The Trump Presidency Is Going Great

The Trump Presidency Is Going Great

Documenting the chaos since day one — one awful day at a time.

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Category: forever grifting

Monday, January 19, 2026

forever grifting

trump’s oligarchy delivers 18,000% returns (for everyone but you)

Donald Trump grinning in front of his billionaire fan club, otherwise known as the board of directors of the United States.

Donald Trump grinning in front of his billionaire fan club, otherwise known as the board of directors of the United States.

Rashida Tlaib is out here rudely pointing out that when Donald Trump promised to "drain the swamp," what he actually meant was drain the Treasury into billionaire bank accounts. Tech oligarchs had front-row seats at his inauguration, and it’s been a VIP cash bar ever since. Tlaib’s new bill calls for ending the political and economic dominance of billionaire oligarchs, cutting off their subsidies and tax gifts, and maybe—controversial take—spending money on the people who actually live in this country. Our Revolution crunched the numbers and it turns out Trump’s donors weren’t donating, they were just making the smartest investments of their lives. Crypto bros, oil barons, and deportation profiteers spent about $700m to get Trump back in office and shore up MAGA world, and in return got an estimated $172.5 billion in benefits. That’s an 18,000% return, because nothing says "populist movement" like turning the federal government into a private equity fund for Peter Thiel and friends. Oil and gas tycoons dropped $443m and got roughly $153bn in tax breaks, gutted climate rules, and a war on renewables—about a 33,443% ROI. Private prison and deportation giants like GEO Group and CoreCivic tossed in under $5m and stand to rake in revenues over $5bn as Trump’s 2025 budget aims to quadruple expulsions, turning human misery into an 11,050% return. Meanwhile, Palantir and Peter Thiel lurk in the background, ready to cash in on expanded surveillance of immigrants and, eventually, anyone who looks at Trump funny. The crypto crowd, furious that Biden tried to regulate their casino after the FTX implosion, poured tens of millions into Trump and were rewarded with deregulation, enforcement rollbacks, and a White House pledge to make America the "crypto capital of the planet." Nine major donors, including Brian Armstrong, Marc Andreessen, and future commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, turned $212m into a $19bn wealth surge—an 8,862% return. In other words, Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" and policy agenda are working exactly as designed: the poor get austerity, the middle class gets a eulogy, and the billionaire oligarchs get the keys to the country—and a personal ATM in the Oval Office. But sure, tell us again how he’s fighting for the forgotten man.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#oligarchy#killing-democracy
forever grifting

trump slaps his name on the kennedy center, kills the vibe (and the opera)

Gianandrea Noseda at the Kennedy Center back when it hosted symphonies instead of serving as a test market for the Trump Memorial Branding Initiative.

Gianandrea Noseda at the Kennedy Center back when it hosted symphonies instead of serving as a test market for the Trump Memorial Branding Initiative.

The Kennedy Center used to be a bipartisan shrine to American arts; now it’s a mausoleum with Trump’s name duct-taped to the front. Within weeks of inauguration, Trump shoved himself in as chair, fired the seasoned executive director, and handed the keys to Richard Grenell, a guy whose arts experience begins and ends with knowing how to sit in a chair and clap on the wrong beat. Predictably, artists fled, audiences bailed, and even Hamilton pulled out — because nothing says "founding fathers" like turning a national arts center into a personality cult annex. With ticket sales collapsing and patrons mailing back shredded season brochures labeled "orange menace", the Washington National Opera finally noped out and is taking its endowment fight to the lawyers. Grenell’s crackpot demand that every production be "net neutral" — fully funded in advance like some MAGA bake sale — made serious opera impossible, so the company is moving to universities and other venues that don’t require artistic directors to clear ideas with a reality TV landlord. Then came the pièce de résistance: Trump literally stapled his name onto JFK’s memorial. Just before Christmas, the words "The Donald J Trump and" were bolted above "The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" in mismatched letters that look like they were sourced from the Four Seasons Total Landscaping gift shop. The legality of randomly renaming a congressionally designated memorial after yourself while you’re still alive is, shockingly, "disputed" — but sure, tell us more about how this is all about respecting history and tradition. Now insiders say the place feels like a "funeral parlour" as cancellations pile up and the building’s new branding project — turning a national arts institution into a cult-of-personality billboard — meets the one force Trump can’t bully: everyone simply refusing to show up.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy

Sunday, January 18, 2026

forever grifting

trump tries to pardon his way through puerto rico, misplaces the docket number

Wanda Vázquez Garced, fresh from the magic Trump pardon machine, where justice is optional but donor access is guaranteed.

