In her iconic novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand compared the power of the state, so valued by the left, to a once-mighty oak that has rotted from the inside out. What once seemed invincible had been rendered fragile and hollow  by decades of corruption. Just a few months ago, the left seemed unbeatable despite the obvious incompetence of its leaders, because of its command over nearly every major institution in modern American life.

Behind the unified front of its terrifying institutional power, leftist frontmen abused their positions for grift and gain. The key to the apparent collapse of today’s left was the greed and corruption of its own people.

Below is a just a partial list of the leftist champions falling due to their own abuses of power.

1.  Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum.

No attempt to map the geography of leftist power would be complete that did not prominently feature the World Economic Forum. It has been tied to intelligence operations and climate tyranny. Its former leader, who looks like a 1970s era James Bond villain, now stands accused of stealing from the organization. According to The Wall Street Journal, Schwab allegedly used Forum funds to receive “in-room massages,” which he paid for with cash advances he forced his underlings to make from Forum accounts. The allegations, which were sent to the Forum in an anonymous letter, also claim that Schwab’s wife arranged unnecessary meetings at luxurious locales so that the pair could vacation at the organization’s expense. While Schwab apparently lived in luxury at donor expense, he advocated for a transition from beef to bugs for the peasants beneath him as a way to “protect the climate.” Schwab denies the allegations, but resigned under a cloud.

2.  Letitia James and Real Mortgage Fraud

New York Attorney General Letitia James campaigned on a “get Trump platform” and channeled notorious Soviet chief Lavrentiy Beria, who promised he could pin a crime on anyone Stalin designated as an enemy. James obtained an absurd judgment from a New York kangaroo court based on the theory that Donald Trump fraudulently gilded the lily when valuing real estate assets he used for collateral on a loan. Notwithstanding the bank’s testimony that it didn’t rely upon his estimates nor were they the cause of any favorable loan terms, the kangaroo judge hopped over the facts to land on Trump with a staggering $700 million judgment.

James, who inexplicably became rich enough to buy several properties, allegedly optimized her own loan terms by claiming a Virginia property as her primary residence. According to a report at The Hill,

At the time of the 2023 Norfolk, VA property purchase and mortgage, Ms. James was the siting Attorney General of New York and is required by law to have her primary residence in the state of New York—even though her mortgage applications list her intent to have the Norfolk, VA property as her primary home.

Unlike what she alleged about Trump’s property valuation, which is entirely a matter of opinion, James in fact does not live in the subject property as her primary residence. In a piece of delicious irony, she has been referred for criminal prosecution based on allegations about fibbing about a real estate deal—a charge similar to the pretext that she used to pursue Trump.

3.  David Hogg and the Rigged Democratic Primary Process

Sometimes nicknamed “Camera Hogg,” David Hogg has managed to leverage a terrible shooting at his Florida high school into a high-visibility career as a political activist. Recently, he secured a position as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which grants him influence over the congressional primary process in next year’s midterm elections. According to a report in Axios, Hogg plans to spend $20 million to primary a Democratic congressman whose politics do not align with his own radical agenda.

This radical move comes on the heels of accusations by Democratic Party insiders that Hogg has used his position at the DNC to line the pockets of his own political action committee. The DNC should be taking a neutral posture during primaries, allowing voters to determine the agenda—but it’s been a long time since the party has bothered even to keep up that appearance.

Recall that Biden won the nomination in 2020 due to backroom manipulations of the candidate pool shortly before Super Tuesday. Party elders cleverly encouraged Elizabeth Warren to stay in the race so she would split the socialist vote that might otherwise have gone to Bernie Sanders. Meanwhile, Biden’s “moderate” rivals were encouraged to clear a path for the deep state’s chosen skin suit. More recently, the substitution of candidate Kamala Harris for Joe Biden drew criticism for its lack of transparency and voter participation.

4.  The FBI’s Russia Collusion Hoax

In 2016, the Clinton-connected law firm Perkins Coie commissioned an opposition research project purporting to connect Trump to Russia. Trump had few or no bona fide connections to Russia, so the operation required a little help with the facts. Ultimately, the fiction writing fell to a washed-up British intelligence official, Christopher Steele, who strung together a series of poorly drafted and vague allegations amounting to rumors connecting Trump to Russia. The most specific and explosive allegation held that one of Trump’s lawyers, Michael Cohen, travelled to Prague in the Czech Republic to pay hackers who exfiltrated emails from the Clinton campaign. Nothing about the allegation turned out to be true. Cohen did not travel to Prague. We have never confirmed that Russia was responsible for the hack of the DNC (although the FBI relied on the DNC’s politically-convenient claim of Russian hacking). It also turned out to be the case that Cohen did not pay anyone for the alleged operation. A competing theory—that the emails were leaked by a disgruntled employee—has not been ruled out.

The FBI’s participation in the hoax resulted in a litany of disgrace capped by the conviction of a senior FBI agent, Charles McGonigal, for taking bribes from a Russian oligarch while that agent participated in the Russia smear against Trump.

5. Fani Willis and Her Get-Trump Operation

The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney brought a sprawling “election interference” case against Trump and several Trump figures in the wake of the 2020 election. While the media gleefully cheered her on, Willis’s own corruption ended up compromising her case. She hired prosecutor Nathan Wade to pursue Trump for reasons that appeared to have motivations beyond his merit. Although he lacked experience for the position and did not apparently add much value to the operation, Willis found other uses for him. Using his outsized salary, he paid for luxury trips for the pair as they toured the world. Trump co-defendant Michael Roman credibly accused Willis of misuse of state and federal funds. Allegedly, Wade was paid $645,000 to work on the case. Although Willis claims to have repaid her paramour for all expenses incurred on her behalf, receipts and specifics remain unaccounted for. It also turns out that her office was using Department of Justice money for the case. According to the Washington Examiner, “A whistleblower, whom Willis fired, alleged she misused DOJ grant money meant to finance the creation of a Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention and spent the taxpayer funds on unrelated, frivolous expenses.”

As the activity of leftist leaders over the last several decades is exposed to ever more sunlight, more evidence of their corruption and more examples of the trend are sure to surface. This is just a partial list, after all. Are there more examples? Undoubtedly. Please post your nominations in the comments.