Jonathan P. Baird

American history is replete with corruption scandals. There was the Credit Mobilier scandal in the 1870’s, Teapot Dome in the 1920’s during the Harding presidency, Watergate with President Nixon and Iran-Contra during the Reagan presidency. But nothing comes close to the open and massive corruption which characterizes Trump, the Sequel. At the same time, Trump corruption is an under-reported story.

It is hard to get a handle on this hydra-headed corruption beast. It is not hidden. I think its public nature is both overwhelming and anesthetizing. It is almost like too much to respond to.

This administration has meant the end of accountability and ethical standards in government. Ironically, Trump hired DOGE to find waste, fraud and abuse but instead the Trump/Musk joint venture has been clearing away any government entity that might investigate their financial improprieties and conflicts of interest. The combatting waste, fraud and abuse has been justification for eliminating thousands of federal jobs Trump/Musk were ideologicaly opposed to.

Trump/Musk have employed a two-pronged process. First has been the dismantling of financial and ethical oversight. This has been accomplished by firing Inspector Generals from 17 different federal agencies. The IGs have existed to root out corruption. They conducted investigations into potential ethical violations.

Then there has been the gutting of the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Integrity which handled prosecution of public officials accused of corruption.

Finally, there has been the elimination of entire independent agencies like the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) which looked after the public interest and the crippling of other agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) so they become toothless tigers. Trump issued an Executive Order to curtail SEC enforcement actions.

The harm of destroying the CFPB must not be minimized. With the CFPB gone, no federal government agency will protect the public from bank overdraft fees, credit card late charges, payday lenders, or mortgage fraud.

With oversight gone, the field is clear for criming. No regulation will be in place to stop any scam. The Trump message is “pay for play” and there are no shortage of avenues. Americans and foreigners can buy Truth Social stock, Trump meme coins, or Trump merchandise. Shelling out money as a way to curry favor is an old story. You scratch my back and I scratch yours. The Trump agenda is to use the presidency as a vehicle for getting his family as rich as possible as quickly as possible.

According to Wired, business leaders are paying $5 million to get a one-on-one meeting with Trump. I am not aware of any president ever merchandizing meetings with business leaders before. If they come with others, business leaders can get a group rate at a Million-Dollar-a-Plate candlelight dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

Crypto has turned into a new pathway for direct presidential access. Trump is advertising a May 22 VIP dinner for the top 220 $Trump meme coin holders. According to the Washington Post, the value of the Trump meme coin surged over 30% since the dinner announcement. Just the announcement of the May 22 dinner at Trump’s golf club boosted the value of the crypto wallets owned by a digital firm affiliated with Trump’s family business by roughly $100 million.

Investing in Trump’s meme coin has payoffs. Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun was being investigated by the SEC for selling unregistered securities and for fraudulently manipulating the process of a digital token, Tronix. Sun pumped $75 million into World Liberty Financial, a Trump crypto project, and the SEC then killed the civil fraud case against him.

Fraudsters are buying pardons from Trump. Trevor Milton, convicted of securities fraud in 2022 and sentenced to four years in prison and a $700 million restitution fine, donated $920,000 to Trump’s PAC in October 2024. He never served time or had to pay the $700 million fine. Trump pardoned him. There has been a pattern of Trump pardoning white collar criminals as he did with BItMEX and the Ozy Media CEO.

The crypto industry lavished the Trump 2024 campaign with millions and gave his inaugural committee an additional $13 million. The SEC then turned around and dismissed actions against several crypto companies. Public Citizen found 58 corporations, facing 88 federal enforcement actions when Trump took office, gave $50 million to his inauguration committee. So far cases against 11 of these corporations have been dismissed or withdrawn.

Tracking the conflicts of interest of Musk and Trump could be a full-time job. Musk is the head of multiple companies that have billions of dollars worth of government contracts. He won’t be cutting his businesses. Musk tweeted “CFPB RIP”. He wants no regulation of any financial instrument he creates just as he didn’t want Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation of SpaceX. The FAA had previously fined SpaceX $633,000 for launch violations. That won’t happen now.

Trump has been selling his name on branding deals where international developers want to stamp the family name on luxury hotels, residential and resort complexes and gold courses. He has such projects going on in sensitive Middle Eastern locations like Saudi Arabia and Oman. It is hard to know if Trump’s priority is his business or any national interest.

Because of his personal financial interest in golf, Trump has been trying to broker a deal between the U.S.-based PGA tour and LIV Golf League funded by Saudi Arabia. Such a deal helps to rehabilitate the Saudi image and it benefits the Trump family business as they manage golf courses around the world. LIV spent $796,000 on one tournament alone at Trump’s Bedminster New Jersey golf club in 2022.

It is hard not to think that any other administration that had one-tenth of this level of corruption would be toast but somehow the Trump administration skates. Conservatives have long talked about running government like a business. That is what we are seeing now: the pursuit of profit replaces the national interest.