The Trump Presidency Timeline
Documenting the chaos since day one. 224 entries and counting.
Category: forever grifting
forever grifting
trump calls climate a scam, lets your utility bill do the talking
Bernie, AOC, and Zohran Mamdani on stage plotting the radical agenda of cheaper buses, cooler classrooms, and fewer kids getting cooked in uninsulated apartments—so obviously, the real extremists here.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new climate strategy: call it a “scam,” cash record checks from big oil, and then act shocked when people’s power bills, rent, and insurance all explode. While Trump world insists that regulations are the real problem, Americans are getting hit with a monthly climate surcharge as extreme weather drives up utility costs, healthcare bills, and housing prices. Public transit systems are being shoved off a funding cliff, because nothing says “lower costs” like forcing everyone into cars during a heatwave.
Into this tire fire strolls an actually coherent idea: treat climate policy as an affordability agenda instead of a morality lecture. New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is pushing free buses and climate-resilient schools; Seattle’s socialist mayor-elect Katie Wilson wants social housing with green retrofits; unions from Chicago to Los Angeles are bargaining for solar schools and clean-energy jobs. Meanwhile, the administration that promised lower energy prices is busy turning the US into an oligarchic oil-and-gas theme park, where Exxon gets the rides and you get the bill.
From Maine’s Graham Platner tying pollution to oligarchy, to Nebraska’s Dan Osborn backing right-to-repair so farmers don’t have to mortgage the farm to fix a tractor, to Democrats winning on “lower utility costs” without even being especially left, the throughline is obvious: climate action can actually cut costs for normal people. But sure, tell us more about how climate policy is a con while you gut transit, shovel subsidies at fossil fuel donors, and let landlords pass disaster and insurance costs straight to renters. Green economic populism is trying to keep the lights on and the rent payable; the Trump administration is just making sure the oil CEOs’ yachts stay fully fueled.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
forever grifting
president launches new altcoin, calls it 'regulation policy'
President Trump proudly announces his new cryptocurrency, seen here attempting to moon while ethics laws quietly flatline in the background.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new frontier in public service: cutting out the middleman and just paying the president in crypto. Trump Media & Technology Group — the corporate husk behind Truth Social — is rolling out a shiny new cryptocurrency for its shareholders, which conveniently includes its largest shareholder: President Donald Trump. Each share gets a token, the stock price jumps, and Devin Nunes calls it a "first-of-its-kind" move to "promote fair and transparent markets" — because nothing says fairness like the guy writing the rules also pumping his own coin.
In other words, the White House now doubles as a crypto launchpad. Nunes isn’t just the CEO of Trump Media; he’s also Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, whispering sweet nothings about “intelligence collection” to the same guy whose policies just made crypto’s life much easier. Since returning to the White House, Trump has signed landmark crypto legislation, dropped multiple enforcement cases against crypto firms, and pushed to let Americans shove their retirement savings into volatile coins — all while his family’s various tokens and meme-coins rake in hundreds of millions and conveniently crater only after the insiders have cashed out. But sure, this is all about "innovation" and "mainstream adoption," not the president using federal policy to juice his own digital casino.
Trump’s crypto empire is, fittingly, as stable as his temperament. The TRUMP meme-coin exploded in value around his inauguration, then lost more than 90% of its worth — the perfect metaphor for every Trump-branded venture ever. Trump Media stock is down more than 60% this year, so naturally the solution is not sound governance or real products, but airdropping magic internet money via Crypto.com on the Cronos blockchain and promising "various rewards" like discounts on Trump-branded nonsense. It’s not a presidency anymore, it’s a perpetual pump-and-dump scheme with nuclear codes.
So to recap: the president owns a media company that prints its own token, he controls the regulatory environment for that industry, his allies kill enforcement actions against it, and Americans are nudged to gamble their retirements on the whole circus. But don’t worry, Devin Nunes swears it’s all about transparency.
Source: bbc.com
#forever-grifting#corruption#crypto
forever grifting
trump unveils proudly american phone, forgets to unveil the phone
Artist’s impression of the Trump T1: a gold brick with an American flag on it, functionally identical to the actual product currently in customers’ hands.
Trump Mobile – the latest entry in the “how many ways can we cash in on the presidency” cinematic universe – has delayed its big, shiny, $499 gold-colored smartphone, the T1. The company, which licensed the Trump name to slap on a phone and service plan, now says there’s a “strong possibility” customers won’t see their devices this month, blaming the government shutdown Trump helped create for disrupting shipments. Because nothing says competent business genius like failing to deliver a product you already took $100 deposits for and then pointing at your own administration’s chaos as the excuse.
