The Corruption Is Everywhere
by Andrew Egger
Who’s excited for the official $TRUMP Gala Dinner? The president’s openly, hilariously corrupt private gathering for the top buyers and holders of his crypto token—which caused the meme coin’s price to spike by 50 percent when it was announced last month—is now just weeks away. And the headlines underscoring how very legal and very cool the whole business is just keep piling up.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that more than half of the token’s top holders “have used foreign exchanges that say they ban U.S. users, suggesting that many of the purchasers are based outside the U.S.”
Meanwhile, some buyers are openly admitting that they’re accumulating the coin in the express hope of gaining influence with the president. A small logistics company called Freight Technologies announced plans this week to buy $20 million in $TRUMP, calling the purchase a way to “advocate for fair, balanced, and free trade between Mexico and the U.S.”
The Trump dinner may be the most grandiose, corrupt crypto scam the president and his family have been running recently, but it’s far from the only one. To take just one other example: The Financial Times reported yesterday that a small group of unknown traders 1 made a nine-figure killing on Melania Trump’s memecoin when it was announced back in January. Their strategy was simple but effective: They bought huge shares of the memecoin two minutes before the incoming first lady announced the venture publicly, then sold those shares hours later after the announcement spiked the price.
It would be bad enough if the Trumps and their pals were merely trading off the presidency on the side. Even worse are the cases where the president is getting the U.S. policy apparatus involved. Check out this story yesterday from the Washington Post:
Less than two weeks after President Donald Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on goods from the tiny African nation of Lesotho, the country’s communications regulator held a meeting with representatives of Starlink.
The satellite business, owned by billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, had been seeking access to customers in Lesotho. But it was not until Trump unveiled the tariffs and called for negotiations over trade deals that leaders of the country of roughly 2 million people awarded Musk’s firm the nation’s first-ever satellite internet service license, slated to last for 10 years.
The decision drew a mention in an internal State Department memo obtained by The Washington Post, which states: “As the government of Lesotho negotiates a trade deal with the United States, it hopes that licensing Starlink demonstrates goodwill and intent to welcome U.S. businesses.”
Lesotho is far from the only country that has decided to assist Musk’s firm while trying to fend off U.S. tariffs. . . . A series of internal government messages obtained by The Post reveal how U.S. embassies and the State Department have pushed nations to clear hurdles for U.S. satellite companies, often mentioning Starlink by name.
In theory, America still enjoys all the institutions that help ensure such crimes don’t pay: a strong independent judiciary, a Congress with impeachment powers, a free press that can’t be bullied into silence or cut off forcibly from its audience. And yet Trump is plainly making a bet that when it comes right down to it, none of those things will actually interfere with or punish his schemes to make a naked buck however he pleases. And he’s browbeating the judiciary, the press, and the Congress into submission, just to be safe. |
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