Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks as Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump reacts during a rally at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Brad Reed
November 15, 2024
November 15, 2024
RAW STORY
The New Republic's Greg Sargent has written a lengthy article about what he believes will likely be unprecedented corruption within the second Trump administration.
In particular, Sargent notes that this time Trump didn't even make a pretense of obeying any kinds of ethics rules, which he believes he will interpret as a green light to blatantly enrich himself at the public's expense.
"There are several reasons to fear this could amount to a level of oligarchic corruption that outdoes anything Trump did in his first term," Sargent explains. "In short, conditions are ripe for right-wing elites to try to loot the place from top to bottom."
Sargent says that Democrats' loss of control of the United States Senate means that they now no longer have investigative tools to dredge up embarrassing dirt on the administration, and in particular will close up probes into the promises that Trump made to oil executives and into Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's firm receiving a massive influx of foreign investment from countries such as Saudi Arabia.
“The next four years are going to be a smash and grab under Trump,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) told Sargent. “Special interests who put Trump back in office expect a return on their investment."
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, pointed to the way that Trump is letting X CEO Elon Musk push a policy agenda as evidence that there will be no guardrails on corruption and looting.
"Trump is showing that he will reward people who help him by giving them tremendous influence over his administration,” he said. “This will encourage more people to direct their largesse Trump’s way. We expect government to look out for the public interest. Trump is open about the fact that government is meant to serve his supporters, business partners, and friends.”
In particular, Sargent notes that this time Trump didn't even make a pretense of obeying any kinds of ethics rules, which he believes he will interpret as a green light to blatantly enrich himself at the public's expense.
"There are several reasons to fear this could amount to a level of oligarchic corruption that outdoes anything Trump did in his first term," Sargent explains. "In short, conditions are ripe for right-wing elites to try to loot the place from top to bottom."
Sargent says that Democrats' loss of control of the United States Senate means that they now no longer have investigative tools to dredge up embarrassing dirt on the administration, and in particular will close up probes into the promises that Trump made to oil executives and into Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's firm receiving a massive influx of foreign investment from countries such as Saudi Arabia.
“The next four years are going to be a smash and grab under Trump,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) told Sargent. “Special interests who put Trump back in office expect a return on their investment."
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, pointed to the way that Trump is letting X CEO Elon Musk push a policy agenda as evidence that there will be no guardrails on corruption and looting.
"Trump is showing that he will reward people who help him by giving them tremendous influence over his administration,” he said. “This will encourage more people to direct their largesse Trump’s way. We expect government to look out for the public interest. Trump is open about the fact that government is meant to serve his supporters, business partners, and friends.”
'Blueprint of destruction': Experts outline 'chillingly clear' view of Trump's next term
Travis Gettys
November 15, 2024
Donald Trump's political career has closely tracked the trajectories of autocratic leaders Viktor Orban and Vladimir Putin, whose rise to power offer a "chillingly clear" picture of where his second term could lead, according to historians.
The former president and his supporters are tremendously hostile to civic institutions like the judiciary, the media, universities, many nonprofits and even some religious groups, and Trump will likely follow the lead of those autocratic leaders in Hungary and Russia by sidelining experts, regulators and other civil servants, wrote New York Times columnist M. Gessen.
"When Orban was re-elected, he carried out what [Hungarian historian Balint] Magyar calls an 'autocratic breakthrough,' changing laws and practices so that he could not be dislodged again," Gessen wrote. "It helped that he had a supermajority in parliament. Trump, similarly, spent four years attacking the Biden administration, and the vote that brought it to the White House, as fraudulent, and positioning himself as the only true voice of the people. He is also returning with a power trifecta — the presidency and both houses of Congress. He too can quickly reshape American government in his image."
Magyar described the disorientation that accompanied Orban's return to power after eight years spent consolidating support from his base, and said he quickly unleashed an agenda that gathered autocratic powers for himself – which Gessen expects Trump to attempt from the start.
"We all remember it from Trump’s first term, this sense of everything happening all at once and the utter impossibility of focusing on the existentially threatening, or distinguishing it from the trivial — if that distinction even exists," Gessen wrote. "It’s not just what the autocrats do to stage their breakthrough, it’s how they do it: passing legislation (or signing executive orders) fast, without any discussion, sometimes late at night, in batches, all the while denigrating and delegitimizing any opposition."
Trump starts his second term with a sprawling road map for transforming the U.S. government to reflect his priorities, even if many of the policies conflict one another.
"Much has been written about Project 2025 as a sort of legislative blueprint for the second Trump presidency," Gessen wrote. "Consistent with Magyar’s theory of autocracy, the document is more a reflection of the clan of people who empower Trump and are empowered by him than an ideological document. It is not a blueprint for coherent legislative change, but it is a blueprint still: a blueprint for trampling the system of government as it is currently constituted, a blueprint of destruction."
Travis Gettys
November 15, 2024
Donald Trump's political career has closely tracked the trajectories of autocratic leaders Viktor Orban and Vladimir Putin, whose rise to power offer a "chillingly clear" picture of where his second term could lead, according to historians.
The former president and his supporters are tremendously hostile to civic institutions like the judiciary, the media, universities, many nonprofits and even some religious groups, and Trump will likely follow the lead of those autocratic leaders in Hungary and Russia by sidelining experts, regulators and other civil servants, wrote New York Times columnist M. Gessen.
"When Orban was re-elected, he carried out what [Hungarian historian Balint] Magyar calls an 'autocratic breakthrough,' changing laws and practices so that he could not be dislodged again," Gessen wrote. "It helped that he had a supermajority in parliament. Trump, similarly, spent four years attacking the Biden administration, and the vote that brought it to the White House, as fraudulent, and positioning himself as the only true voice of the people. He is also returning with a power trifecta — the presidency and both houses of Congress. He too can quickly reshape American government in his image."
Magyar described the disorientation that accompanied Orban's return to power after eight years spent consolidating support from his base, and said he quickly unleashed an agenda that gathered autocratic powers for himself – which Gessen expects Trump to attempt from the start.
"We all remember it from Trump’s first term, this sense of everything happening all at once and the utter impossibility of focusing on the existentially threatening, or distinguishing it from the trivial — if that distinction even exists," Gessen wrote. "It’s not just what the autocrats do to stage their breakthrough, it’s how they do it: passing legislation (or signing executive orders) fast, without any discussion, sometimes late at night, in batches, all the while denigrating and delegitimizing any opposition."
Trump starts his second term with a sprawling road map for transforming the U.S. government to reflect his priorities, even if many of the policies conflict one another.
"Much has been written about Project 2025 as a sort of legislative blueprint for the second Trump presidency," Gessen wrote. "Consistent with Magyar’s theory of autocracy, the document is more a reflection of the clan of people who empower Trump and are empowered by him than an ideological document. It is not a blueprint for coherent legislative change, but it is a blueprint still: a blueprint for trampling the system of government as it is currently constituted, a blueprint of destruction."
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