Expect it

 

The untouchables

 

It doesn't get any more corrupt than this

 "Virtually won."   The only thing that stops this outrageous grift is if juries and judges rule against him.

NYT trying to regain some of its good reputation?

This is from the editorial board of the Times.

When President Harry Truman left office in 1953, he did not even own a car. He and his wife returned to Missouri by train and lived for a time on his Army pension. He refused to take any job that he regarded as commercializing his public service, explaining, “I knew that they were not interested in hiring Harry Truman, the person, but what they wanted to hire was the former president of the United States.”

[...]

[Donald]Trump’s hunger for wealth is brazen. Throughout the nation’s history, presidents of both parties have taken care to avoid even the appearance of profiting from public service. This president gleefully squeezes American corporations, flaunts gifts from foreign governments and celebrates the rapid growth of his own fortune.

[...]

Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him.

He has poured his energy and creativity into the exploitation of the presidency — into finding out just how much money people, corporations and other nations are willing to put into his pockets in hopes of bending the power of the government to the service of their interests.

A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.

[...]

This tally focuses on Mr. Trump’s documented gains. The $1.4 billion figure is a minimum, not a full accounting. [...] When The Financial Times asked Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, about its estimated value of the family’s crypto gains, he said they were probably even larger than the news organization thought.

Our accounting also does not include other ways in which the president has encouraged influence seekers to make donations that benefit him politically, including to his planned White House renovation.

[...]

A hotel in Oman. An office tower in western India. A golf course on the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These are a few of the more than 20 overseas projects the Trump Organization is pursuing, often requiring cooperation with foreign governments.

[...]

Paramount, for example, agreed to pay the president $16 million for what he claimed was the deceptive editing of a 2024 Kamala Harris interview. The editing was a normal part of journalism. Three weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission approved an $8 billion merger with Skydance.

[...]

Amazon paid far more for the rights to “Melania” than the next highest bidder — and far more than the company has previously paid for similar projects, according to The Wall Street Journal. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chairman and one of the world’s richest people, has many reasons to curry favor with the administration, including antitrust regulation, Amazon’s defense contracts and his space company’s federal contracts.

[...]

Mr. Trump’s sale of crypto has been by far his biggest moneymaker, according to Reuters. People who hope to influence federal policy, including foreigners, can buy his family’s coins, effectively transferring money to the Trumps, and the deals are often secret. One that has become public: A United Arab Emirates-backed investment firm announced plans last year to deposit $2 billion into a Trump firm — two weeks before the president gave the country access to advanced chips.

  NYT

Remember when the Times did a huge expose about Trump's finances and connections to Russian mobsters in his first term? If not, don't feel old. It just didn't gain any traction at all. It was incredible.

It is impossible to know how often Mr. Trump makes official decisions, in part or entirely, because he wants to be richer.

I'd guess virtually EVERY TIME.

The demands of avarice gradually corrupt the work of government as officials facilitate the accumulation of personal wealth. Worse, such a government corrupts the people who live under its rule. They learn by experience that they live in a society where the laws are written by the highest bidder. They become less likely to obey those laws, and to participate in the work of democracy — speaking, voting, paying taxes. The United States risks falling into this cynical spiral as Mr. Trump hollows out the institutions of government for personal gain.

I don't know who's on the NYT editorial board, but they should expect a backlash. I assume they do.

Until somebody stops him

 

Immigrants are taking American jobs

 Despicable.

Mapping Trump corruption

 

Trump showed his ass on CBS

 Here are a few highlights, thanks to Aaron Rupar, mostly.

To be fair, if you don't have enough money to have a 401K at least, you're not a person in his eyes.

I wonder if he called Norah stupid to her face during this interview.  

CBS didn't run the whole thing.  Will Kamala Harris get $16 million from them for that?

I was momentarily tempted to read it.

But, but Biden - the autopen!

Of course he knows.  But I also heard a clip of him saying a lot of people wanted him to pardon the guy.  I can think of two: Eric and Junior.

And here are some highlights Mother Jones published.

We were warned

 

A word to the wise

 

Charlie Angus has a message for Trump

 Christ.  Good point.

He will sell America for parts.

Constant grift and corruption.

You can't get much more corrupt

 

Out loud

In a now-deleted Truth Social post, the president called for charges against [people he considers his political enemies.]

[...]

"Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, "same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam "Shifty" Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done."

  Fox News

I wonder who persuaded him to delete that.

Trump then turned his attention to the recent ousting of Erik Seibert, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who claimed he resigned Friday after pressure from the White House.

"We almost put in a Democrat-supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past," the president wrote in the deleted post. "A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That’s why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many la[w]yers, and legal pundits, say so."

And I wonder why Fox editors inserted that [w] into the quote instead of printing what he actually put with a (sic) notation.

Trump said Bondi could not delay prosecutorial action against his opponents any longer, noting "it’s killing our reputation and credibility." "They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!" he wrote.

[...]

About an hour after the Truth Social post was sent and deleted, the president sent out a much more amiable post, commending Bondi for her "careful" work over the last eight months.

"Pam Bondi is doing a GREAT job as Attorney General of the United States," Trump wrote in a second Truth Social post. "She is very careful, very smart, loves our Country, but needs a tough prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, like my recommendation, Lindsey Halligan, to get things moving. What we don’t need is a Democrat Endorsed ‘Republican.’"

Lindsey, apparently, will do whatever he tells her to do, and do it fast.

Perhaps Pam convinced him to remove it, or she'd tell what she really knows about Epstein and Trump.

Later, as Trump departed the White House for the American Cornerstone Institute Founder's Dinner, he was asked by reporters whether he was upset with Bondi.

"No. I just want people to act. They have to act. But now we want to act fast. You know, they were ruthless and vicious. I was impeached twice. I was indicted five times. It turned out to be a fake deal. And we have to act fast one way or the other. One way or the other. They're guilty. They're not guilty," he said. "We have to act fast. If they're not guilty, that's fine. If they are guilty or if they should be judged, they should be charged. And we have to do it now."

What's the hurry?

Here's the bleat...

The greatest grift

 

Where we are in the Trump/Epstein saga

 

If they do eventually release the files, they will be heavily redacted.  The only unredacted mentions of Trump will be perfectly benign.

The Democrats did something!

UPDATE 07/25/2025:

Yeah, but they don't mind making those kinds of deals.

He says he hasn't thought about it.  LOL.

Also LOL...

UPDATE 07/29/2025:

Dems on the House Judiciary Committee pull no punches

 I'm sure Pam Bondi will 86 this letter and not even respond, but it's an amazing piece of work, and it will go in Congressional records. (For as long as we still have them.)

            [...]

Read the whole thing here.

Naked corruption

 

Market manipulation may be the actual reason.

If only

 

Here goes another one...