Not that it should surprise anyone, but the corruption of our Grifter-in-Chief has become too flagrant and apparent to hide. As Trump has decimated the Justice department and fired the various officials whose job it has been to ensure government ethics, his administration is coming to look a lot like that of his idol Putin.
Want examples?
Here’s a recent report from CNN Business:
A businessman who pumped $75 million into the Trump family-backed crypto token finds himself in a fortunate position this week as federal securities regulators are hitting pause on their civil fraud case against him.
On Wednesday, lawyers for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justin Sun, a 34-year-old Chinese crypto entrepreneur, asked a federal judge to put the agency’s case on hold, citing the interests of both sides and “the public’s interest.”
The pause is a 180 for the SEC, America’s top financial regulator, which two years ago charged Sun and his companies — Tron, BitTorrent and Rainberry — with selling unregistered securities and fraudulently manipulating the price of digital token Tronix. Sun and his companies sought to have the case dismissed.
This particular grift revolves around the issuance of so-called “meme” coins–crypto tokens. Buyers with sufficient means are invited to bribe Trump by purchasing large amounts of them. To the best of my knowledge–and I’ve looked– there is no accounting, no agency or government individual keeping track of those purchases.
The media, however, has begun to investigate; Rolling Stone recently ran an article titled “HERE’S EVERYTHING WRONG WITH TRUMP’S CRYPTO MEME COINS” with a subhead reading “The Trump family’s new crypto meme coins are an ethical disaster and ripe for corruption — and they could cost his supporters dearly.”
While campaigning, Trump promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” after crypto bros poured over $130 million to elect a crypto-captive administration and Congress. Trump has tapped pro-crypto acolytes for regulatory posts across the federal government and released pro-crypto executive orders to establish a White House crypto working group and prioritize crypto across government. To top it off, the huckster-in-chief launched his $TRUMP meme coin: one part a vehicle for personal profit, one part a playground taunt over federal ethics rules, and one part a crypto-fascist pledge of allegiance. It’s a move that could not only rip off Trump supporters but also significantly corrode the democratic process.
The article goes on to explain just what a “meme coin” is:
a crypto token based on little more than an online image, slogan, or passing social trend. The crypto industry argues it is a sort of digital collectible. The fine print on the $TRUMP coin website notes that the coins “are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”
These coins have no practical use, unlike other crypto assets, which do have such uses (mostly laundering drug money or tax evasion). Most end up being worthless; a number are sold by “investors” hyping their value just long enough to allow insiders to cash out. Interestingly, the $TRUMP fine print requires its buyers to give up their rights to sue.
As the article notes, the Trump venture “presents a mind-boggling number of potential conflicts of interest” and appears designed to prey upon rather than protect naive Americans. Or–as emerging evidence like the dismissal of the SEC suit suggests–to provide a perfect mechanism for bribery.
Lawmakers (okay, Democratic lawmakers) are beginning to catch on; one Democratic Senator has promised to introduce a measure that would make this particular grift illegal. As ABC recently reported,
Since launching a little over a month ago, the $TRUMP coin has tanked in value after early investors dumped the cryptocurrency. Members of Congress have noticed as hundreds of thousands of investors have taken hard hits and billions in value have quickly vanished.
California freshman Democrat Rep. Sam Liccardo told ABC News on Thursday he will introduce legislation to prohibit the country’s top officials and their families — from Congress to the White House — from capitalizing on personal meme coins.
I don’t think ABC is quite correct in saying that the coin has no value. That is undoubtedly true for the MAGA cult suckers who purchase it, but it clearly has considerable value for “businessmen” who want government to drop lawsuits and/or investigations, or who seek fat contracts or other preferential treatment. (Reports are that a number of lawsuits are being dropped.)
Trump has learned a lot from his idol Putin about how to keep the oligarchs loyal…..
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