The T1 is marketed as a “proudly American” rival to Apple and Samsung, which is adorable given that almost no smartphones are actually manufactured in the US and no one seems to know who would even build this thing. But sure, it’s etched with an American flag, so that’s basically a supply chain. The phone was first promised for August, then vaguely pushed to “later this year,” while customers are still required to cough up $100 just to reserve the privilege of maybe, someday, receiving a gold Trump rectangle.
Trump Mobile also offers a $47.45 monthly phone plan – a price point chosen to worship Trump’s status as the 47th president, because when you’re building a cult of personality, even your billing has to be a campaign ad. The venture is run by Donald Jr and Eric, naturally, and joins Trump-branded watches, shoes, and Bibles in the ever-expanding MAGA QVC catalog. According to financial disclosures, these licensing deals pulled in more than $8m for Trump in 2024 alone, all while his administration oversees the very federal agencies that regulate telecom and digital media. In other words: regulatory power on one hand, phone company cash in the other – but we’re definitely still pretending there’s a meaningful separation between the presidency and the family business.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#corruption
forever grifting
historic comeback mostly happening to other people
Trump explains the ‘historic comeback’ to people whose bank accounts appear to be participating in a completely different economy.
Nearly half of Americans now say their financial security is getting worse, and the other half are presumably just waiting for the next layoff email. A new Harris poll finds 45% of people feel less secure than before, while only 20% say things are improving—but the White House insists we’re living through a "historic comeback" and that prices are "coming down fast." Because nothing says ‘comeback’ like mass government layoffs, chaotic tariffs, and a crackdown on immigrant labor that breaks supply chains.
The economy on paper is doing fine—strong GDP growth, no technical recession—yet 57% of Americans say we’re in a recession anyway. That’s what happens when your "booming" economy is a K-shaped funhouse where the stock market is high, the rich are richer, and everyone under $50,000 a year is watching their finances go through the floor. Fifty-nine percent of those making under $50k say their security is getting worse, compared with 37% of those over $100k. In other words: Trump’s "comeback" is mostly a vibes-based recovery for people who own multiple ETFs.
The partisan breakdown is a chef’s-kiss of dysfunction. Democrats and independents are increasingly blaming the government for rising prices—76% and 72% respectively—while Republicans are heroically trying to pin it on "corporate practices" instead, as if Trump’s tariffs and mass firings are just a weird coincidence. Women, Black, and Hispanic voters—whom Trump bragged about winning over in 2024—are now far more likely to say their finances are deteriorating and that we’re in a recession. But sure, keep rolling out the teleprompter speeches about how everything is totally fixed and the only problem is people’s "perceptions." If only people could pay rent in White House talking points.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
forever grifting
trump to big pharma: your profits are safe, we'll just shake down our allies
Trump explaining that the way to lower US drug prices is to keep Big Pharma rich and send the bill to France, because of course he is.
Trump looked at America’s obscene drug prices and, in a stunning twist no one saw coming, concluded the real villains are France, Germany, and Japan – not the pharmaceutical companies making record profits by charging whatever they can get away with. Instead of touching private insurers or pharma margins, he’s promising a fantasyland 700% price cut at home by forcing allies to jack up their own prices, because nothing says "standing up for American patients" like turning healthcare into a protection racket.
The article lays out how the US helped build the current global pharma regime – TRIPS, ironclad patents, and all – that funnels billions to shareholders while rationing lifesaving drugs by bank balance. Now that profits might be peaking and China, Cuba, and others are building their own state-backed pharma sectors, Washington’s answer (under Trump) isn’t "rein in corporate power" but "make our allies pay more so Pfizer doesn’t have to suffer." In other words, preserve the same rigged system that made insulin unaffordable in the first place, just with a side of geopolitical extortion.
European and Japanese governments are left in a fun little bind: domestic pharma and private insurers would love higher prices, but their voters and public health systems will explode the second hospital budgets are fed into the shareholder furnace. Trump is selling this as a populist crusade for cheaper drugs, but the actual plan is to keep Big Pharma’s profit machine intact, shift the pain onto other countries, and call it a win for American patients. It’s not healthcare reform, it’s a globalized shakedown operation – forever-grifting, but make it pharma.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#money
forever grifting
trump replaces free markets with the vibes-based stock exchange
President Trump, seen here auditioning CEOs for the role of "most obedient oligarch," as markets wait to see who gets government equity and who gets publicly threatened on live TV.
