a once esteemed branch into an ideological bunker where the robber barons take on cases to further limit the “excesses” of democracy.
The Robert’s Court has, among other things, destroyed voting rights protections, eliminated campaign finance regulations, undermined first amendment rights, eroded immigrant and women’s rights and unabashedly championed corporate interests. And perhaps most egregiously has put the president above the law by anointing him with unprecedented immunity. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Senate’s most effective judicial watchdog, describes the Robert’s Court as having “advanced a far right agenda” that is “deeply out of touch with the will of Americans.” This court has virtually overturned the rule of law and enabled extremism to reign supreme.
The Political Party Is Over
The party system is being destroyed enabling coup mutineers to demagogue their way to power. They have been aided and abetted by two political parties that are no longer honest or effective advocates for citizens interests.
For a long time the political party system has been a poor representative of the interests of a broad cross section of the population. Class considerations and structural weakness of government has disenfranchised many. Historically it has been up to minorities, the poor and working classes, women, and others to compel political parties and others make the country live up to its founding ideals. Yes, if the people will lead the leaders will eventually follow.
The party system is being destroyed enabling coup mutineers to demagogue their way to power. They have been aided and abetted by two political parties that are no longer honest or effective advocates for citizens interests.
The perennial issue is how well the parties have represented the citizens. The Democratic Party once an advocate for minorities, the poor and working classes has over the past 50 years abandoned its grassroots focus and party building. Aided by the myopic assistance of the Bill Clinton wing of the party, the old New Deal coalition has been abandoned in order to pander to the interests of Wall Street.
Republicans, starting in the 20th century, consistently represented business and elite interests, nothing new here. What is new and distinctive is the impact of the growing reactionary wing that gained traction in the 1970’s and surged during the1980s Reagan era. With a shrinking middle class, a tidal wave of unregulated corporate money, a new high tech Internet media combined with an economically vulnerable populace provided an opportunity for cynical Republican Party exploitation. With Trump as the carnival barker the fringe elements of the party grew in popularity and became amenable to extremist ideas.
Today Republicans are more of a cult than a party while most Democrats dither as they try to figure out what they stand for other than re-election.
With the major parties in existential disarray they are less capable of countering the anti democratic forces of oligarchy. The logical consequence is a coup d’etat to “save the country.”
Is There No Direction Home?
Not since the Civil War have the principles, structure, and means of governance been so ferociously attacked. The Lockean Social Contract between the people and the government is being torn apart.
While it was not a mandate, only about 30% of the voting age population supported Trump (76 out of c. 259 million adults), that’s nonetheless a significant portion of voters. Clearly citizens are angry with a government that consistently ignores the real interests of working-class Americans. They voted their frustrations, their anger and their pocketbooks. Hey that Trump guy is talking about my concerns.
But did they vote to promote fear and hatred in order to divide people by class, gender, race, and sexual orientation? Did they vote to destroy public education, Social Security, the U.S. Postal Service and healthcare by privatization or to politicize the Supreme Court and the Justice Department? Did they vote to further shrink the middle class and escalate the gap between the rich and the poor or to destroy unions? Did they vote to deny climate change or to blow up relations with our allies by abrogating treaties or start destabilizing tariff wars?
We do know that people’s contentment in life is primarily derived from a society that offers a fair chance for equal opportunity and security.
If we are like the theologian Abraham Heschel, “pessimists of the intellect and optimists of the will” this crisis offers a real opportunity to seek a newer world, a world where an authentic political and economic democracy can be made a reality.
Returning to the venerable Franklin, during the Constitutional Convention he would frequently gaze at the sun carved high on the chair of presiding officer George Washington and muse whether it was a setting or rising sun...
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'We're Working On It': Bannon Says Planning Underway for Trump 2028
"We'll see what the definition of term limit is," said Steve Bannon, the far-right podcast host and former top advisor to the president.
Mar 19, 2025
A former top advisor and strategist for President Donald Trump said Tuesday that secretive efforts are ongoing to prop him up for a third presidential run in three years, with not-so-cryptic remarks that included "we'll have a couple of alternatives" and "we've had greater long shots than Trump 2028."
Appearing on journalist Chris Cuomo's NewsNation podcast, far-right mouthpiece Steve Bannon demurred when asked if he had ambitions to run for president. He replied, "No, and I'm a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028, so I've already endorsed President Trump."
When Cuomo pressed Bannon on the existence of term limits that would bar Trump from seeking a third term, Bannon said, "We're working on it. I think we’ll have a couple of alternatives, let’s say that. We’ll see what the definition of term limit is."
“We’re working on it.” Steve Bannon says Trump will run for, and win, a third term in 2028. (Video: NewsNation) pic.twitter.com/oycAONyOb3
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) March 19, 2025
"We've had greater long shots than Trump 2028, and we've got a lot of stuff we're working on there," Bannon added. "We're not prepared to talk about it publicly, but in a couple of months, I think we will be."
Trump and his far-right allies have repeatedly suggested that the president would seek to stay in power beyond what is made possible in the U.S. Constitution, including the 22nd Amendment, which expressly forbids the president from serving more than two terms.
As Noah Bookbinder, president of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said last week: "The 22nd Amendment is clear: No president can be elected to a third term."
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