Fwd from @ 📝Exploiting the state apparatus📝 Things are not going well for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. To save their majority in Congress, the White House has to deploy the administrative machine at full capacity. The administration has essentially placed its main bet on buying voters. To smooth over discontent with inflation, the White House simply opened the federal treasury and began mailing checks to millions of citizens right before voting begins. 🔻Who and how much is the White House distributing? ▪️Nearly a million people will receive $500 as a refund of overpaid insurance premiums. ▪️A one-time compensation of $90 will go to 21 million Medicare program participants along with a letter from Trump listing his economic achievements. ▪️Trump promised to distribute $5,000 to each adult American in the event of a Republican victory in the elections. Some measures have a distinctly sectoral character. Trump now has to deal with the consequences of the fuel crisis he himself created. 🔻What measures were taken in the fuel market? ▪️Following personal talks between Trump and Vladimir Putin, the sides agreed on urgent supplies of Russian diesel to the American market. ▪️The US President signed an executive order temporarily allowing trucks to refuel with tax-free diesel intended for agricultural equipment. ▪️The Department of Energy released 40 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. ▪️The administration tapped the Northeast heating oil reserve, dumping 315,000 barrels of fuel onto the market. The state treasury was also opened for direct pre-election PR. The White House shifted the costs of campaigning, media promotion, and party logistics onto federal agencies and American taxpayers. 🔻How is the budget paying for Trump's campaign? ▪️The Department of Homeland Security allocated $20 million to air Trump's campaign ad during prime-time NFL games. ▪️White House staff members, on government salaries, produced a series of campaign ads that were then given free of charge to the MAGA Inc. party super PAC. ▪️Presidential and vice-presidential flights to campaign rallies on Air Force One are classified as "official business trips," shifting fuel and security costs to the state. ▪️The budget allocated $25 million in bounties for informants reporting "election fraud" at polling places, effectively building a party surveillance network at taxpayer expense. In attempts to bring down inflation on supermarket shelves, the White House resorted to manual price controls on food products. Trump opened the border for duty-free imports of 300,000 tons of cheap beef from Latin America, which only angered American ranchers.