Trumpocalypse Now | Between the Lines

The Wrap with Amy Remeikis
If seeing the new world order sitting in the front row of Donald Trump’s inauguration didn’t send a chill down your spine then there may not be a lot of point reading beyond this line.
Much has been said about the oligarchy threatening America’s democracy. But this is not an oligarchy we are facing. It’s a plutocracy.
The difference is money. An oligarchy is a small group of people who have amassed power, while a plutocracy is a small group of wealthy people who have amassed power.
And you might think it is just semantics, but in this case, it matters.
These plutocrats own the public square. We carry around their devices in our pockets, they own our personal information, they know who we talk to, and who we listen to. We drive their cars, we fill our homes with their products, we shop on their platforms. American journalist Ken Klippenstein calls them the ‘appistocracy’ and they now have the ear of the ‘leader of the free world’ because their apps helped support his path to power.
Elon Musk has since turned his attention to UK politics, laying the groundwork through his ownership of one of the biggest social media platforms in the world to elevate his own beliefs and sew the seeds of discontent. No democracy is immune from the immense reach of the richest people on earth who are currently in a race to become the world’s first trillionaire, without care of who or what they crush to do it.
And yes, they will eventually tear each other apart, because these are not people used to sharing. But right now, they are united in the common goal of making as much money as they can, with impunity. The systems Americans rely on to protect them – the courts, federal statutory bodies, a strong democracy – are already compromised.
And this time, Trump and his allies know how it all works and have had four years to consider their plans. They have started how they mean to go on and they are telling us exactly what they are going to do. This is a White House that openly stands for Big Oil and billionaires. That plans on wielding its considerable international power for individual benefit and using the weight of federal powers to strictly impose far right ideologies domestically.
Trump has ushered in a new era of incivility politics and is unapologetic about it.
So how have Australia’s leaders reacted to this new, but not surprising world order?
Foreign minister Penny Wong was publicly declaring how “honoured” she was to attend the inauguration, telling the Nine network that Trump had made his agenda clear throughout his campaign, “so it’s clear he’s going to do things differently”.
“For me, I was very privileged to be there for the speech. I was very privileged to be present for the inauguration”.
‘Doing things differently’ is one way of describing what Trump has already enacted and plans on enacting. A compete moral and ethical morass is another.
Anthony Albanese is reportedly looking at how to work with Democrat-run states to keep the climate technology deals going, as the world’s democracies all signal they will grit their teeth and smile to get through the next four years, as if there isn’t a larger existential threat on the horizon.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton is using Trump’s second coming as part of his election pitch, telling Australians that he is better suited to personally get along with Trump, which may be among the most honest personality assessments a politician has ever uttered.
There has been no talk about rethinking Australia’s relationship with America, and whether continuing to hitch ourselves to the United States is something that even works for us. At this point, all focus is on the potential for tariffs and what that would mean for Australia’s economy, with no corresponding thought that this is something that Trump has threatened every trading partner with, and it is Americans who will pay the biggest price in a US versus the world trade war.
You can not appease those who weaponise appeasement to continue stomping on whatever they wish. This time around, Trump and his allies don’t only control the White House, they control the world’s megaphones. It’s not so much, as Steve Bannon once memorably said, just ‘flooding the zone with shit’ to control the media narrative, it’s a tsunami.
The only way through it, is to stay aware, informed, and above all, not give into despair. As the Institute’s director of international and security affairs program Dr Emma Shortis writes in her book, ‘Our Exceptional Friend’, Australia rethinking its ‘friendship’ with the US “might start to create the conditions for a different relationship”.
“….It is people, not governments who lead the way. For seventy years, the ANZUS alliance has reinforced, rather than addressed, the systemic injustices of this world. For seventy years, the alliance has been sealed with blood. But nothing is inevitable – history is full of possibilities. The future is too.”
We hope you’ll join us in fighting for that future. We need every voice we can get.
Take care of you,
Amy
— Amy Remeikis is the Chief Political Strategist at the Australia Institute
The Big Stories
Compared to the cost of protesting, buying time with a minister is very cheap
Our right to protest is increasingly under threat, with governments across Australia responding to peaceful protests, such as blockades to protect native forests or to stop fossil fuel infrastructure damaging natural environments, Indigenous heritage and farmland, by rushing through draconian anti-protest laws.

In Victoria, any action that disrupts forestry activities in specific timber harvesting zones can be fined up to $21,000. A protester in NSW who disrupts a ‘major road’ (in practice any road) faces a maximum fine of $22,000. Topping them all, a protestor in South Australia can receive fines of up to $50,000 for any action that “directly or indirectly obstructs the free passage of any public place”, including privately run places like shops.
Comparatively, lobbying on behalf of private, corporate interests remains under-regulated and cheap, including the ongoing practice of ‘cash-for-access’ payments: in 2024, it typically costs from $1,500 to $4,000 for a meal with a government minister.
Innovative ideas to support our languishing creative industries
Yesterday’s announcement that Splendour in the Grass will be cancelled for the second year in a row is just the latest sign that the Australian music scene needs help.
Our research shows that 80% of young Australians would attend more live music events if a $200 government-funded voucher were available.
