There have always been people of poor moral character whose charisma and empty promises get them elected to public office. When in office they use their position to enrich themselves by taking bribes in exchange for their votes for favors or by purchasing stocks based on non-public information. This is called corruption. And when independent journalists reported on it, we shamed and prosecuted these individuals because we had a Congress and judges that generally stood for the rule of law and our Constitution. That stopped.
I surmise that public scrutiny slowed as our attention was strategically drawn elsewhere when unscrumptious wealthy men purchased news organizations. Once journalists’ loss their independence, politicians and judges were able to continue low levels of corruption while motivating media outlets to convince us that our elected representatives and Supreme Court judges were needed to resolve manufactured culture wars that fuel the insecurities of a few while destroying the lives of undesirables. Issues that we once agreed were making us a more perfect union and a more prosperous nation became convenient distractions so that corruption along with lower taxes for the rich could grow unabated, leaving the average American out in the cold. The wealthy gained cover by calling themselves “job creators” instead of “policy manipulators” to silence opposition from the middle classes and poor who weren’t getting what they actually needed. Issues like affirmative action, abortion up to 24 weeks on demand, gay marriage, prayer in schools, gun rights, immigration, police brutality, multiculturalism, Zionism, transgender issues, and vaccine conspiracies became cultural hot points that fueled the votes of fearful closeted white suprematists and evangelicals instead of life-affirming issues like accountability, healthcare, a living wage, social justice, reasonable gun control, clean air and water, a social safety net, immigration reform, education, and human rights.
It didn’t help that these unscrupulous wealthy men bought and packed the Supreme Court. The newly conservative Supreme Court essentially opened the flood gates for greater corruption by first declaring that corporations were people and could flood our elections with money to influence the outcome of elections. Elon Musk took his contributions to Trump’s election even further and bought himself an unconfirmed position in an unauthorized agency (DOGE) that destroyed public service and international aide diplomacy that cost the country more tax dollars than it saved and killed aide-dependent children in poor countries. The Supreme Court rolled back gun control laws at the behest of the gun industry; they eliminated affirmative action; took away a woman’s right to choose, creating chaos and loss of life; they granted presidential immunity; and now they have rolled back voting rights to help white suprematists maintain power.
At the core of all these decaying decisions is the corruption caused by greed and power and unabashed bullying, not patriotism. A few individuals with money and a selfish vision for the future successfully infiltrated our democracy and drew power away from the people and unto themselves, making most politicians and Supreme Court justices their puppets by using their fear, egos and their own greed against them. Apparently, they realized that just about everyone has a price and can be bought in this government.
It is no surprise to anyone paying attention that President Trump is the most corrupt president in U.S. history. His objective is money, power, adoration, and the humiliation of others. He is truly a sick and despicable human being. Because of his carrot and stick approach to maintaining control over others, Congress has effectively ignored the emoluments cause in our Constitution which is supposed to prevent his many business transactions in office. We are watching him sell pardons to all manner of convicted felons for a price. We are watching him enrich himself and his family with bribes from other countries and wealthy individuals in exchange for favors like no bid contracts, influence, and investments in his family businesses. We are watching him roll back regulations and agencies designed to protect the environment, enhance international relations, protect public health, and even monitor weather events, all in favor of businesses who pay him compliments or money. We are watching him round up people paying under-trained cruel ICE agents to send them to profit-making concentration camps that treat them terribly. We are watching him prevent the regulation of AI so he can and a few tech bros make more money. We are watching him threaten, bully, and waste our tax dollars on projects that feed his ego.
The corruption extends to an insider trading frenzy that is unmatched by any sitting public officer in history. He has gone so far as to extract profit from executive orders and by starting a war. Even his ego-driven “Trump” accounts for babies created by a $6 billion dollar donation from Michael Dell was in exchange for a $8 billion dollar no bid contract to Dell and a presidential endorsement of his Dell computer products. Of course, Trump then purchased shares in Dell. And this whole $1.8 billion dollar slush fund for criminals he likes and this IRS immunity deal for him, his family members and his businesses is the ultimate in corruption that may prove to be American’s breaking point. Brave judges are stepping in to stop it, however, the Republican Senate proved too cowardly to codify closing down the deal.
As Americans watch the rich get richer through an increasingly corrupt system of government while their gas prices rise because of Trump’s illegal war in Iran, and as they see women and children in their communities suffer from increasing food insecurity, and as they witness the death of women and babies without adequate prenatal care and see others die from preventable diseases or go bankrupt from the lack of affordable health insurance, as data centers suck the water and electricity away from unsuspecting communities, as random gun violence continues to plague our communities, and as young people can’t afford to live on their own, as education and research declines, and as everyone watches AI threaten to surveil us and replace jobs leaving many folks without jobs, I predict a revolution in our future.
Personally, I don’t think the democrats are saying enough. It’s frustrating to watch their silence in the middle of all this corruption. They talk about affordability as our nation is literally burning down beneath the weight of corruption. I suspect some of them continue to benefit from the corruption. Our job is to weed out every complicit representative and to replace to use our vote to remove every coward and corrupt politician. We need brave souls who will hold Trump and his administration, corrupt judges, corrupt media, and corrupt politicians fully accountable. This next election in November is our one chance to turn the tide on the corruption that has gripped our nation. Without the commitment to accountability and a commitment to reverse laws and policies that harm rather than help, we are doomed for revolution in the streets. And I’m certain it will not be pretty.