Last week, I read a few articles about how Vladimir Putin is turning Trump into a monkey. The “great negotiator” apparently misread his mark and has again embarrassed America and himself. But more importantly, it is starting to look like Trump’s ham-fisted attempt to mediate an end to the war in Ukraine is costing both sides thousands more lives.
It may be time for Trump to acknowledge his limitations as a world leader and devote more time to playing golf. Instead, he seems to be ramping up his involvement in questionable “deals” as he seeks to further enrich himself and his family. Just this week, for example, it was announced that the Trump Media and Technology Group is buying $2.5 billion in bitcoin.
The CEO of Trump Media, former Trump-worshipping Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), explained the purchase: “We view bitcoin as an apex instrument of financial freedom, and now Trump Media will hold cryptocurrency as a critical part of our assets.”
I view bitcoin as an apex instrument to facilitate money laundering and am concerned that Trump Media will hold cryptocurrency as a critical part of its assets at a time when President Trump is decreasing scrutiny of bitcoin and controls the federal agencies that regulate bitcoin and prosecute cybercurrency crime.
President Trump, of course, held a well-publicized and likely long-remembered dinner last month for the largest purchasers of his meme coin. Some attendees spent more than one million dollars purchasing $TRUMP meme coins to attend the event and get an opportunity to meet the man who’s making crypto great again. Trump’s formula, create a “strategic reserve” of crypto, remove regulations interfering with use of crypto to evade taxes and, I fear, criminal laws, and ensure that people who are loyal to him are in charge of all federal agencies that might investigate violations of law or prosecute wrongdoers.
It is no surprise that the crypto crowd includes the Trump family (especially Eric, Don Jr., and, I am told, Barron), Trump’s special envoy, Witkoff and his son, and other friends of Trump.
Crypto has been great for Trump—his net worth has ballooned hundreds of millions since he took office—and that doesn’t include the value of the Qatari 747 which, of course, is the “gift,” not yet finalized, to America that will not go to Trump at the end of his presidential term, but to his presidential library. (Trump’s government-paid lawyers told him it is all legal and ethical.)
Harder to figure out is Trump’s wildly enthusiastic embrace of his pardon power. He has already pardoned his “J6 Patriots” and settled a wrongful death lawsuit with one insurrectionist’s family, Ashli Babbit, who was killed trying to enter the Capitol’s Speaker’s Lobby through a smashed window. Babbitt’s estate will receive around $5 million from the federal government.
Had Babbitt made it into the Speaker’s Lobby and found Speaker Nancy Pelosi or another Democratic lawmaker, what would she have done?
These pardons and the Babbitt settlement are disturbing, but why did Trump pardon the Culpepper, Virginia Sheriff, Scott Jenkins, who appointed “deputy sheriffs” in exchange for $75,000 in bribes? And why did the “celebrity couple” reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted of fraud and tax evasion, get pardoned? The couple defrauded banks out of more than $36 million in loans.
Are these pardons political moves? Are we to believe that the “Trump base” somehow identifies with corrupt sheriffs, fraudsters, and tax cheats so much that pardons of people convicted of these crimes will score political gains? (If this is true, America is in seriously bad trouble.)
Apparently, the coming months will see a cascade of pardons to more white-collar and celebrity criminals. The Washington Post reports that Sean “Diddy” Combs may get a Trump pardon. Wow. This will ironically take place while Trump and the Justice Department threaten prosecution for posting pictures of seashells on Instagram and admitting the wrong students to a university.
I wonder if Vladimir Putin and his advisors regularly read Truth Social to learn about Trump’s pardons and news about his love of cryptocurrency and other “money-making endeavors?” If they do, Putin may see an opportunity. If Russia concludes that the President of the United States is corrupt, maybe it will take a new tack in its relationship with him. Would Trump throw Ukraine and, for that matter, democracy, under the bus for a few billion more dollars?
Is this President a Bonafide crook? If so, how can we make the grift and other abuses of power stop?
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.
Paula Reeder says
The answers to the questions are:
1. Unquestionably, YES!
2. Show up and vote for Democratic candidates for office to reclaim the majority of seats in the House and Senate in 2026 – and in the Oval Office by 2028 at the latest. In the meantime, actively lobby Congressional representatives to craft and pass legislation to severely penalize grift and corruption and adjure Federal judges and the Supreme Court to hold Trump and Co. accountable for illegal acts and otherwise prevent and publicly condemn unconstituional actions initiated by the Executive Branch.