These ‘youth cultural passes’ have worked in Europe and would be embraced by young Australians, with 4 in 5 young Australians supporting the idea.
for a small investment, the Commonwealth could give live music a huge boost.
If our Government can spend over $10 billion each year on fossil fuel subsidies, it can afford to support our cultural institutions
In Australia, more people work in arts and recreation (254,000) than the mining industry (220,000).
While there is always plenty of money to subsidise fuel for mining companies, cultural institutions have suffered from funding scarcities for decades, writes the Australia Institute’s Alice Grundy.
Her piece is an insightful exploration of how tweaks to our tax policy could help fund struggling arts institutions.
Nationalism, revenge, and retribution: What to expect from the second Trump Presidency | Emma Shortis
Brace yourselves, the second Trump era has begun.
“Trump and his allies seek to build a new “golden age” for their particular version of America – an America that is radical, aggressive and unforgiving.”
Dr Emma Shortis explains how the second Trump presidency will differ in its preparedness for action, which did not exist in 2016.
The Facts on Fixing Superannuation
Australia’s superannuation is a broken system that works to give the richest 10% over $20bn a year in tax breaks, while nearly a quarter of retirees live in poverty due to the miserable level of the age pension. The government is trying to reduce some of the most egregious abuses of superannuation – and yet misleading fear campaigns look likely to win out.
Greg Jericho explains that Australia, despite being the ninth-richest country, has the fifth-highest poverty rate out of the 38 advanced economies in the OECD, and how tweaks to the tax breaks afforded to the upper echelons of superannuation balances can help address this.
Eleventh hour for Maugean Skate as 10,000 sign petition to remove salmon farms from Macquarie Harbour
It’s now over a year since the review of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour began, triggered by the Australia Institute.
As recently published in the Australian newspaper, documents released under freedom of information legislation show again that the science is clear and rigorous. The Minister cannot ignore this advice. Australian law gives Tanya Plibersek the power to protect the endangered Maugean skate, but she is under huge pressure not to use those legal powers. If business continues as usual, without intervention from the Environment Minister, the foreign-owned salmon industry in Tasmania will go down in history for causing the extinction of a species.
Help counter the lobbying pressure from the salmon industry and Save the Skate by signing our petition to end salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour, one third of which is World Heritage.
The Win
One year ago, the Government announced it would fix the Stage 3 tax cuts
This time last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Stage 3 tax cuts would be redesigned to make them fairer, redistributing $84 billion destined to go to the highest income earners back to people on low and middle incomes.
After years of being told it was impossible, it was a huge win for those who worked tirelessly to make the case against the original, manifestly unfair stage 3.
The Bin
Prominent Coalition MPs want Australia to follow Trump’s America in erasure of trans identification and inclusion
The AFR reports that prominent Coalition MPs, including Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan, and Alex Antic want Australia to follow Donald Trump’s moves to recognise only two genders – male and female – and efforts to include transgender people.
It’s a move that promotes hate and division, and spokesman for advocacy group Just.Equal Australia, Rodney Croome, warned against following Mr Trump.
“There is no evidence that Australia’s gender-affirming laws and policies are a problem, and lots of evidence about their positive impact on transgender people and their families,” he said.
The Quote
In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
— Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, to President Trump, during the National Prayer Service.
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”
Trump glared and shifted uncomfortably as she spoke, Time Magazine reported.
Podcasts
Victim-in-chief | After America
Allan Behm and Dr Emma Shortis discuss Trump’s inauguration, his radical agenda to reshape American life and the United States’ role in the world, and how Australia can respond.
Listen now:
“That’s cooked”: welcome to 2025 | Follow the Money
Executive Director Richard Denniss joins Ebony Bennett to examine the year ahead in federal politics and how the Trump presidency could impact Australia.
Listen now:
The not-so-super tax concessions | Dollars & Sense
Superannuation tax concessions benefit the richest Australians most – so why is the government finding it so hard to make modest changes to the system?
Listen now:
What’s On
Climate Integrity Summit 2025 | Wednesday 12 February 2025
As the world’s 13th largest economy and the world’s third largest fossil fuel exporter, Australia has a special responsibility to lead the effort in a global transition away from fossil fuels and to help our nation’s trading partners, regional neighbours and those most vulnerable to the climate crisis to respond accordingly.
The 2025 Climate Integrity Summit will show Australia’s domestic and international integrity influences the international context and how the 2025 federal election outcome will shape global climate action.
Hosted at Parliament House in Canberra, the Summit brings together prominent international and local experts, including humanitarian Craig Foster, Palau’s Permanent Representative to the UN Her Excellency Ilana Seid, Senator David Pocock, G7+ General Secretary Dr Helder da Costa, and Tiwi Islands campaigner Antonia Burke.
Tickets are limited, so book your place now.
Policy School: Funding elections in a fair and transparent way | 11am AEDT, Thursday 30 January
Join Democracy & Accountability Director Bill Browne will break down the Government’s proposed changes to election financing and campaigning, test them against the Australia Institute’s principles of fair political finance reform, and discuss which reforms will ensure a level playing field and competitive elections.
Black Convicts with Santilla Chingaipe | 11am AEDT, Friday 31 January
Join us for the first edition of Australia’s Biggest Book Club for 2025, featuring Black Convicts by Santilla Chingaipe.
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