Dec.15

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

The Greatest Grifts--So Far

The first time Donald Trump ran for president, in 2016, it was basically a joke. He thought if he ran and came in, say, fourth in the Republican primaries, he could use that to try to get NBC to pay him more for his TV program The Apprentice. He was never intending to even get the nomination, let alone win the general election. But during his first term, Trump began to realize that the presidency could be monetized. Trump v2.0 is really about three things: MAWA, getting even with his "enemies," and turning the presidency into a money-making machine, and not necessarily in that order. Some musicians eventually make an album with their "Greatest Hits." Here is a list of The Donald's "Greatest Grifts."

• The Golden Airplane: Aircraft manufacturers go to a lot of trouble to make their planes lightweight, using aluminum and carbon fiber composites. Trump is going to fill the $400 million 747 the Qatari royal family gave him with so much gold that it might not fly. In his view, taking a gigantic bribe from a foreign power is not unconstitutional because he doesn't know what an emolument is.
  
  
• World Liberty Financial: The Trump family's World Liberty Financial is a one-size-fits-all bribery machine. People and governments can buy crypto from it in whatever amount they want, depending on the favors they wish dispensed. There is probably a price list somewhere for various services, like getting a pardon, having your tariffs reduced, making some government investigation go away, etc. We looked for it, but Google couldn't find it. We are surprised it isn't openly published on the White House website. The great thing about crypto is that it is nearly 100% profit. Trump Bibles, Trump sneakers, Trump hats, Trump coffee mugs, etc. have nonzero manufacturing and shipping costs. Crypto largely doesn't have that, particularly once you reach the point of increasing the value of your existing holdings, as opposed to creating new holdings.
  
  
• Meme Coins: The $TRUMP coin is for the little guys who want to think of the grift as an investment that could pay off big time. Maybe it will shoot up on the secondary market. Or shoot down:
  
  
  
  

  The great thing about $TRUMP is that at $5.40, even poor Trump supporters can afford one. For the rubes wise investors who got in early at $45, don't worry, it will come back, we're sure.
  
  

• Foreign Real Estate Boom: Real estate developers around the world are working on 23 Trump-branded projects. For example, Trump is building a hotel, golf course, and residences in Oman on government property. A Saudi real estate firm with close ties to the Saudi government is building a Trump hotel in Dubai and a residential tower in Jeddah. The day after the Trump Organization announced another big deal with the same Saudi firm, Trump himself met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to announce a "partnership" with the Saudi Kingdom. When asked about a possible conflict of interest here, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt harrumphed that it is ridiculous to even suggest Trump would do anything for his own benefit.
  
  
• USD1: When World Liberty Financial launched its stablecoin, USD1, a UAE state-backed investment firm snapped up $2 billion of them to finance an investment in crypto exchange Binance, which the SEC was investigating. Suddenly the investigation went away. The head of Binance, Changpen Zhao, pleaded guilty to money laundering but got a pardon in October. These coins have truly magical powers. Ask Santa for a bagful for Christmas.
  
  
• Justin Sun: Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun was facing SEC fraud charges. Then he loudly bought $75 million in World Liberty tokens. Thereafter, his case was "delayed." When Sun loudly bought another $20 million in Trump crypto, he got out of trouble and was invited to dinner with Trump. Doing this very loudly had the effect of making the de facto price of a Get out of Jail card public: You got a problem with the SEC? How about buying some crypto? Say, ca. $100M?
  
  
• Tom Homan's $50K: Border czar Tom Homan took $50K from undercover federal agents posing as businessmen before the election. He promised them government contracts if Trump won. This goes to show you that big stars command more money than the bit players.
  
  
• The $300 Million Ballroom: In the middle of the shutdown, when some federal workers were standing in bread lines, Trump ordered the destruction of the part of the White House so he could build a place to hold his balls. And he collected $300 million from various companies for this project. Many of them are already recipients of very large federal contracts and hopeful of getting new ones. Fourteen of them are facing some kind of federal enforcement action for previous misdeeds. But despite this, they are altruistic and patriotic, helping build this national treasure. JVL at The Bulwark says the key question voters should ask of Democratic primary candidates in 2028 is: "On Day 1, will you order the Army Corps of Engineers to demolish the golden ballroom and then ask Congress to fund restoration of the East Wing?"
  
  
• The Executive Branch Club: Donald Trump Jr., and his business partners Zach and Alex Witkoff—the sons of Trump's envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, who is busy selling out Ukraine—have launched a private club in D.C. called "The Executive Branch." For a mere $500,000 initiation fee and substantial annual payments, bored businessmen can hang out with other bored businessmen and government officials in tacky luxury. We don't know if drinks are free, but knowing what we know about the Trumps, we suspect not.
  
  
• Melania: We mean the $40 million Amazon Prime documentary about the First Lady, not the First Lady herself. Could making this documentary have anything to do with the $2.5 billion case against Amazon brought by the Biden FTC? Probably not. In fact, an Amazon spox said: "We licensed the upcoming Melania Trump documentary film and series for one reason and one reason only—because we think customers are going to love it." The big (unanswered) question here is: Will Melania herself get any money from the deal?

The corruption here is just staggering. The Teapot Dome scandal was over 100 years ago and every schoolchild knows about it. It was for a bribe of a mere $400,000 (equivalent to $7 million now) and President Warren Harding didn't get the money himself and may not even have been aware of what Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was up to. If the next administration does a thorough examination of this administration's corruption and writes a report on it, schoolchildren will learn about the corruption of this administration until the sun becomes a red giant in 5 billion years and swallows the earth. (V)