Wanda Vázquez Garced, fresh from the magic Trump pardon machine, where justice is optional but donor access is guaranteed.

Donald Trump tried to sprinkle some magic pardon dust on former Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, but the White House somehow forgot to include the actual criminal case she pleaded guilty in. The pardon only lists the original 2022 bribery indictment (3:22-CR-342), not the 2025 misdemeanor campaign finance case (3:25-cr-00296) where she cut her deal. So, for now, the case is still active and the judge is still moving toward sentencing, but don’t worry — the White House says they’ll fix it "out of an abundance of caution," which is Trumpworld for "we messed up the paperwork on the crony bailout again." Vázquez Garced’s plea deal came after her lawyers and those of her billionaire co-defendant Julio Herrera Velutini trekked to Main Justice, with Trump lawyer Chris Kise conveniently in the mix. Herrera’s daughter just happened to drop $2.5 million into Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC in December 2024, but we’re assured the plea agreement came from "good faith negotiations" and "compelling" new evidence, not pressure from on high. In other words, absolutely nothing to see here except a billionaire family shoveling millions into Trump’s political machine and then watching the criminal exposure get dialed down and ultimately pardoned. Meanwhile, former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer politely notes that Trump’s "recurring" pardon screwups — like the Jan. 6 pseudo-mass-pardon that’s now being cited by an alleged pipe bomber — could have been avoided if the White House had followed literally any normal process. But instead of using the Office of the Pardon Attorney, Team Trump keeps winging it, generating legal chaos while cronies and loyalists walk. The lead prosecutor on the case, now running for Congress, calls it a "sad day for the rule of law" and says Puerto Ricans deserved a trial. But sure, tell us again how this is the law-and-order president bravely defending America from corruption.
nbcnews.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#corruption#killing-democracy

Saturday, January 17, 2026

forever grifting

trump promised to cut your power bill in half, instead he doubled down on the shutoffs

A Baltimore resident sorts through her electric bills, trying to find the line where Trump cut them in half. Spoiler: it’s printed right next to the ‘affordability crisis is a hoax’ disclaimer.

A Baltimore resident sorts through her electric bills, trying to find the line where Trump cut them in half. Spoiler: it’s printed right next to the ‘affordability crisis is a hoax’ disclaimer.

Donald Trump promised to cut Americans’ energy bills in half within 12 months of taking office. Instead, the average household electricity bill went up 6.7% in 2025, costing families about $116 more than the year before – because nothing says “populist champion of the working class” like jacking up the price to keep the lights on. Washington DC households got hit with a 23% jump, Indiana 17%, Illinois 15%, and the midwest in general got the full “forgotten Americans” treatment in the form of steep utility hikes. And it’s not just electricity. Gas prices climbed another 5.2%, and power shutoffs for unpaid bills are exploding. In New York, disconnections rose fivefold in a year, as more people – not just the poorest, but middle-income families too – are deciding whether to pay the utility or eat. Mark Wolfe of NEADA helpfully translated Trump’s promise into reality: instead of a 50% cut, his actions have raised home energy costs for everyone. Naturally, faced with data, Trump did what he always does: declared the affordability crisis a “hoax” and a “fake narrative” invented by his enemies. So on the campaign trail, it was “I’ll cut your total electric bill – cars, AC, heaters, everything – by 50, five-zero percent, less.” A year in, it’s: your bill didn’t go up, you’re just too woke to appreciate these premium, freedom-infused kilowatt-hours. In other words, the only thing getting slashed in half is the distance between his lies and the shutoff notice taped to your front door.
theguardian.comSource ArticleAlso: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
forever grifting

trump’s $22m man discovers discovery

Chris LaCivita, moments before realizing that suing a news outlet means they get to ask questions under oath about the $19.2 million.

Chris LaCivita, moments before realizing that suing a news outlet means they get to ask questions under oath about the $19.2 million.

