Trump Letting America Roll Around In All The Bribes Like Pigs In Sh*t
There sure are a lot of rotten bananas in this republic.
Welp, wheel-greasing sure is having a great run! Mister Art O’Deal has pardoned dirty-dealing former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, and the DOJ has ordered charges dropped against New York Mayor Eric Adams. Trump also “paused” enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, sort of like when the Grinch paused Christmas so he could fix a light on the tree.
Remember ol’ helmet-haired Blago? Sure you do! He was the (Democrat!) governor of Illinois who was convicted in 2011 on charges of brazenly trying to sell Barack Obama’s old Senate seat, and trying to shake down a children’s hospital.
He was sentenced to 168 months in the clink, but he hired a consultant named Mark Vargas who orchestrated a mighty PR campaign for him that included touches like Blago’s wife going on Fox News weeping about how her husband was treated worse than a murderer, enlisting everyone from Jesse Jackson to Alan Dershowitz to make Blago’s case, and papering the zone with op-eds in Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, and the WSJ, where they wrung their greasy hands over how House Democrats were so mean that they would have impeached Abraham Lincoln, and Blago was WITCH HUNTED, and the poor, sweet man was in prison just for “practicing politics.”
All arguments that Trump himself would later repeat! Trump commuted Blago’s sentence in his first term, and now Politico reports that Trump is considering appointing him ambassador to Serbia, because why not.
And Eric Adams, hoo boy! He was facing five counts involving taking illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials, free or discounted flights on Turkish Airlines, and plushy stays at luxury hotels. Mm, Turkish delight! In exchange, he allegedly pressured the New York Fire Department to have the firetrap Turkish consular 36-story skyscraper pass safety inspections, and cut ties with a community center in Brooklyn after a Turkish official told him it was affiliated with a group “hostile” to Turkey's government — a government that beat ass on peaceful protesters on American soil. And many other things that yr Wonkette has detailed!
But, like Blago, Adams stepped up a campaign of Trump suck-uppery. He cancelled Martin Luther King Jr. Day appearances to go schmooze at Trump’s inauguration, was spotted dining with Trump pal/billionaire John Catsimatidis, and directed his underlings to say only nice things about the Trump administration and its infinite wisdom. And he did a 180 on ICE, telling migrant shelter operators that they can let agents in without a warrant now.
Adams’ charges were dropped “without prejudice,” meaning the DOJ could pick them back up again if, say, Adams does not un-sanctuary New York City to the administration’s satisfaction, or do whatever it is that Trump wants him to do. Put a boot on Alvin Bragg’s car? Arrest Letitia James for trying to collect on that $500-million-plus dollars Trump owes the state of New York for all that frauding he did? Who knows! Trump now has all the leverage. That’s what he does, finds somebody in trouble with the law and takes them over, like those parasitic flatworms that take over snails.
And now congratulations, companies, it is now officially okay to bribe foreign officials to get what you want! Now whichever companies can afford the most in bribes will get to do the most business in the dirtiest of places, and dirty deeds shall no longer be done dirt cheap. This enriches corrupt regimes, of course, and also wastes a lot of corporate money when half of the cost of doing business must go to buying a dictator’s wife a bunch of shoes. The FCPA also requires companies to keep accounting records to certain standards, and so much for that now.
This is a gift to the companies who can most afford to pay bribes (ahem, Elon Musk), and especially to Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, his nephew, Sagar Adani, and Cyril Cabanes of Azure Power Global Ltd., who are charged with bribing Indian officials and were facing up to 20 years in prison. After Trump’s election, Adani directly appealed to Trump on Xitter, promising to invest in the US.
Because Trump just loves that personal-sucking-up touch.
Yep, bribery, it’s sure great again! Last June, the Supreme Court set the stage for open season on domestic palm-greasing with their 6-3 ruling in Snyder v. US, in which the former mayor of Portage, Indiana, got a check for $13,000 from the Great Lakes Peterbilt trash truck company, after he had the town purchase five of their fine waste-management vehicles. A federal jury convicted Snyder of accepting an illegal gratuity and he got a year and nine months in the clink. But Snyder appealed, arguing that because he got the check after he bought the trucks and not before, this was merely a gratuity and not a bribe. And instead of laughing in his face, a certain six judges actually went for this Rottweiler-sized bag of dog poo.
And the new attorney general herself, Pam Bondi, just happened to forget to investigate Trump University in 2013 after the Trump foundation generously donated $25,000 to a campaign fund for Bondi's reelection effort.
On her first day in her current office, Bondi disbanded the corporate enforcement unit of DOJ’s National Security Division, which was leading the efforts to confiscate sanctioned Russian assets and oligarchs’ yachts, planes, and real estate. And she killed a 50-person task force that was established during the first Trump administration to investigate covert foreign influence, and scaled back enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
It’s a free-for-all! Where is all of this going to end? Are we going to have to carry around cash to bribe the workers at the DMV to issue a drivers’ license? Bribe the TSA to let you get on a plane? Bribe the cops not to arrest you for a broken taillight? And what are all of these corrupt people going to give Trump in return? Whatever he wants, I guess.
[Axios/ New York Times archive link/ WSJ gift link/ New York Magazine archive link/ FT “Donald Trump to halt enforcement of law banning bribery of foreign officials” / FT “Fate of Adani alleged bribery case could hang on Trump presidency”/ Rolling Stone]
OT: Daddy is being transferred to a rehab facility this afternoon. It is one with high ratings from Medicare and Us News, and is in network.
America is now just a late model Cadilac left parked in a sketchy part of town . . .