Remember "free-market capitalism"? Trump spent 2025 helpfully updating it to "whoever flatters me the most gets the stock bump." NPR walks through how the president has been openly picking corporate winners and losers, turning the U.S. economy into a loyalty program where the rewards are government stakes and export licenses, and the fine print is democracy.
We get the Intel special: Trump publicly demands CEO Lip‑Bu Tan's resignation, then suddenly discovers Tan is a genius visionary the moment Intel agrees to hand the U.S. government a 10% equity stake. Because nothing says level playing field like the president publicly kneecapping your stock price until you cough up shares.
Then there’s Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has apparently figured out the new business model: fund Trump’s tacky White House ballroom project, get permission to sell advanced chips to China — as long as the U.S. government gets a 25% cut of those sales. In other words, it’s not industrial policy, it’s the House takes a quarter Ann Lipton, a corporate law expert, politely calls this capitalism by "schmoozing"; everyone else would call it what it is: state-backed shakedowns that destroy competition, innovation, and any pretense that U.S. markets aren’t being run like Trump’s personal casino.
So yes, America still has capitalism — just the Russian kind. The line between government and business isn’t blurred; it’s been replaced with a revolving door, a donation link, and a very clear message: play ball with Trump or get regulated, humiliated, or cut out of the global market. But sure, tell us again how this is all about freedom and the invisible hand.
We get the Intel special: Trump publicly demands CEO Lip‑Bu Tan's resignation, then suddenly discovers Tan is a genius visionary the moment Intel agrees to hand the U.S. government a 10% equity stake. Because nothing says level playing field like the president publicly kneecapping your stock price until you cough up shares.
Then there’s Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has apparently figured out the new business model: fund Trump’s tacky White House ballroom project, get permission to sell advanced chips to China — as long as the U.S. government gets a 25% cut of those sales. In other words, it’s not industrial policy, it’s the House takes a quarter Ann Lipton, a corporate law expert, politely calls this capitalism by "schmoozing"; everyone else would call it what it is: state-backed shakedowns that destroy competition, innovation, and any pretense that U.S. markets aren’t being run like Trump’s personal casino.
So yes, America still has capitalism — just the Russian kind. The line between government and business isn’t blurred; it’s been replaced with a revolving door, a donation link, and a very clear message: play ball with Trump or get regulated, humiliated, or cut out of the global market. But sure, tell us again how this is all about freedom and the invisible hand.
Source: npr.org
#forever-grifting#corruption#oligarchy
forever grifting
trumprx.gov: now with 30% off insulin and 100% off transparency
Trump announces he has finally tamed Big Pharma, flanked by drug executives whose stock prices mysteriously did not get the memo.
Donald Trump has discovered a bold new form of healthcare reform: negotiate in private with nine giant drug companies, announce "massive savings" with no actual numbers, and then hand them a three-year exemption from tariffs and a government-backed sales funnel called TrumpRx.gov. Because nothing says "standing up to Big Pharma" like giving them a custom federal storefront and trade perks in exchange for promising to stop charging Americans quite three times as much as the rest of the developed world.
Under the deal, companies like Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, Merck, Roche/Genentech, Novartis, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi, and GSK will cut prices for Medicaid and some cash payers, and pledge "most-favored-nation" pricing on new drugs. In return, they get tariff holidays, fast-track FDA vibes, and the opportunity to sell direct-to-consumer through a website that sounds like it was cooked up between Truth Social posts. Merck, in a shocking coincidence, is offering 70% off diabetes drugs that are about to face generic competition anyway—heroism is always easier when the patent cliff is doing most of the work.
Officials brag that this will save Medicaid money, which is adorable given Medicaid is only about 10% of US drug spending and already gets discounts north of 80% on some drugs. Investors, initially terrified of actual price controls, are now calm and happy—always a great sign for the supposed populist crackdown. The companies also pledged $150bn in US R&D and manufacturing "investment" (unclear if this is new money or just re-gifted press release fluff) and will remit some foreign revenues back to the US, as if multinational tax planning just died of embarrassment.
