Dem
47
GOP
53
Up until now, Donald Trump's approach to grift is to get suckers voters to give him money
by buying King Donald Bibles, gold sneakers, DJT stock, $TRUMP crypto and other small items. The
business model has always been getting a large number of ordinary people to each give him a small or
modest amount of money.
Now he has thought of a complementary model: Getting a small number of very rich people to each give him a lot of money. He has created a new club in D.C. called the "Executive Branch." Joining is by invitation only and costs $500,000. It is intended for moguls to buy access to Trump and other high-level officials. It hopes to be the fanciest club the city has ever seen. By openly selling access to the president and other officials, it will also be the most corrupt one. And the most secret one. It is already oversubscribed. The main operators here are Donald Trump Jr. and Republican megadonor Omeed Malik, a venture capitalist.
Since most of the people joining are likely to be busy CEOs who don't even live in the capital, it isn't like this will be a regular club where people just hang out for fun. It is a way of buying influence with Trump. Members might be told when Trump or other officials will be in attendance, so they can schedule their plans around his availability. Assuming the club has little private rooms off to the side, it could provide the ideal atmosphere for muckety-mucks to plead their cases and make private deals—say, to get an exemption for their company from some annoying tariff or get an investigation or anti-trust case dropped. Once the club has started operating, it wouldn't surprise us if it began offering silver, gold, and platinum memberships with some minor benefits—for example, dinner for platinum members is only $299 instead of the usual $599 for a hamburger, fries, and a small soft drink. (V)