Dark Money, Billionaires, & the Death of Earth & Democracy

Do you wonder why the election is as close as it is?  One reason might be this statistic: $2 billion has been pumped into the 2024 election by 150 billionaires—and most was for Trump.*

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, joins CBS News to examine the Post’s non-endorsement decision and its fallout.

One of the signs of the antichrist in our day is the role of the powerful oppressing the many with dark money. 

We were reminded of the immediate application of this reality recently when two billionaires owning two of the most important newspapers in the country, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, both refused to endorse a presidential candidate. 

Of course, a third billionaire media chieftain, Rupert Murdoch, has been poisoning democracy in the US and UK for decades with lies and propaganda disguised as news.

Have you wondered why global warming and climate change have not played a bigger role in this Election 2024 when it is without doubt the most pressing moral issue for all peoples and all species on Earth?  And young people, understandably, see it as a priority?  I certainly have. 

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse calls out court capture & dark money in a 2021 Judiciary Committee business meeting.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse offers an answer: It’s a trifecta: dark money is behind climate denial, Court capture and corruption of Congress—one crew, one plan, one cancer in the body politic.  He recognizes that this all came to pass with the passing of the Citizens United decision proudly championed by chief justice Roberts. 

Dark money has provided a “filthy bestiary of influence” since that time.  Dark money is the “massive anonymous political spending by special interests” who hide their identities from the public.  Voters become less important in deciding political outcomes than “the big secret spenders.”  Front groups such as “donors trusts” and 501(c)3s and (c)4s and superPACs dominate. 

Yet polling is “off the charts” to restrict this kind of dark money—republicans as well as independents and democrats are against it. 

Whitehouse points out that before Citizens United, climate change was a bipartisan issue (in 2008 McCain included it in his platform), but fossil-fuel dark money killed that bipartisanship. 

Comic-book-inspired advertisement in the Washington Metro, 2015, part of a campaign pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission to rein in dark money. Wikimedia Commons.

The “amenable” justices on the Supreme Court, led by chief justice John Roberts, were captured by a dark-money operation funded by “creepy polluter billionaires and managed by their creepy minion Leonard Leo.”  Thanks to the Heritage Foundation, the Supreme Court members are instructed on what to do to keep dark money flowing.

The Heritage Foundation is deeply connected to the Christofascist movement we wrote of in yesterday’s DM.  Its president, Kevin Roberts, chief architect of Project 2025, is closely linked to Opus Dei (see our October 15 DM on this).  Vice-presidential hopeful DJ Vance wrote the preface to Roberts’ book, whose release was suddenly put off until after the election when Vance was chosen to the Republican ticket.   

Project 2025 promises to eliminate programs, disembowel bureaus and end reporting on anything climate related.  “Drill, baby drill,” is its mantra,  Trump’s claim that “climate change is a hoax” is its inspiration.  Fossil fuel companies are thrilled and provide rivers of dark money to the cause.

If fascism is “institutional violence”, then the institutional denial of climate change and refusal to do anything about it and thus hasten the killing of the Earth as we knows it qualifies, it seems to me, as a violence without precedence.  A mortal—in the sense of deadly—sin without parallel.  And premeditated.


* Julia Conley, “This Is Just the Traceable Money’: $2 Billion Pumped Into 2024 Election by Billionaire Families.” Common Dreams, 10/29/2024.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, pp. 62-67.

See Matthew Fox, “Chapter 6: Opus Dei” in Fox, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved, pp. 106-124.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.

Banner Image: “Drill, Baby, Drill” flag promoting the First Felon’s campaign. On Amazon.com.


Queries for Contemplation

Are you voting and encouraging others to vote in this election?  And talking with those who are reluctant to vote?  As imperfect as both parties are, they are not equivalent when it comes to the issue of survival of the Earth as we know it.  And many other issues too.


Recommended Reading

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved

The Pope’s War offers a provocative look at three decades of corruption in the Catholic Church, focusing on Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The final section in the book focuses on birthing a truly catholic Christianity.
“This book should be read by everybody, not only for its ferocious courage, but also for its vision for what needs to be saved from the destructive forces that threaten authentic Christianity.” ~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope.
“In the gripping The Pope’s War, Matthew Fox takes an unwavering look at the layers of corruption in the Catholic Church, holding moral truth against power.”   — Jason Berry, author of Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics


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5 thoughts on “Dark Money, Billionaires, & the Death of Earth & Democracy”

  1. Did Democrats get some of that ‘dark money’ to keep the environment and climate change ‘off the ballot’ as a serious election issue? I don’t understand the premise that this DM is based upon. Or is it just finger pointing and scapegoating, which a lot of the DM appears to be. Wherein then lies the broader ‘culpability of bypassing’ this important issue? We are remiss, are we not, to give ourselves ‘a hall pass’ when it comes to exposing our shortcomings. – BB.

    1. Kamala helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act which has the strongest climate initiatives ever passed anywhere. The infrastructure Act she helped pass also enables green jobs etc. as well. As an attorney general she created a division to go after polluters.
      Kamala is against Project 2025 which literally wants to end any and all efforts on climate change, eliminate even mentioning climate change, end the EPA, NOAA and the weather service, and gut all environmental protection-saying that prosperity must always take precedence. There is simply no comparison between the approach to climate change and the environment between the two parties. You have drawn a false equivalency between them, and suggested a conspiracy theory with no evidence as well, not to mention insulted Matthew who has an amazing track record of standing up for all of creation. I appreciate Matthew’s unflinching exposition of the realities we face today in the rise fascism all over the world. As Thomas Merton pointed out, history shows that Christians have been on the side of tyranny in great numbers, and current events show that continues to hold true.

  2. Unregulated dark money is surely our biggest problem. The organization, “American Promise. Net” is actively working for a constitutional amendment that would reinstate our states’ and nation’s ability to regulate money in politics. Cross-partisan, grass-roots, smart. We can change this mess!

  3. Yes! I recommend Brian D. McLaren’s, a respected well known contemplative, recent book, “Life After Doom: Wisdom And Courage For A World Falling Apart,” (2024). It’s a realistic, yet humane and spiritual analysis of our world climate crisis. It has received many positive reviews. Kaitlin B. Furtive, a Native American leader and writer: “Do we want to better understand our own humanity? We have to dig deep and remember who we are, and Brian’s
    stories and calls to action help us do that.” From the book’s cover: “Blending insights from philosophers, poets, scientists, and theologians, “Life After Doom” explores the complexity of hope, the necessity of grief, and the need for new ways of thinking, becoming, and belonging in turbulent times… “

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