So Trump gets a victory lap about "beating" Big Pharma, Big Pharma gets regulatory certainty, tariff relief, and a new federal marketing channel, and Americans still get to pay the highest drug prices in the world—just slightly less obscene and with a fresh coat of Trump branding. In other words, it’s not healthcare reform, it’s a corporate loyalty program with a presidential logo slapped on top.
Under the deal, companies like Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, Merck, Roche/Genentech, Novartis, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi, and GSK will cut prices for Medicaid and some cash payers, and pledge "most-favored-nation" pricing on new drugs. In return, they get tariff holidays, fast-track FDA vibes, and the opportunity to sell direct-to-consumer through a website that sounds like it was cooked up between Truth Social posts. Merck, in a shocking coincidence, is offering 70% off diabetes drugs that are about to face generic competition anyway—heroism is always easier when the patent cliff is doing most of the work.
Officials brag that this will save Medicaid money, which is adorable given Medicaid is only about 10% of US drug spending and already gets discounts north of 80% on some drugs. Investors, initially terrified of actual price controls, are now calm and happy—always a great sign for the supposed populist crackdown. The companies also pledged $150bn in US R&D and manufacturing "investment" (unclear if this is new money or just re-gifted press release fluff) and will remit some foreign revenues back to the US, as if multinational tax planning just died of embarrassment.
So Trump gets a victory lap about "beating" Big Pharma, Big Pharma gets regulatory certainty, tariff relief, and a new federal marketing channel, and Americans still get to pay the highest drug prices in the world—just slightly less obscene and with a fresh coat of Trump branding. In other words, it’s not healthcare reform, it’s a corporate loyalty program with a presidential logo slapped on top.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#healthcare
forever grifting
truth social to the sun: trump discovers a new thing to grift
Donald Trump and Devin Nunes, fresh off failing at social media, preparing to reinvent nuclear fusion with vibes, SPAC math, and a prayer to the stock ticker.
Trump Media — the proud parent of the ghost town known as Truth Social — has decided that losing tens of millions of dollars a quarter just isn’t ambitious enough, so it’s merging with fusion energy firm TAE Technologies in a $6bn deal. Because nothing says "serious energy policy" like hitching the future of nuclear fusion to a meme stock built on Trump posts and a volatile crypto treasury. Devin Nunes, failed cow-suing congressman turned tech visionary, will be co-CEO of this nuclear adventure, and Trump himself will sit on the nine-member board, just to really drive home that the president is now literally in the nuclear energy business while he runs the government.
On the policy side, the Trump White House is simultaneously deregulating nuclear, fast-tracking fusion, declaring it a matter of national security, and building a new Office of Fusion at DOE to shove the tech to market as quickly as possible. On the private side, Trump Media is handing TAE $300m in cash and a direct line to "major political support from President Trump", as one analyst delicately put it. In other words: the president is using federal power to juice an industry that he and his family now have a massive financial stake in, and everyone’s just nodding along like this is normal.
TAE’s CEO says sometimes you "get lucky and you meet the right people" — by which he apparently means a sitting president with a failing social network, a pump-and-dump stock, a crypto casino, and a bottomless appetite for conflicts of interest. But sure, we’re told not to worry, because he "welcomes regulatory scrutiny" while partnering with the guy currently taking a chainsaw to the regulators. If this all goes wrong, at least it’ll be on brand: Trump finally delivering on "nuclear" — just not quite in the way anyone had in mind.
On the policy side, the Trump White House is simultaneously deregulating nuclear, fast-tracking fusion, declaring it a matter of national security, and building a new Office of Fusion at DOE to shove the tech to market as quickly as possible. On the private side, Trump Media is handing TAE $300m in cash and a direct line to "major political support from President Trump", as one analyst delicately put it. In other words: the president is using federal power to juice an industry that he and his family now have a massive financial stake in, and everyone’s just nodding along like this is normal.
TAE’s CEO says sometimes you "get lucky and you meet the right people" — by which he apparently means a sitting president with a failing social network, a pump-and-dump stock, a crypto casino, and a bottomless appetite for conflicts of interest. But sure, we’re told not to worry, because he "welcomes regulatory scrutiny" while partnering with the guy currently taking a chainsaw to the regulators. If this all goes wrong, at least it’ll be on brand: Trump finally delivering on "nuclear" — just not quite in the way anyone had in mind.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#corruption#killing-democracy
forever grifting
trump’s epa discovers the fun side of cancer
EPA headquarters, now proudly brought to you by the American Chemistry Council: "If you’re not dying for our profits, are you even working hard enough?"
