Trump is a kleptocrat who will be remembered not for his ideas, nor for his power, but for his greed
This new slush fund — set up with minimal guardrails, not even a definition of what constitutes “weaponization” — could take all the ethical disasters of the pardon market and multiply it by, well, 1.8 billion. Just think what people might be willing to do to get this money, and what Mr. Trump might get in return.
This fund would institutionalize that ethical disaster. Forget the one-off deals or the handshakes at the 18th hole. This would make cronyism an official function of the federal government, a U.S. Agency for Corruption.
MAGA die-hards like the election-denying MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell and the political operative Michael Caputo are already expressing interest in cash from the kitty. Some of Mr. Trump’s most dangerous supporters are likely to jump in behind them.
“The primary risk is that this money is going to be used to fund paramilitary organizations that are loyal to the president,” Mr. Ballou said. “The financial support for violence, that is going to be the most important thing, and it’s fundamentally new and different from, say, the Qatari jet.”
That could include the five members of the Proud Boys who sued the government for $100 million last year, claiming “political persecution” after their conviction for their role in the Jan. 6 riot in which 140 law enforcement officers were injured. It could also include the heads of the Oath Keepers, a group with an even longer record of violence.
The self-described “American terrorist” Andrew Paul Johnson was convicted of his role in the Capitol riots, pardoned by Trump and subsequently found guilty of molesting two children. To silence his victims, he is said to have promised them a share of the millions he said he was about to get from the federal government for being a “Jan. 6er.”
On Tuesday, Democratic senators asked Mr. Blanche for assurances that an abusive felon like Mr. Johnson or an extremist group like the Oath Keepers would be barred from receiving payments from the $1.8 billion fund. Mr. Blanche declined, saying the decision would be up to a five-person commission. (All five members will be appointed by him, Mr. Blanche noted, and Mr. Trump has the power to fire any at will.)
If political violence committed in the president’s name is not only tolerated but actively rewarded, it could take this already bleak timeline somewhere much, much darker. [Continue reading…]