Trump 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita has quietly dropped his big, tough-guy defamation lawsuit against the Daily Beast — the one he launched after they reported that his firm took in over $20 million from the campaign. You may remember his legal strategy slogan, “Fuck around and Find Out,” which has now been updated to “Actually, never mind.” The Daily Beast didn’t retract, didn’t apologize, and didn’t pay him a cent, which is a bold move for a media outlet facing a guy whose campaign literally called him the “$22m man.” LaCivita had claimed the reporting created a “false impression” that he was personally profiting excessively from Trump’s campaign, insisting the multimillion-dollar figure referred to gross ad spending through his consulting firm, not his own pockets. The Beast even tweaked its story — down to $19.2 million and clarifying the money went to his firm — and he still pressed on, demanding damages he said would cost “millions” to repair his reputation. Cut to ten months later, and suddenly the man who was “really looking forward to making my case in front of a jury” has decided maybe the whole discovery-and-cross-examination thing isn’t as fun as it sounded on the plane with Trump egging him on to “sue those bastards.” In other words, the Trump orbit once again tried the classic move: use defamation suits as a political pressure washer to blast the press into silence over inconvenient facts about where the money goes. And once again, when it came time to actually prove anything in court, the tough talk turned into a quiet withdrawal. But sure, tell us again how the real threat to democracy is mean journalists asking where the campaign cash ended up.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#corruption
forever grifting

america turns politics into draftkings for fascism

Young American replaces day job with betting on Trump’s verbal diarrhea, proving once and for all that in this economy the only stable career path is monetizing the collapse of civic norms.

Young American replaces day job with betting on Trump’s verbal diarrhea, proving once and for all that in this economy the only stable career path is monetizing the collapse of civic norms.

In the most on-brand development for late-stage Trumpism, 25-year-old former risk analyst Logan Sudeith now clocks 100 hours a week betting on whether Donald Trump will say specific phrases at press conferences, who Time will pick for Person of the Year, and how many times a sports announcer will say "air ball." He made $100,000 last month lying in bed with a laptop, DoorDashing every meal, and treating American political collapse like a particularly stupid Bloomberg terminal. Because nothing says healthy democracy like turning the president’s brain worms into a high-frequency trading strategy.

Sudeith insists he’s “not a fan of Trump,” he just spends “most of [his] day listening to him and tracking what he is doing” so he can scalp a few thousand dollars when the president blurts out "drill baby drill." In other words, Trump’s endless stream of nonsense is now a literal financial instrument. Even better, Sudeith openly says he might become a single-issue voter based on which candidate is nicest to prediction markets. Forget policy, rule of law, or basic human rights: the real constitutional principle now is whether Logan in Atlanta gets to keep betting on the next authoritarian tantrum.

Meanwhile, platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are booming by letting people monetize every twitch of the news cycle, from elections to Google search trends, turning civic life into a 24/7 speculative arcade. Regulation, conflicts of interest, the small matter of people with inside information? Don’t worry about it, bro, the market will sort it out. Trump turned the presidency into a reality show; the prediction markets just added a sportsbook and called it innovation.

npr.orgSource Article
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy#money

Friday, January 16, 2026

forever grifting

trump expands frequent felon rewards program to puerto rico

Wanda Vázquez Garced, moments after receiving confirmation that in Trump’s America, the real campaign finance reform is having a pardon on speed dial.

Wanda Vázquez Garced, moments after receiving confirmation that in Trump’s America, the real campaign finance reform is having a pardon on speed dial.

Donald Trump has once again logged into his favorite app, Presidential Pardon, this time to bail out former Puerto Rican Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, who was accused in a federal bribery scheme and then actually pleaded guilty to a campaign finance crime. In other words: she admitted to a felony, so naturally she qualifies for VIP status in Trump’s Second-Term Crooks & Cronies Club.

The White House line is that this was all just "political prosecution" that magically started 10 days after she endorsed Trump in 2020. Because nothing says "totally innocent" like getting indicted under a different administration, cutting a plea deal with Trump’s own DOJ, and then getting rescued at the last minute by the guy you publicly supported. According to the pardon materials, there was "no bribery at all"—it was just a politician and a banker "agreeing on policy" while she ran for office and needed money. You know, the classic "not a quid pro quo, just a quid near a pro" defense.

The Trump White House even helpfully compared her case to Alexander Sittenfeld, another public official Trump pardoned after corruption charges, because if there’s one thing this administration believes in, it’s pattern recognition—specifically, identifying politicians indicted for bribery and campaign finance violations and turning them into martyrs. Trump has now granted clemency to hundreds of people, including a growing collection of campaign finance violators and bribery enthusiasts, all under the banner of fighting "political" prosecutions. But sure, the message to every official in America isn’t "loot now, plead later, get pardoned if you’re loyal." That would be cynical.

nbcnews.comSource ArticleAlso: theguardian.comAlso: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#corruption#killing-democracy
forever grifting

trump solves housing crisis by eating your retirement

Trump explains how raiding your 401(k) to buy into an overheated housing market is actually ‘winning so much you’ll get tired of losing your retirement.’

