The A.I. War: Inside the Techno-Fascist Plan for the US
TL;DR: While you’re using AI to draft polite emails to HR, the “Techno-Fascists” are using it to draft the obituary of American democracy.
Independent Media · Following the Money · By Rob C
Democracy For Sale
How Corporate Greed is Corrupting Democracy
and Endangering the Planet
Featured Essay
Taxed, Screwed, and Lied To: Welcome to the American Scam
Latest Writing
Taxed, Screwed, and Lied To: Welcome to the American Scam
Average Americans pay substantial taxes while receiving inadequate public services — and it was designed that way.
Read Essay →It’s a Clown Show with Nukes
TL;DR: Fourteen months into the sequel, Trump has destroyed everything that made America functional while getting obscenely rich. He’s sold access to hostile nations for gold, prizes, and a luxury 747. His family’s grifting on crypto, oil deals, and foreign investments while using presidential power
The Mission
Money flows where cameras don't. We follow both.
Democracy for Sale is an independent investigation into the funding mechanisms, influence networks, and financial architecture that shape American political life. No corporate backing. No access journalism. Just public records, data, and the questions the mainstream press won't sit with long enough to answer.
Read the Manifesto$14.4B
Spent on 2024 federal elections
60%
Senate races won by the bigger spender
$4.1B
Reported lobbying spend in 2023
501c4
The loophole that hides it all
Recent Episodes
All Episodes → State Houses for Sale
The big money battle for state legislatures — why donors are targeting statehouses and what's at stake for redistricting, abortion, and labor.
Ari Berman
The Think Tank Industrial Complex
Behind the policy papers and TV talking heads: how corporate money funds the ideas that become law — and how it stays hidden.
Jane Mayer
Billionaires and Ballot Boxes
A handful of ultra-wealthy donors now account for a staggering share of all political spending. We ask: is democracy still one person, one vote?
Chuck CollinsAnand Giridharadas
Super PACs Explained
Citizens United opened the floodgates. Fifteen years later, we look at how Super PACs have reshaped American elections — and who's really writing the checks.
Trevor Potter