The Trump EPA has decided that the real cancer risk is to industry profits, so it’s proposing to increase the amount of formaldehyde Americans can "safely" inhale. Biden-era EPA scientists concluded that any exposure to formaldehyde – a known carcinogen linked to cancer, respiratory issues, miscarriages and fertility problems – carries risk. Trump’s team looked at that, handed the pen to chemical lobbyists, and said: what if we just pretend that’s not true?
Instead of the long-standing "any dose is risky" model for DNA-damaging carcinogens, Trump’s EPA is flipping to a magical threshold approach where, below a certain level, the cancer risk simply doesn’t count. In other words, exposures that were cancer risks yesterday become perfectly fine once the American Chemistry Council signs off. Conveniently, the EPA’s chemical safety office is now run by former American Chemistry Council executives Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, because nothing says "independent science" like putting the industry’s formaldehyde lobby in charge of formaldehyde regulation.
The new proposal reverses five of Biden’s 58 "unreasonable risk" scenarios outright – mainly industrial workplace exposures – and weakens protections for the remaining 53, covering everything from furniture and wood products to automotive goods. Since regulators still don’t account for cumulative exposure (the makeup + the desk + the car + the mattress + the kitchenware), this rollback all but guarantees that people will keep marinating in low-level carcinogen soup across their entire day. But sure, tell workers and families that this is about "using the best available science" while the people cashing the checks rewrite what "safe" means from inside the agency.
Instead of the long-standing "any dose is risky" model for DNA-damaging carcinogens, Trump’s EPA is flipping to a magical threshold approach where, below a certain level, the cancer risk simply doesn’t count. In other words, exposures that were cancer risks yesterday become perfectly fine once the American Chemistry Council signs off. Conveniently, the EPA’s chemical safety office is now run by former American Chemistry Council executives Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, because nothing says "independent science" like putting the industry’s formaldehyde lobby in charge of formaldehyde regulation.
The new proposal reverses five of Biden’s 58 "unreasonable risk" scenarios outright – mainly industrial workplace exposures – and weakens protections for the remaining 53, covering everything from furniture and wood products to automotive goods. Since regulators still don’t account for cumulative exposure (the makeup + the desk + the car + the mattress + the kitchenware), this rollback all but guarantees that people will keep marinating in low-level carcinogen soup across their entire day. But sure, tell workers and families that this is about "using the best available science" while the people cashing the checks rewrite what "safe" means from inside the agency.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#anti-science#killing-democracy
forever grifting
trump heroically defeats tiktok by giving it to his billionaire pal
Larry Ellison, freshly minted guardian of American democracy, prepares to secure TikTok by owning it really, really hard.
Trump’s five-year crusade to “protect Americans” from TikTok has finally paid off: he’s helped engineer a deal where ByteDance keeps running the money-printing parts of the US business while a shiny new joint venture, packed with Trump-friendly billionaires, gets control of the data, algorithms, and moderation. Because nothing says national security like turning a global social media platform into a plaything for Larry Ellison, Oracle, Silver Lake, and an Abu Dhabi fund.
Under the Trump-approved setup, Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX each get 15%, existing ByteDance investors grab 30.1%, ByteDance itself gets the maximum allowed 19.9%, and some mystery investors get the last 5% — which absolutely does not scream “backdoor deal” at all. Oracle will “oversee” the recommendation algorithm for US users, while China keeps control of the underlying IP, so the White House can claim victory while Beijing still owns the brain. In other words, Trump threatened a ban, then signed off on a structure that keeps TikTok running, enriches his billionaire buddy Ellison, and further consolidates media power in the hands of a tiny cadre of oligarchs.
Elizabeth Warren is out here asking whether Trump cut yet another secret arrangement to hand more of America’s information ecosystem to his donors, while the rest of DC politely pretends this is just a routine tech transaction. The deadline drama? The deal is set to close literally one day before Trump’s own ban would have kicked in — a made-for-TV hostage scenario where TikTok’s survival just happens to coincide with a massive payday and expanded influence for a key Trump ally. But sure, tell us again how this was all about protecting your data and not about building a pro-Trump media empire by executive order.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#oligarchy
forever grifting
don jr visits tiny tax haven, discovers giant conflicts of interest
Gibraltar’s chief minister poses with Donald Trump Jr, presumably while checking whether the Rock is big enough to hold all of MAGA’s offshore cash.
