Dem
53
Ties
2
GOP
45
As the old adage goes, "The fish stinks from the head down." And there might not be a more apt description of the Trump administration. Donald Trump himself has several problematic habits, among them that he's a liar, he's a bigot, he fetishizes violence and he's the most corrupt president in the history of the United States. And these habits radiate outward from him, sending to his underlings the messages: (1) It's OK to behave in this way, and (2) You really should behave this way, if you want to affirm you are a full-fledged member of Team Trump.
In particular, it is really and truly unbelievable how much corruption there is. Almost every day, there are new revelations about Trump, or someone in his orbit, being on the take. It's basically impossible to keep up with them all, unless we want to change the name of the site to political-corruption.com. And, on some level, it's not even useful to write about them. The people who might plausibly hold Trump accountable (i.e., the Republican majority in Congress) have no intention of doing so. And politically, Trump's reputation is baked in. Those voters who believe he's corrupt aren't changing their minds, and will vote accordingly. The same goes for those voters who insist he's not corrupt, and that any evidence to the contrary is fake news, or is dirty tricks from the "libs," or is trivial compared to the alleged corruption of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, etc.
All of this said, the amount of corruption that has been revealed in the last week or so has been absolutely staggering. So, we have to do a rundown:
Kimberly Guilfoyle: Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal had a big story in which it reported that former paramour of Donald Trump Jr. and current Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle reached out to Republican donor and former House candidate Eric Deters with an offer that if he would pay off her $100,000 American Express bill, she would secure him face time with high-ranking government officials. Deters declined and, obviously, decided that he would spill his guts to the Journal instead.
Guilfoyle and her lawyer deny the claim, although Deters had documentation (text messages) that back his story, which the newspaper printed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others in the administration are trying very hard to make the story go away, which also strikes us as an indicator that it's true. And if it is, well, it's highly unlikely Guilfoyle only approached one person, and that one person just happened to sing like a canary. In other words, who else has she tried to sell access to? When the House is back in session, she could very well be the target of an impeachment resolution. And she is even more likely than Hegseth to be convicted and removed from office, we would guess.
In any event, both of these people are giving a (potential) future Democratic majority plenty of political cover. The blue team can fire off some impeachments, make the base happy, make an important statement about integrity, and be able to say that they're not making things up for show. These are bona fide high crimes and misdemeanors.
James Blair and Chris LaCivita: This is the other story from the week that is getting a lot of attention. Chris LaCivita and James Blair, while helping to oversee the GOP's midterm efforts, and without telling the White House, traveled to Republika Srpska to advise the far-right, Vladimir Putin-aligned government there on political matters. Republika Srpska is one of the two constituent states that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is not a great look for White House/GOP insiders to be working with a pro-Putin foreign government, especially without telling anyone. And it has Republicans hopping mad. They're not mad about the lack of ethics, however. They are mad that LaCivita and Blair aren't giving 100% to the midterms.
Katie Wiles: Katie Wiles, daughter of Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, is also working for Republika Srpska. One wonders how many other people in close proximity to Trump are working for foreign governments. We tend to doubt that Wiles' firm is being paid $35,000 a month because its insights about "stuff" are worth that kind of coin.
The Sons of Trump: Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are no more capable of earning money through legitimate business ventures than their father is. However, they now have access to the federal teat, and can spend 100% of their time exploiting that. ABC News crunched the numbers, and found that firms with ties to the sons of Trump have received over $6 billion in government contracts since dad moved back into the White House. ABC News later deleted the piece without explanation, but other outlets have reviewed the numbers and said ABC's claims appear to be on the mark.
The Son-in-Law of Trump: It involves a weedy and complex set of companies, investors, etc., but the Trump administration is trying to put together a deal to buy a bunch of oil, and oil-related assets, from Russian producer Lukoil. This would, of course, be the same Russia that continues to wage an illegal war in Ukraine, and that is still under sanctions from most of the world. Ostensibly, the oil would reduce fuel prices in the United States. Meanwhile, majority ownership in the venture would go to a group of Middle Eastern investors, nearly all of whom have ties to First Son-in-Law Jared Kushner. A few Americans, such as billionaire Todd Boehly, would also be able to climb on the gravy train. How to explain Boehly's good fortune? It's possible that he was invited to participate because he's donated over $2 million to Donald Trump-related PACs and causes.
Again, this is just a week's worth of this stuff. Things like this help explain why, in a poll released last month, 89% of respondents said that corruption is widespread in the U.S. government. That does raise an obvious question, however: What are those other 11% smoking? (Z)