I think of this blog as a time capsule. It shows what I’m thinking at specific points. Covid is a great example where if Harrison asks me “What was it like?” in 20 years, I can point to dozens of stupid blog posts, as it’s easy to misremember.
Currently, Trump’s second term is a period we’re living through and although I’ve written a few. critical. posts. about it, one may assume that if I’m not posting, then there’s not much worth talking about.
So while this post will have a specific focus – corruption – it’s more a check-in so that when Harrison asks me in 20 years “what was having Trump as president like?“, I can point back to these in-the-moment posts for good reference.
The Corruption
Plain English just released a podcast ranking Trump’s most corrupt actions which I recommend listening to. If your gut response is “All politicians are corrupt!“, you should take the time to understand why that doesn’t hold up, and this podcast does a good job laying it out.
I won’t list everything, but some of the most egregious examples are:
$Trump Meme Coin
At the beginning of his second term, Trump pushed $Trump, his own crypto currency. I’ll spare the details but he and his family have allegedly profited roughly $400 million of his supporters’ money through the coin and it remains a very discreet way for them to take bribes from anyone who wants to gain influence.
Pardons of CZ and Trevor Milton
Trump pardoned CZ, founder of Binance, to help him with his crypto bribery scheme. CZ pled guilty to anti-money-laundering violations at Binance involving terrorist organizations, drug traffickers, etc. Trevor Milton defrauded investors out of nearly $700m. He donated $3m to Trump and was pardoned, and the nearly $700m that was due to be repaid was erased, leaving those defrauded SOL.
Family Enrichment
Eric and Don Jr. are put on boards and / or invest in companies that then miraculously receive millions or billions in government contracts. The conflict of interest is glaring. The message it sends is “if you want to work with the US government, give money to the Trumps“. In contrast, Hunter Biden was allegedly making $1m a year for using his last name to get on the board of a Ukrainian company while essentially doing nothing. $1m for no work is bad, but brazenly endorsing corruption in the way the Trumps have is beyond.
Historical Precedent
There are countless examples of presidential and government corruption in US history. The podcast lays out the biggest ones, but even they pale in comparison to the level we’re seeing today. It’s like lumping Louie C.K. with Harvey Weinstein (did not expect Louie to catch a stray when I started this post). What Louie did was bad, but Weinstein was orders of magnitude worse.
The optimistic take is Trump goes down as one of the worst presidents, but also one of the best things to happen to democracy for the country. He’s showing that past presidents were not held in check by laws or regulations, just norms. And if you’re willing to break all the norms, there’s not much stopping you. It’s troubling to see how vulnerable we are to a person who genuinely wants to be an authoritarian, and how willingly his party goes along with it when individual careers and reputations are at stake. But this display is potentially the wake-up call for future members of government to say “we can’t let that happen again and clearly we need more in place to prevent it”.
Is the Tide Turning?
Fortunately, it does feel like the entirety of his actions are chipping away. His approval rating is the lowest it’s ever been. Enough members of his party spoke out against the $1.8b slush fund that it was stopped. The Iran war, from most reporting, is an utter disaster that’s showcasing how inept and directionless the administration is.
A less obvious example was the White House lawn birthday party / UFC event. Initially billed as a celebration of America’s 250th, it turned entirely into Trump self-aggrandizement. The whole thing was cringy. The low-point being when one of the fighters called Michelle Obama a man in his victory speech. The fact that it passed as ‘normal‘ for the event is a sad and embarrassing statement for where we’re at. Literally on the White House lawn, someone called a former First Lady a man, and the President watched on with a smile. There is no conceivable other-side example. It’s a disgrace.
Most people have become desensitized to the daily stories and can write it off as “the libs just hate him“, but over time, the corruption, the schtick, the complete lack of caring about anyone but himself, does seem to be breaking people down.
It’s not even a partisan issue. The logic of supporting him just to stick it to the elites or the libs has to run out at some point. Just think of how a functioning country succeeds long-term. History is full of examples of countries falling apart when they begin down this road. Aside from believing that it has to get SO bad before it gets better, why would you want to continue supporting this method of running the country?
The only thing to do is continually point these things out.
I expect that, without too much effort, you could list 100 things Trump had done that are corrupt. But, maybe more amazing, there are the “38%ers”, 38% of the population that think everything Trump does is great! How stupid are they?
My guess is that most of the 38% choose not to absorb this information, or default to ‘democrats are just as bad’ without really understanding what they’re comparing. It’s less stupidity and more willful ignorance. Like if Trump was conclusively proven to have committed crimes with Epstein, they would still find a way say it’s not true or not a big deal (even though they cared deeply about it two years ago).