Armed police shut down a street in Gibraltar so a convoy of blacked-out BMWs could deliver Donald Trump Jr to a law firm that caters to the ultra-rich, because nothing says “public servant’s family” like arriving at an offshore hub under police escort to pitch investment products. Officially, the Trumps once promised no foreign deals while daddy was in office; this term they just quietly set that on fire and started a worldwide cash-grab from the Balkans to Vietnam, with profits still flowing straight back to President Trump.
In Gibraltar, Don Jr met with the territory’s chief minister and representatives of a Russian-born US businessman whose company both bankrolls Trump’s $300m White House ballroom and is building a £1.8bn AI data centre on the Rock. The Trumps have “no apparent stake” in that project, we’re told, but Jr was there to pitch investments in his own ventures, including 1789 Capital — a so-called “patriotic capitalism” fund that’s basically the financial wing of the MAGA movement. It quietly ballooned past $1bn while refusing to disclose its investors, even as the family’s income exploded from $51m to an estimated $864m in six months.
Meanwhile, people who shovel money at the Trumps just keep coincidentally enjoying favorable treatment and VIP access, like the memecoin whales who literally bought themselves dinner with the president at his golf club. In other words: the First Family has turned the United States into a loyalty program where oligarchs, crypto bros, and AI war-profiteers can earn premium "Team Trump" status — complete with the aura of presidential protection — just by swiping their card often enough.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#corruption
forever grifting
tariffs in, patriot bucks out
Trump announces his new Warrior Dividend loyalty program, where Americans pay higher prices so he can mail out patriotic coupons to the military on live TV.
Trump has discovered a bold new form of economic policy: loot the public with record-high tariffs, then kick a tiny, highly branded slice back to the troops and call it freedom. In a primetime stunt apparently finalized "about 30 minutes" before he went on air — always what you want to hear about a $2.5bn policy — Trump announced a one-time, $1,776 "Warrior Dividend" to 1.45 million military members, allegedly funded by his tariff windfall. Because nothing says serious governance like picking your payout number off the Declaration of Independence.
Under Trump, the average effective US tariff rate has blown up to 16.8%, the highest since 1935, costing households about $1,700 a year — but don't worry, he's sending $1,776 to the military and pretending that's not the same money he just extracted from everyone via higher prices. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is weighing whether those tariffs were even legal in the first place and might have to be repaid, prompting Justice Amy Coney Barrett to politely note that this could be "a mess". Trump’s answer to that looming legal trainwreck is apparently to pre-spend the cash on a televised patriotism giveaway.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth jumped in with a propaganda video promising the checks would be tax-free and give "1776 a whole new modern meaning for our joint force", while basic questions — who qualifies, when it arrives, whether Congress has actually created a tax exemption — remain unanswered. Active duty? Guard? Reserve? Details are for losers; the hashtag is #WarriorDividend. All this is happening while Operation Southern Spear quietly amasses forces near Venezuela and US troops are taking casualties in Syria, but sure, the real priority is slapping a 1776 sticker on tariff money and calling it a win for the troops.
In other words, Trump has turned the tariff regime into a campaign-branded cash cannon: jack up prices on everyone, funnel the proceeds into legally dubious "dividends" for politically useful groups, and dare the courts and Congress to untangle it later. It’s not fiscal policy, it’s a live-action rewards program for living in a failing petro-tariff monarchy — but with extra flags.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#money#killing-democracy
forever grifting
trump’s dying meme site discovers nuclear fusion (of grift and hype)
Artist’s impression of fusion: Trump Media and a nuclear startup colliding at high speed, releasing vast amounts of hot air and shareholder losses.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that turned losing money on a ghost-town social network into a lifestyle brand, is now merging with a Google-backed fusion energy firm in a deal magically valued at more than $6bn. Because nothing says "serious science" like handing board seats to Devin Nunes and Donald Trump Jr and calling it a day.
The plan, according to their joint statement, is to "create one of the world's first publicly traded fusion companies" and start building the "world's first utility-scale fusion power plant" next year. In other words: take a speculative, not-yet-commercial technology, strap it to a meme stock that bleeds cash, and aim it straight at the nearest retail investor’s brokerage account. TMTG will chip in up to $300m while continuing to post losses (a handy reminder that the only thing this operation reliably generates is bagholders).
