Corruption

An impressively varied collection of methods

Patrimonialism is corrupt by definition, because its reason for being is to exploit the state for gain—political, personal, and financial. At every turn, it is at war with the rules and institutions that impede rigging, robbing, and gutting the state.

“I think we are going to see an absolutely staggering orgy of corruption and crony capitalism in the next four years unlike anything we’ve seen since the late 19th century, the Gilded Age.” (Francis Fukuyama, also of Stanford, replied: “It’s going to be a lot worse than the Gilded Age.”)

Kleptocracy and oligarchy

The Real Goal of the Trump Economy

Trump's Shockingly Lawless Second Term

Just Another Monday in a Dying Republic

Now that trade policy is run out of the Oval Office, corruption will be a feature, not a bug

DOGE Is the Deep State

Kevin Kruse on why Trump 2.0 is worse than he expected

From Crypto Critic to ‘Crypto President’

Trump’s "Crypto Reserve" is a world historical grift

The Strategic Crypto Swindle

The Taxpayers Are Going All In on Crypto

Trump’s Crypto Reserve Is Really Happening

See also A Scam Built Atop an Accounting Gimmick Wrapped in Bullshit: Why Visiting Fort Knox Is Not About Selling Gold but is About Buying Bitcoin

Trump Family Has Reportedly Explored Cashing in on Controversial Crypto Exchange

Binance corruption

Inspector Generals Fired

The Real Goal of the Trump Economy

Inspectors General Are Doing Essential—And Unpopular—Work

"If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general.

If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them."
Pete Buttigieg (petebuttigieg.bsky.social)

Trump’s environmental rule-shredding will put lives at risk

Elon Musk Is Getting the War Plan Against China

Trump Defends Fraudster He Pardoned: 'He Supported Trump'

Bribery

Fake settlements

A company can voluntarily settle a baseless lawsuit as a way to bribe Trump. Sometimes these settlements have an extortionate element to them as well (see Extortion section below).

It begins November 2024 when X/Twitter settles a lawsuit they were about to win

December 2024 ABC News settles in the form of a $15 million payment

Why Meta Is Paying $25 Million to Settle a Trump Lawsuit

Old fashioned "normal" bribery, at scale

The Tech Oligarchy Arrives

People Are Paying Millions to Dine With Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago

Two headlines offered without comment

Donald Trump Held Another Million-Dollar ‘Candlelight’ Dinner—With Elon Musk in Tow

Crypto bribery

As opposed to crypto-kleptocracy, see kleptocracy section above

The President Took A $75 Million Bribe And We All Saw It

Make emoluments great again

Seems almost quaint to list examples. We might run out of internet.

Extortion

Trump is forcing companies to settle baseless lawsuits (some new, some old, including some he had essentially already lost) to give him money in exchange for not seeking retribution.

The Corruption Case Against Eric Adams Has Been Dropped … With Prejudice

Trump Organization sues Capital One for closing its bank accounts four years ago

CBS Owner Discusses Settling Trump Suit, With Merger Review on Tap

Trump is using settlements to extract bribes

The Language of Surrender

Into Elon's pockets

Data is the new oil. This, my friends, is the Teapot Thunderdome

How Elon Musk Is Using DOGE to Weaken His Regulators

A conflict of interest and the dangers of exposure

Musk Leverages His Unelected Non-Existent Authority And Expertise To Steal $2 Billion FAA Contract From Verizon

$42.5 Billion Broadband Grant Program Being Rewritten To Benefit Elon Musk

Former Boss Of $42.5B Broadband Subsidy Program Warns It’s Being Ruined To Benefit Elon Musk

Engineers who work for Elon Musk’s SpaceX have been brought on as senior advisers to the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

DOGE’s Race to the Bottom

Dozens of CFPB Workers Fired in After-Hours Blitz

DOGE Is Now Inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

DOGE’s Website Is Just One Big X Ad

Behind DOGE’s Many Conflicts of Interest and Elon Musk’s Weekend Email Chaos

Tesla Recalls Nearly All Cybertrucks Day After Trump Official Begs People to Buy Stock

Get your clients to spend more on Elon Musk’s social-media platform, or else.

Musk associates granted access to confidential info about X's competitors

US to allow higher-power cellphone service for Musk's Starlink despite objections

Elon Musk's Starlink has a growing footprint in the federal government

SpaceX's cash spigot

Musk pushes private financial interests in meeting with Indian Prime Minister

Elon Musk’s Starlink Pushes Its Way Into India

Vietnam tries to appease Trump administration by paying off Musk

Published with Nuclino