The Self-Dealing US Administration

Most of you reading our communications probably do not receive the MAGA emails. Exposure to them is an eye-popper.

They are a barrage of pitches to buy Trump stuff: caps, cups, coins. Anecdotally, attempts to unsubscribe are futile. Some days they send 4 or 5 emails trying to get people who are on their list to tell them how great is MAGA by filling out their surveys, buying their stuff, and claiming prizes. All this money and adulation is going to someone who is already a billionaire.

But the Trump trash and needy trolling for affirmation isn’t even the worst of it. This past week we saw television images of fired USAID employees on the streets of DC, after Musk gave them 15 minutes to clean out their offices. As if they were criminals. Turns out last Spring the USAID Inspector General launched an investigation of Musk’s company Starlink, over its use in both Ukraine and Russia to influence the outcome of the war. No wonder the expulsion of USAID employees feels like a vendetta.

Also in this week’s news, the FAA is set to replace, or at minimum supplement,  its information technology service contract with Verizon, for a contract with Starlink. Since the owner of Starlink is in charge of staffing cuts at the FAA, the new contract probably seems like a good investment in the future of the agency.

There is more. The National Highway Safety Administration, the agency that regulates Musk’s company Tesla, is losing 10% of its staff through DOGE cuts. Musk is also interfering in the strategic direction of NASA, in favor of programs that benefit from using his company, SpaceX, and to the detriment of competitors. Indeed, the email to NASA employees asking them what they did last week led some to fear that they were being asked to reveal proprietary information about Bezos’ Blue Origin, a Musk competitor. Some FDA employees responsible for oversight of another Musk company, Neuralink, were fired in the February DOGE/Musk purge. Neuralink is involved in trials of a medical implant device.

The President’s businesses benefit as well. There was plenty of discussion about how the Trump business empire benefited during his first Administration, including and especially sending business to his hotels and resorts. According to a study from Michigan State University, his businesses had a 9% increase in revenue as a result of his presidency, mostly through encouraging foreign governments to spend money at his properties. The same study reports that companies friendly to him were up to 4% less likely to be subject to new government investigations. This last number might explain the fawning billionaires recently changing their DEI and content policies to please him. The Trump family has reportedly already made nearly $80 million since the election through a documentary deal with Amazon and legal settlements with media and tech companies.

The fawning billionaires are also self-dealing. For example, Bezos changed the focus on the Washington Post editorial page to reflect libertarian views to the exclusion of all others. Amazon and Blue Origin, also Bezos companies, hold billions in contracts with the US government. Bezos himself has admitted this “web of interests” looks like a conflict.

The self-dealing is also evident in the Administration’s legislative priorities. “The quick math on the House budget shows a stark equation: the cost of extending tax cuts for households with incomes in the top 1 percent — $1.1 trillion through 2034 — equals roughly the same amount as the proposed potential cuts for health coverage under Medicaid and food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).”

There is so much more. We invite you to read this opinion piece from The Idaho Statesman. They make similar points, but the author is way funnier.

While the Administration is distracting us with one outlandish stunt after another, the self-dealing seems to us to be the real story, and although it gets covered, many are not yet connecting all the dots. MAGA and the oligarchs fire up their base using conspiracy theories to justify policies that in reality benefit their own businesses and their own wealth. Their wealth, thus sustained by politicians, is enough to influence elections. Tax policies favoring the wealthy also keep this system in place.

We love our partner NETWORK’s call to give up billionaires for Lent, and we encourage you to sign their pledge. We appreciate Bernie Sanders’ new “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. We think that keeping our supporters informed will be part of creating a groundswell for change. It cannot come too soon.