Hartmann Report - When corruption becomes endemic, democracy dies from the inside out. Trump’s family’s grift is teaching America’s elites that power can be bought, just as it is in Putin’s Russia and Orbán’s Hungary, and it’s already distorting our economy...
The corruption of Donald Trump and his children — the open solicitation of bribes disguised as “investments,” the jet plane, the crypto windfalls, the foreign hotel projects and “licensing fees,” the “donations” and “gifts” that appear tied to pardons, tariff,s or regulatory relief — have begun to teach America’s morbidly rich and business leaders that access to our government is now a purchasable commodity. More
Remember when Apple’s Tim Cook brought a chunk of 24 karat gold to gift Trump, apparently hoping for tariff exceptions? The long list of corporations that are paying for the Epstein Ballroom, presumably in expectation of better treatment from the Trump regime? The billions the UAE gave Trump’s kids just before Trump gave them chips they weren’t supposed to have because of national security? Tom Homan taking $50,000 in a paper bag from an FBI agent and Trump, Bondi, and Noem laughing it off?
Or headlines like today’s: “Close Friend of JD Vance Skirts Normal Channels to Take Over Key Health Research” and “$130M Pentagon Donor Has Ties to Jeffrey Epstein.”
Once that expectation of corruption takes hold, it reshapes an entire economy. It tells corporations, billionaires, and foreign governments alike that the fastest way to win contracts or avoid tariffs and other regulations isn’t through innovation or competition but through flattery, payment, or tribute to Donald, his wife, or his children.
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