Donald Trump’s political career is defined by a series of ugly qualities. The president is known for being a dishonest and ignorant authoritarian, obsessed with conspiracy theories, self-aggrandizement, petty grievances and an indifference to election results and the rule of law.
But perhaps most important of all is the unavoidable word that describes Trump better than any other: To a breathtaking degree, this guy is corrupt.
Unfortunately, there have been other corrupt American presidents, but we hardly have a frame of reference for someone as brazen and shameless as the Republican incumbent. Writing for Rolling Stone this week, John Avlon argued, “Let’s say it plainly: There has never been a president as corrupt as Donald Trump. There is no close second in our history.”
To appreciate the scope and scale of the president’s corruption is daunting, because the broader indictment covers so many scandals over the course of many years, but it’s worth pausing to consider the evidence that’s emerged this week.
- Reports this week showed stock purchases made by Trump, which were followed by federal actions or specific statements by the president that affected the price of those stocks.
- The administration this week unveiled an unprecedented $1.776 billion fund, made up entirely of taxpayer money, that is expected to benefit the Republican’s allies with no meaningful oversight.
- Trump’s Justice Department this week announced the Internal Revenue Service would no longer scrutinize past or present alleged tax irregularities surrounding the president and his controversial businesses. The development, among other things, freed Trump from having to worry about a potential $100 million penalty.
- A Trump-aligned super PAC received $5 million from a leading tobacco company, and then days later, at Trump’s insistence, the FDA bypassed its regular rule-making process and delivered the policy the tobacco industry wanted.
To be sure, the president and his operation have tried to explain away all of these stories with assorted talking points. On the stock trades, for example, a White House spokesperson told the AP, “Neither President Trump, his family, nor The Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments.”
But this does not change the fact that by traditional American standards, any one of these stories by itself would’ve generated a presidency-defining scandal. Under Trump, they collectively reached the American public over the course of just three days.
And the week isn’t over yet. The list could still grow.
I’m not in a position to say with confidence whether or to what extent voters, who are increasingly focused on the affordability crisis, care about rampant corruption in the White House. That said, there’s ample evidence to suggest Democrats are eager, if not desperate, to connect the two.
After advancing to the general election in Pennsylvania this week, for example, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro told supporters, in reference to Trump, “Somehow, he can’t find the money to pay for healthcare, but he can steal from you to pay off the criminals who stormed the Capitol.”
He isn’t the only one connecting Trump’s corruption to regular people’s economic hardships. On Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a Capitol Hill press conference, “We believe that taxpayer dollars in this country should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not subsidize corruption of Donald Trump and his cartel.”
Expect to hear a whole lot more messages like this between now and the midterm elections.
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