Marble Falls Maybe, just maybe, there are limits to the fawning by the Republican US Congress and the level of corruption and grift that Trump and his family are allowed. I hesitate to generalize because with this crew, it’s whack-a-mole with more that crops up even as restrictions are imposed elsewhere. Regardless, it’s worth celebrating the wins when we have them, even if temporary, and less than we need.
The $1.8 billion Trump slush fund or Anti-Weaponization Fund, or whatever some might call it hit, some brick walls finally. Enough Senate Republicans were offended by this outrageous self-dealing that they are holding up the budget vote in defiance of Trump. Perhaps more importantly, the federal judge hearing his original $10-billion gonzo lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service because his tax returns were released, embarrassing him by proving he was certainly rich, but nowhere near as rich, as he had always claimed. The judge has reopened an investigation of the settlement and his withdrawal of the suit in order to look into “grievous allegations” that the deal was “premised on deception.” I realize that this is a bit like stating the obvious, since Trump withdrew his frivolous suit against himself, so to speak, on one day and not much more than a day later the Justice Department announced a so-called settlement that would establish this slush fund.
The fund has become, appropriately, political kryptonite for Republicans, even if Trump himself seems oblivious to the damage that his greed is inflicting on his party and his polling. Capital police have sued to block the fund that would allow all of the January 6th insurrectionists, already scandalously pardoned by Trump, to now cash in. The number of grifters from Steve Bannon to Trump’s former personal lawyer who have also lined up at this pig trough is ridiculous. With no standards or rules, it almost beggars the imagination to wonder how much of this $1.8 billion would end up in Trump’s own bank account. The fund isn’t dead yet, but it’s in hospice care and on a death watch at the least.
Another judge has now ordered that Trump’s name be taken off the Kennedy Center. He wants all eighteen letters added to Kennedy’s name removed for the plain and simple reason that Congress was clear that the center could only honor Kennedy, and, if there were to be any change, it had to be by an act of Congress, not by executive fiat. Like every adverse decision, it will likely be appealed, but whatever….
There are also trouble signs for his administration’s effort to put his scowling picture on a $250 bill. There is a pesky problem that federal law prohibits naming anything for someone still breathing. Louisiana has such a law as well after being embarrassed some years ago having named a building after a governor who then was found guilty of bribery back in the mid-20th century. Needless to say, there’s no such currency denomination now. It’s hard to get most businesses to handle a hundred-dollar bill, who exactly would be carrying around a $250 bill other than the superrich with or without Trump on it?
I’m not saying Trump has been checked. It also turns out that when he’s not watching Fox News, posting on Truth Social and X-Twitter, he’s also practicing a bit of insider stock trading by buying and selling positions aligning with his threats or support. The numbers here aren’t trivial, but in the millions, but who’s counting?
It’s a carnival of corruption and obsequiousness from what’s left of the MAGA faithful and frightened lawmakers who fear his anger, but there may be a reckoning on some of these outrages, so we need to be thankful for any firewalls that still remain unbreeched.