It's The Corruption, Stupid

Project 250

The world has been buzzing about the draconian tariffs Donald Trump (with the complicity of Congress) imposed this week. As Robert Reich noted, they are the excuse for more tax cuts for those who don’t need them, and are intended to implement a tremendous redistribution of wealth from the working-class and poor to the wealthy and super-wealthy. They are more, however. The tariffs are the latest and boldest, example of how complete corruption has taken over the American state.

Do you remember when the government of the United States was honest? Not completely, of course, because there are always cheats, grifters and thieves who prey upon us through government, but mostly honest and filled with hard-working Americans who really did want to serve their nation. It was really not so long ago, although it seems like a different age. But until November 4, 2024, that was pretty much how it was. Once Trump was elected, however, the idea of honesty in government began to dissolve like a lump of sugar in hot tea. The change was obvious even before Trump was sworn in (and sworn at) on January 20th.

The changed era became apparent to me when huge contributions were reported to Trump’s inaugural committee, payments that were unlimited and unregulated. That they were made for a quid pro quo became apparent when people like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg were seated on the platform for the inauguration. I should not have been surprised, but I confess that the boldness of it did take me aback. What also caught me off-guard was the lack of apparent outrage.

Trump and his cronies have always been unapologetic grifters, but the depth and breadth of the corruption we have seen in the past few months should be shocking even to grizzled old timers like yours truly. The selling of influence might as well be done on a stage with the klieg lights on.

There are too many instances of obvious corruption to list in one post, or even 10. There is the planting of Elon Musk’s incompetent agents to sabotage government, and the installation of his insecure Starlink system across government terminals, apparently even in the White House. There is the proposal to privatize the Postal Service, which will make mail delivery even worse and benefit private shippers.

Think of just some of the plain examples of graft by the Trump family in only one area since March 1st:

—On March 3rd, Trump announced a “strategic reserve” for cryptocurrency, to include, according to WSJ “bitcoin and ether, as well as three smaller and riskier tokens.” The inclusion of “ether,” which is a brand of crypto currency, is ironic, as investments in cryptocurrency have less substance than the air we breathe.

—On March 7th (that’s right, only four days later), the formerly-White House announced a cryptocurrency summit. According to WAPO, “the event will put on display just how much Trump, once a skeptic of cryptocurrency, has aligned himself with the industry since winning the November election.” Now, remember that Trump announced his first venture into crypto on January 17th, with the “issuance” of a meme coin. To see how corrupt this was, see Wikipedia. In three weeks, credulous investors lost more than $2 billion on the coin, while the Trump family (perhaps we should call them the Trump “Family”) netted more than $100 million in trading fees.

—Then, on March 25th, the “Family” venture announced a new stablecoin, allegedly backed by US government debt.

If that were not outrageous enough, consider Trump’s “candlelit dinners” at Mar-a-Lago. According to Wired, individuals have paid as much as $5 million for the dubious pleasure of dining with the President alone, or for $1 million a plate “in a group setting.” I guess the lesson is that Trump can be bought, but he can’t be bought cheap.

In what must be the biggest tin ear in history, Trump doubled down on his open looting this weekend, in the immediate aftermath of the financial disaster he unleashed with his tariffs this week. Even The New York Times, prime normalizer of Trumpian outrages, seemed miffed. “Trump Family’s Cash Registers Ring as Financial Meltdown Plays Out” was the headline to a story that described how Trump headed to Florida for a weekend that started with a Saudi-backed golf tournament at his Doral course, followed Saturday (that is, on the heels of the Hands Off protests) with another of those million-a-head dinners. According to The Times, this was at least the fourth of these obscene spectacles. If that isn’t enough, remember that Trump and his entourage flew to Florida on Air Force One, at taxpayer expense, and he was delivered to the golf course in a military helicopter, also paid for by you and me.

Even more amazing than the open and obvious racket that Trump is operating is the relative lack of outrage at it. In all the signs I saw at the Hands-Off protest in Boston yesterday, and in photos of events large and small across the nation, I don’t think I spotted a single one that concentrated on the corruption that is wracking our society. Not one.

On April 3rd, in a conversation with the president of Hamilton College, President Obama said, “Imagine if I had done any of this.” He was discussing the use of security clearances and cancelation of contracts for political purposes, but imagine the tsunami that he, or Joe Biden, would have faced if they had tried to profit from public office to even a tiny fraction of the degree that Trump has.

Why, then, is there so little outrage at the open sale of the United States government? Have we become so accustomed to Trump’s disrespect and disregard for law and the normal rules of social interaction? Are we so beaten down that we think nothing can be done?

One of the secrets of Trump’s success—although it has been commented on many times—is his ability to pile one outrage upon another so rapidly that we can’t confront them all. So far, the out-and-out grift the first “Family” is engaged in hasn’t caught the public’s eye, but it should, and those of us who understand what’s going on should be working to make it so.

Pointing attention to the grift should not be difficult, and with the economic shock Trump just delivered, a great many Americans will have no trouble seeing a connection between enriching the President and his family and using the revenue from tariffs to finesse more tax breaks for the wealthy. It just needs to be pointed out and explained, and the explanation does not need to be complicated or difficult. Also, Trump’s personal corruption dovetails nicely with his relationship with the widely-hated Elon Musk.

So, let’s all start making a point of the corruption now at the heart of the US government. I’m talking here about financial racketeering, not the corruption of foreign policy or the use of government agencies to promote the President’s political agenda. Horrendous as those are, let’s direct attention to the stealing of money. Even people who don’t care for or about politics will be able to see those crimes when they are pointed out clearly, and with the economic slide that is starting, many of them will be ready to seek retribution for the grievous wound being inflicted on our nation. If Democrats keep pointing to the crimes of the Trump “Family,” it will also be hard, and increasingly harder, for Republicans to defend what is going on without looking like they are crooks, too. Which many are, but they will work as hard as they can not to look like it.

So, all together now: It’s the corruption….

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