Trump explains how raiding your 401(k) to buy into an overheated housing market is actually ‘winning so much you’ll get tired of losing your retirement.’

The Trump White House has discovered a bold new way to fix the housing crisis: let you raid your retirement to buy an overpriced house in a bubble he’s frantically trying to re‑inflate. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett went on Fox Business to tease a plan where you pull cash out of your 401(k) for a down payment, then pretend some of your home equity is an "asset" in that same 401(k) so it can "grow over time" — because nothing says sound retirement planning like turning your nest egg into a roulette wheel tied to the housing market. Trump will roll this final plan out at Davos, naturally, where billionaires gather to discuss how regular people should tighten their belts. The White House won’t explain the tax implications, but we can safely assume the answer is: you take the risk, Wall Street takes the fees. Even Redfin’s chief economist politely notes that draining retirement accounts for down payments could leave people screwed if home prices fall — in other words, it’s fine as long as the bubble never pops. What could go wrong? Meanwhile, Trump is playing central banker with other people’s institutions, ordering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to hoover up $200 billion in mortgage bonds to push rates down, and bragging when 30‑year mortgage rates dip below 6% — "and that’s not with the help of the Fed," he crows, as if commandeering government-backed entities to prop up the market is just good clean fun. Economists warn the move may not lower rates much in the long run and could jack up volatility, but sure, let’s crank the subsidy machine and hope no one remembers 2008. To round out the performance, Trump is also vowing to ban big corporate investors from buying single-family homes, a popular-sounding promise that analysts say probably won’t move prices much — but does make a great campaign line while he shovels hundreds of billions through the mortgage complex. So the plan is: keep housing unaffordable, then tell voters the solution is to torch their future retirement security to climb aboard the bubble. It’s not a housing policy, it’s a liquidation sale on the American middle class.
bbc.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#money
forever grifting

stop the steal, start the pipeline

Jesse Binnall, seen here contemplating whether pipelines or democracy denial has the higher profit margin this quarter.

Jesse Binnall, seen here contemplating whether pipelines or democracy denial has the higher profit margin this quarter.

The 2020 "stop the steal" all-stars have apparently moved on to a more traditional Republican pastime: foreign infrastructure grifts. Jesse Binnall – the lawyer who spent 2020 insisting democracy was a deep-state hologram – and Joe Flynn – brother of martial-law enthusiast Michael Flynn – quietly popped up in Bosnia this week, pitching a $200m gas pipeline deal. They're fronting for something called AAFS Infrastructure and Energy, a company so experienced it was literally born two months ago in Wyoming and has roughly the same public track record as Trump's health-care plan. The scheme: build the Southern Gas Interconnection pipeline to wean Bosnia off Russian gas and hook it up to LNG from Croatia – and, oh look, American suppliers. Conveniently, after Trump returned to office, Bosnian authorities "agreed" that US companies would get to build and run the thing. Even more convenient: the US embassy in Sarajevo is cheerleading this brand-new mystery firm, dutifully posting photos of Binnall and Flynn with the chargé d’affaires like it's a Rotary Club mixer and not a soft-focus ad for monetizing a coup attempt. Binnall insists there's no conflict of interest here and that embassy support is just "consistent with its mission to support American businesses operating abroad" – because nothing says standard commercial channels like election-denial lawyers and the brother of Trump's disgraced national security adviser parachuting into the Balkans with a shell company and a bald eagle logo. In other words, the Trump foreign policy shop has evolved: instead of merely attacking democracy at home, the old coup squad is now leveraging their White House access to carve out 30-year energy concessions overseas. But sure, it's about "energy security," not turning insurrection into a subscription business model.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#corruption

Thursday, January 15, 2026

forever grifting

trump kids invent $100 down, zero phone

Artist’s impression of the Trump T1: a golden rectangle of pure vibes and no hardware, proudly designed in America and manufactured in the imagination.

Artist’s impression of the Trump T1: a golden rectangle of pure vibes and no hardware, proudly designed in America and manufactured in the imagination.

The presidential failsons are back with a bold new innovation in American tech: a phone that doesn’t exist but will happily take your $100 anyway. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump rolled out Trump Mobile’s gold "T1" phone — allegedly "Made in the USA" — and then, like every other Trump business promise, it somehow got lost between the press conference and reality. The company quietly scrubbed the "Made in the USA" claim from its website and downgraded it to an "American-proud design," which is what you call something that’s absolutely being made somewhere else but still needs to trigger the base.

