Another week, another set of new lows for President Donald Trump. Much media attention has been given to the fact that, to construct an enormous golden ballroom, his administration has demolished much of the East Wing of the Oval Office. This was after he promised not to alter the existing architecture, but then what do you expect from an inveterate liar like Trump? And this is nothing new for him; way back in 1980, when he constructing Trump Tower in New York, he made a deal with the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art to donate some artistic statuary from the building that was being torn down to make way for his tower. But then he went back on his word and had the statuary demolished, because of course he did. Now, while I certainly don't care for the way that Trump is ripping apart a publicly funded building to turn into his own gaudy, gold edged playpen, and I'm also not fond of the way that he's raising funds for the work from wealthy companies trying to curry favor with him, I also think that in the grand scheme of things, this is hardly the worst thing he's done just this week. In other words, I agree with former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, who publicly said "He can demolish the entire White House, raze the whole thing to the ground, if he takes ICE off the streets."
Much worse than that construction is his recent contention that he deserves recompense for past investigations into his 2016's campaign ties to Russia and his refusal to return classified documents after his first exit from the White House. The amount he's asking for is 230 million dollars, a staggering number even give how big his legal bills may have been, or how accurate he was about the illegitimacy of those investigations. And unlike that ballroom, the money would come directly from the taxpayers. Even Trump himself seemed a little awestruck by his own corruption here, pointing out that it would be he himself who finalizes this huge pay out to his own bank account. Sadly, given how much he has already corrupted the Justice Department by filling it with his bootlicking lackeys, he very well may get that money.
And he would get that money even after ProPublica reported that at least 170 American citizens have been held against their will by immigration agents since Trump took office in January, some of whom faced physical violence, and none of whom will be able to sue the government for false arrest. Yes we now live in a country where our billionaire president can ask for almost a quarter of a billion dollars to cover his legal expenses for past investigations of his wrongdoings, but American citizens wrongly arrested can't get any compensation for being held in brutal conditions. What a time to be an American.
Another utterly corrupt moment came when Trump pardoned the world's wealthiest cryptocurrency owner, Changpeng Zhao. In 2023, back when there was some sanity in this country, Zhao's cryptocurrency exchange known as Binance, did not have decent compliance systems, which allowed terrorist groups like Hamas, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, to move money on his platform. Zhao pleaded guilty to laundering and served four months in prison. After his release from prison, Zhao has praised Trump and Binance has made deals with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto start-up, deals that the New York Times estimates could make the Trump family tens of millions of dollars this year. The pardon will make it easier for Zhao to run his company after he stepped down while admitting his guilt in 2023. Once again, Trump has used the power of the presidential pardon to reward his friends and business associates while lining his own pockets while his Republicans allies in congress ignore it. And to add to the whole terribleness of this, just imagine if a Democrat pardoned someone who made it easier for terrorist organizations to move money. Again, what a time to be an American.
All of this is happening as Trump continues to use the Justice Department to go after his political enemies like Leticia James and James Comey and sends National Guard troops into states that don't want them and separates families and tears communities apart with his ICE raids. He can't even get inflation under control, with his tariffs driving prices up for American consumers, while his recently passed budget bill will raise healthcare premiums for millions of Americans. His second term is proving to be a corrupt disaster for the country, and he hasn't even been in office a year yet. And that's not even considering that former Trump advisor Steve Bannon says that there's a plan for him to run again in 2028, the 22nd. Amendment of the Constitution be damned. At the recent No Kings rally, protestors chanted against the rise of fascism in this country, and with good reason. Sadly, we do seem to be heading that way.
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