The merged company will be 50/50 Trump Media and TAE, with a nine-member board including Nunes as co-CEO and Don Jr, because why wouldn’t you put the president’s son on the board of a company that stands to benefit from federal energy policy, subsidies, and regulatory approvals? Nunes is already promising this will "cement America's global energy dominance for generations," which is a very poetic way of saying: we’ve discovered a revolutionary new form of energy called pumping the stock with MAGA politics and hoping the SEC is asleep.
TAE has actually raised over $1.3bn from Google and Goldman Sachs, but now it’s hitching itself to Trump’s media clown car to "bring capital and public market access"—translation: leverage the presidency’s political cult to fund a very expensive science project. With AI data centers driving power demand and nuclear policy suddenly hot again, the president’s personal media vehicle just walked into the energy sector and parked a family-and-loyalist-run company right at the trough. But sure, this is about innovation, not building a taxpayer-adjacent fusion reactor for corruption.
The plan, according to their joint statement, is to "create one of the world's first publicly traded fusion companies" and start building the "world's first utility-scale fusion power plant" next year. In other words: take a speculative, not-yet-commercial technology, strap it to a meme stock that bleeds cash, and aim it straight at the nearest retail investor’s brokerage account. TMTG will chip in up to $300m while continuing to post losses (a handy reminder that the only thing this operation reliably generates is bagholders).
The merged company will be 50/50 Trump Media and TAE, with a nine-member board including Nunes as co-CEO and Don Jr, because why wouldn’t you put the president’s son on the board of a company that stands to benefit from federal energy policy, subsidies, and regulatory approvals? Nunes is already promising this will "cement America's global energy dominance for generations," which is a very poetic way of saying: we’ve discovered a revolutionary new form of energy called pumping the stock with MAGA politics and hoping the SEC is asleep.
TAE has actually raised over $1.3bn from Google and Goldman Sachs, but now it’s hitching itself to Trump’s media clown car to "bring capital and public market access"—translation: leverage the presidency’s political cult to fund a very expensive science project. With AI data centers driving power demand and nuclear policy suddenly hot again, the president’s personal media vehicle just walked into the energy sector and parked a family-and-loyalist-run company right at the trough. But sure, this is about innovation, not building a taxpayer-adjacent fusion reactor for corruption.
Source: bbc.com
#forever-grifting#corruption
forever grifting
big tech's new mission: bankrupt american families
Ah, the digital fortresses of Big Tech—where the profits are private, and the electricity bills are public.
What a delightful surprise! Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, and Richard Blumenthal have decided to investigate whether Silicon Valley's prized data centers are responsible for making your electricity bills go the way of Tesla stock—sky-high. Because, of course, nothing says "caring about the average American" like offloading your utility costs onto them, just as you rake in those sweet state and local tax benefits and play the 'trade secrets' card to keep everyone blissfully ignorant.
In a display of altruism worthy of a soap opera, Big Tech's giants are asked why bills are rising by as much as 267% in areas blessed with the presence of their data centers. Meanwhile, utility companies are giddily expanding infrastructure on the backs of the American taxpayer. But sure, data centers are totally not responsible for powering hundreds of thousands of homes without a hitch while simultaneously soaking up electricity like it's Black Friday. Bravo, tech overlords—your commitment to both secrecy and environmental destruction is truly unparalleled.
In a display of altruism worthy of a soap opera, Big Tech's giants are asked why bills are rising by as much as 267% in areas blessed with the presence of their data centers. Meanwhile, utility companies are giddily expanding infrastructure on the backs of the American taxpayer. But sure, data centers are totally not responsible for powering hundreds of thousands of homes without a hitch while simultaneously soaking up electricity like it's Black Friday. Bravo, tech overlords—your commitment to both secrecy and environmental destruction is truly unparalleled.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#imperialism
forever grifting
trump's touching tribute: rob reiner had tds
Rob Reiner speaks at an event, blissfully unaware that his future eulogy would be penned by the prolific wordsmith, Donald Trump.
In a heartwarming display of class and empathy, Trump took to Truth Social to express his condolences for the late Rob Reiner by diagnosing him posthumously with Trump Derangement Syndrome. Because nothing spells out a 'Golden Age of America' like dragging a grieving family through the mud. Reiner, a vocal critic of Trump, was described as having a 'raging obsession,' which, in other words, means he dared to disagree with the infallible leader of the free world. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump's former ally, found the remarks distasteful, but sure, let's make it about TDS.
