In the final feverish stretch of the election, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with policy announcements, endless fundraising texts, and news cycles that seem to last only minutes. If you’re feeling exhausted, we get it – we’re right there with you.

But while it can be easy when we’re in the midst of a campaign to get bogged down in the day-to-day chaos, let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture. There are important trends we can discern if we pause long enough to see them.

So if we pause today, what do we see? Unfortunately, the same thing we’ve seen for years: spiraling wealth inequality fueling the rise of right-wing authoritarianism. America is firmly part of an international trend of ultra-conservative parties and candidates gaining ground in local and national legislatures, as voters increasingly feel trapped in an economic system rigged against them. Billionaires and plutocrats are not just seizing more political and economic power; they’re openly coordinating with each other to cement their control over media outlets and governing institutions.

In short, we’re witnessing a global, slow-motion, oligarchical coup. And the front lines of the battle are right here in America.

This week, POLITICO Magazine published an interview with Fiona Hill, a former Trump advisor titled ‘Everything Is Subservient to the Big Guy’: Fiona Hill on Trump and America’s Emerging Oligarchy: The longtime Russia expert explains why Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are all talking to each other.

The article is worth reading in full, but one segment summarizes the situation well:

“… Hill, like other scholars and historians with an expertise in autocratic regimes, said she sees the American political system already drifting into autocracy, even before Trump is potentially [re]elected. A key sign is that members of the country’s billionaire class are acting more and more like oligarchs.

‘They aren’t driven by the people they represent or the companies that they represent, but by the peer group that they are in, which is an extraordinarily small group of people… Their interactions are all about them figuring out how to exercise power together.’”

You’ve heard this from Patriotic Millionaires before. We’ve explained why Elon Musk and his broligarch buddies would double down on someone like Donald Trump. The answer is the same now as it was then: money. They’re propping up Donald Trump to preserve their egregious tax breaks, and protect and consolidate the power that their wealth gives them. And they’re on the verge of succeeding.

To prevent the rise of oligarchy – and tame the existing crop of billionaires already wielding influence in America – we must address the most significant source of their wealth: a tax code built to make billionaires richer at all costs. To preserve democracy, we need to turn their tools against them, and use the tax code – which has favored them for so long – to minimize the power they hold over our country.

So where do the candidates stand on taxes? We summarized Vice President Harris’ existing tax record back in July when she became the presumptive Democratic nominee, but a new report from the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP) has done some analysis of Harris’ tax proposals to show their specific impact on households across the income spectrum. It found that “the richest 1 percent of Americans would receive an average tax increase equal to 4.1 percent of their income” while “other income groups would receive tax cuts, including an average tax cut equal to 2.7 percent of income for the middle fifth of Americans and an average tax cut equal to 7 percent of income for the poorest fifth of Americans.”

Their analysis factors in all of Harris’ proposals, including:

• Extending the temporary provisions in the 2017 tax law for those with incomes of less than $400,000 but with strict limits on benefits for those with incomes above $400,000.
• Reforming the taxes that fund Medicare, which would raise taxes on those with incomes of more than $400,000.
• Scaling back existing tax breaks on capital gains and dividends for those with incomes of more than $1 million (and in some cases far more).
• Reforming the corporate tax code to close loopholes and pull back recent tax breaks that have been shown to increase income inequality and racial inequality.

Vice President Harris is, essentially, headed in the right direction.

Meanwhile, you heard from us last week about the ITEP analysis of Trump’s tax plans. In short, it’s a disaster. His proposals would hurt millions of working people, raising taxes on the bottom 95% of Americans, while giving a tiny fraction of wealthy people like us yet another tax break. His policies are aimed at solidifying his and other billionaires’ control. It’s that simple.

This election, Americans are choosing between two radically different visions of the future. On one hand, we have Vice President Harris offering an economy that works for everyone, not just the ultra-wealthy. On the other, former President Donald Trump is proposing lowering taxes on his billionaire donors and handing the keys to the kingdom over to his oligarch buddies.

This is about more than just taxes (although we think taxes are pretty dang important!). It’s about who exercises power. Billionaires are not only supporting Donald Trump to protect their egregious tax breaks; these plutocrats are propping up Donald Trump to protect and consolidate the power that emerges from extreme wealth.

Do you want to live in a country where ordinary people are able to live with dignity and security, where economic prosperity and political power are widely shared among all Americans? Or do you want to live in a country where Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their billionaire buddies have all the money and make all the rules? 

We think the answer is clear.