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Trump’s $2bn bonanza heralds the rise of political grifters across the west

The Guardian – US News

1d ago

Trump’s $2bn bonanza heralds the rise of political grifters across the west

Summary

With voters embracing leaders who brazenly monetise public office, experts say an ethical code is breaking down Donald Trump came to office in 2017 after decades of bankruptcies and business failures. Yes, he was rich, but his latest financial disclosure, published this week, suggests he will depart billions richer. In the first year of his second term, he made more than $2bn from Trump hotels, Trump golf courses, Trump cryptocurrency, Trump watches, Trump cologne, Trump Bibles and more. That means Trump has accomplished something none of his predecessors achieved, at least not on this scale: transforming the American presidency into a moneymaking enterprise. Politicians have always enriched themselves but the chutzpah with which Trump is doing so raises the possibility that an ethical code is breaking down. And not just in the US. Across the west, from Clacton to Queensland, a new type of leader is emerging: the political grifter. In Transparency International’s most recent annual survey of how bad the public think corruption has got in their country, the US, UK, Canada and France recorded their lowest scores since comparable records began in 2012. “We’re seeing a concentration of wealth and power on a scale unprecedented in modern history,” says Duncan Hames, a former Liberal Democrat MP who is now head of policy at Transparency International UK. “There’s a growing risk of state capture through extreme wealth and advanced technologies by those intent on protecting their own interests instead of advancing the public good.” Nonetheless, large numbers of voters embrace grifters. If they are stealing money, then somehow it’s ‘our’ money.” There have been plenty on the left who have blurred the lines between public office and personal enrichment, from union leaders to Peter Mandelson to the Democratic ex-governor who tried to sell Barack Obama’s old senate seat . His loyalists in Congress, the justice department and watchdogs have cowed the institutions that should uphold probity.

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Before Air Force One, US presidents traveled aboard a luxury train car. See inside the 'White House on wheels.'

The Ferdinand Magellan was in presidential use from 1943 to 1954. Kristine Villarroel/Business Insider The Ferdinand Magellan, also known as US Car No. 1, was used by US presidents between 1943 and 1954. It was the president's official transportation in the days before Air Force One. The car used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower can still be borrowed. Long before US presidents traveled aboard Air Force One , their main form of long-distance transportation was a 10-foot-wide train car . The Ferdinand Magellan, a Pullman car rebuilt in 1942 for presidential use, served as the president's official mode of transportation from 1943 until its last official use in 1954. The car is also known as US Car No. 1. The armored car was the heaviest passenger railcar ever built in the US after it was fitted with detailed security features and enlarged spaces for President Franklin D. Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images On December 18, 1942, the Pullman Company presented a luxury train car — originally built in 1928 — that had been rebuilt at the request of the US Secret Service, which had determined that the president needed a secure way to travel during wartime.

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General U.S. News1h ago

There’s a New Democratic Machine. It’s Unabashedly Socialist.

As democratic socialists toppled establishment favorites this midterm cycle, the old guard of the Democratic Party picked up a preferred cudgel against insurgents: These people were propped up by white, urban, coastal, educated electorates — not the ones the Democrats were trying to reach, and certainly not the working class. It’s true that the four victorious socialists running for Congress — Chris Rabb in Philadelphia , Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez in New York City , and Melat Kiros in Denver — won in major cities where progressive politics are more likely to be popular than in the country’s many more rural, poorer, and less educated districts. But before this cycle’s big surge, the Democratic Socialists of America had spent the past decade backing and recruiting candidates in down-ballot races across the U.S., multiplying the number of people in office by a figure of eight and electing mayors, city councilors, state lawmakers, and other local officials in 39 states. “Everybody is feeling the crunch. Everybody is deeply concerned for their families, for their security,” said Becky Cooper, campaign manager to Francesca Hong, a Wisconsin state representative and formidable DSA candidate for governor. “That transcends political party, transcends ages, and it transcends geography. This is not just a coastal elites thing.” Despite the narrative that the socialist model only works among electorates dominated by young, white, coastal elites, the DSA, the largest socialist organization in the U.S., is decentralized and operates chapters in a majority of states. Its members currently hold office in states like Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee. Many of those candidates have been elected to local offices even as far-right campaigns to take over bodies like school boards have dominated in recent years. Jim Doyle did not seek reelection, the Democratic candidate lost the 2011 governor’s race to Republican Scott Walker, and the GOP flipped both state legislative chambers. “The Democrats at the time squandered that opportunity, and they really failed to deliver for the state.” Those failures, Clancy said, included not codifying abortion rights ahead of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade , and not raising the minimum wage, which is still $7.25 an hour, when they had the votes to do so. “They didn’t even bring it up for a vote because they feared what that would mean for their large-dollar donors,” Clancy said. Hong’s performance in recent polling shows that socialist policies are resonating with voters, Madison said. “When folks say this is a reflection of the elites and folks from academia and young folks in college, that does a disservice to community members and their abilities to understand the circumstances that they are in and the ways in which parties have exploited their pain,” he said. “It doesn’t speak to the reality that folks are facing.” Nearly 2,000 miles southwest of Wisconsin’s capitol, the city of Los Angeles has all the markers of a coastal haven for democratic socialist politics to thrive: a large working class, high racial diversity, a significant immigrant population with a rich history of progressive organizing, all existing alongside pockets of wealthier, whiter,

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Trump’s $2bn bonanza heralds the rise of political grifters across the west

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