Source: npr.org
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
forever grifting
trump's paper-thin peace deals unraveling like cheap toilet paper
Trump, who apparently thinks peace can be brokered with FIFA awards and photo ops, at the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw. Because nothing says 'peace in our time' like soccer.
Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed peace whisperer, is once again patting himself on the back for a series of 'peace deals' that are, well, unraveling faster than you can say 'Nobel Peace Prize'. From the oh-so-stable agreements between Thailand and Cambodia to the 'glorious triumph' in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Trump proves that nothing says long-lasting peace like a photo op and some empty promises. As former U.S. ambassador Ivo Daalder puts it, resolving deeply rooted conflicts requires more than just signing a piece of paper in Washington—who knew? But sure, let's applaud the man for his groundbreaking 'ceasefires', which are basically just pauses in the chaos waiting to explode again. Bravo, Mr. Trump, bravo.
Source: npr.org
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
forever grifting
trump's memecoin dinner: ethics are for losers
Trump dining with his crypto cronies: where ethics are the punchline.
In the latest episode of 'Trump's America,' former President Trump is hosting a dinner for the top 220 holders of his own memecoin. Because why build a statesman legacy when you can dine with crypto whales and pocket a cool $320 million in trading fees? The ethical minefield here is as vast as Trump's ego—an administration shaping crypto regulations while deeply mired in the crypto world itself. In other words, it's like letting the fox run the henhouse and then charge admission for the eggs.
Attendees, identified only by their crypto wallet addresses (how mysterious), have reportedly spent millions for a chance to wine and dine with the man himself. But sure, they're just 'investment opportunities' and not, you know, pay-for-play access to power. Meanwhile, Trump's World Liberty Financial ventures into stablecoins, because nothing says 'financial stability' like a currency tied to a reality TV star's whims. Let's just call this what it is: Trump's crypto circus ensuring the grift continues, one memecoin at a time.
Source: npr.org
#forever-grifting#crypto
forever grifting
trump sells us citizenship for $5 million, because he is a fucking grifter and its not like people of means would want to do the us any harm
not a single brain cell or clean artery among them
Trump just **put U.S. citizenship up for sale**, launching a **“gold card”** that lets the ultra-wealthy **buy their way into America for $5 million**—because nothing says **immigration reform** like **letting Russian oligarchs and billionaires skip the line.** Meanwhile, working-class immigrants? **Still out of luck.**
#forever-grifting#full-stupid#money
forever grifting
elon musk's pink slip parade hits washington
Musk, seen here explaining how firing employees is the new budget-cutting fad, because who needs facts anyway?
Elon Musk, the self-anointed czar of the 'Department of Government Efficiency', is bringing his Silicon Valley magic to Washington, D.C. In an ingenious move that defies all logic, Musk is slashing federal jobs under the guise of cutting costs. Because nothing demonstrates fiscal responsibility like gutting government services when personnel costs are a measly 4% of the federal budget.
But sure, let's pretend that firing thousands of workers is about saving money and not about dismantling government agencies for kicks. After all, when your goals align with Trump's vendetta against the "deep state," why let facts or fiscal realities get in the way of a good purge? Musk's strategy seems less about efficiency and more about satisfying an old Republican fantasy of shrinking the government until it fits in a bathtub. Bold move, Elon.
But sure, let's pretend that firing thousands of workers is about saving money and not about dismantling government agencies for kicks. After all, when your goals align with Trump's vendetta against the "deep state," why let facts or fiscal realities get in the way of a good purge? Musk's strategy seems less about efficiency and more about satisfying an old Republican fantasy of shrinking the government until it fits in a bathtub. Bold move, Elon.
Source: npr.org
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
forever grifting
old orange grifter continues to milk his sheep... err supporters
trump shitting in his daiper
Trump’s latest grift? A meme coin that scammed investors out of $2 billion. The ex-reality star turned president launched $Trump, a cryptocurrency he hyped up on Truth Social, promising a “very special Trump Community.” And it was special—if you got in early. The first traders cashed out with insane profits, including one lucky degenerate who made $109 million in two days. But for the 810,000+ wallets now deep in the red, it’s looking a lot like another classic Trump business model: hype it up, let the suckers buy in, and walk away with the cash. Meanwhile, Trump and his family pocketed over $100 million in trading fees—all while working to gut crypto regulations that could hold them accountable. But hey, if you lost your life savings on $Trump, maybe you just should’ve done your own research.
Source: thedailybeast.com
#forever-grifting#crypto