There’s now a letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and 10 other Democrats asking the FTC to look into whether this whole thing is, you know, fraud — including possible false advertising and "bait-and-switch tactics" involving deposits for phones that never show up. NBC News even put down a $100 deposit and was rewarded with a shifting series of ship dates (November, then December, now "sometime in Q1 2026") and an excuse that somehow involved the government shutdown, because nothing says "cutting-edge consumer electronics" like blaming Congress for your nonexistent supply chain.

Lawmakers are also very pointedly asking whether the FTC has actually done anything or spoken to Trump or his businesses about this little presidential side hustle, noting that how the agency responds will be a "critical test" of its independence. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom’s office has already skipped to the last page of the book and called it what it looks like: "like FRAUD!" In other words, the Trump brand has finally produced the perfect Trump product: a shiny, flag-wrapped, "Made in the USA" nothingburger that exists mainly to vacuum $100 bills out of supporters’ wallets — forever-grifting as a service.

nbcnews.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#corruption#money

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

forever grifting

trump saves american families by exporting the landlord problem to britain

Artist’s impression of Trump heroically standing between Wall Street and American homes, while quietly pointing them toward the UK like a corrupt real estate air-traffic controller.

Artist’s impression of Trump heroically standing between Wall Street and American homes, while quietly pointing them toward the UK like a corrupt real estate air-traffic controller.

Donald Trump has discovered a bold new housing strategy: don’t rein in Wall Street, just ship it overseas. After years of private equity giants like Blackstone gobbling up US homes and jacking up rents, Trump is pushing a ban on institutional investors buying single-family houses in America. But instead of actually confronting the financialization of housing, the move is already encouraging those same firms to double down on the UK market, where tenants’ unions are begging politicians not to let American mega-landlords treat Britain like a foreclosure buffet. Because nothing says “I care about working families” like telling Blackstone & friends: you can keep doing what you’re doing, just go do it to someone else’s renters. Analysts openly predict a surge of US private equity into UK build-to-rent schemes, where the business model is basically: cut corners, hike rents, and tell regulators you’re "improving affordability" while tenants complain about unsafe homes and ignored repairs. In other words, Trump isn’t stopping the housing grift – he’s just turning it into an international franchise.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#money

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

forever grifting

white house declares recession a ‘messaging issue,’ americans declare rent a ‘money issue’

Trump economic advisers bravely explaining that if you close your eyes and repeat "strong fundamentals" three times, your overdraft fees turn into stock gains.

Trump economic advisers bravely explaining that if you close your eyes and repeat "strong fundamentals" three times, your overdraft fees turn into stock gains.

Trump is reportedly "fighting a messaging war" over the state of the economy, because nothing says "serious governance" like treating people’s lost jobs, wiped-out savings, and sky-high prices as a vibes problem that can be fixed with better slogans and a fresh chyron on Fox. Instead of, say, changing policies that shovel money to billionaires and corporate donors, the administration is workshopping talking points to convince you that your empty bank account is actually historic prosperity and that if you’d just stop looking at your bills, you’d see how great everything is. In other words, it’s not the economy that’s broken, it’s you for noticing. So the White House comms shop is out here trying to rebrand pain as success, insisting this is all a "messaging war" while Americans are conducting a daily "how do I pay for groceries" war. But sure, if they just say "best economy ever" enough times, your rent will spontaneously drop and your credit card debt will patriotically disappear.
nbcnews.comSource ArticleAlso: nbcnews.comAlso: npr.org
#forever-grifting#money#full-stupid
forever grifting

trump sues bbc for $10bn, accidentally threatens to expose his own finances

Donald Trump, seen here imagining $10bn in "brand damage" while silently praying the BBC doesn’t ask what the brand is actually worth.

Donald Trump, seen here imagining $10bn in "brand damage" while silently praying the BBC doesn’t ask what the brand is actually worth.

Donald Trump has launched a $10bn defamation lawsuit against the BBC over a Panorama documentary that used a misleadingly spliced clip of his 6 January speech—and in doing so may have pulled the pin on his own financial grenade. His lawyers say the edit damaged the "value of his brand, properties and businesses", which is adorable, because claiming massive financial harm is exactly how you invite the other side to demand chapter-and-verse on what your brand, properties and businesses are actually worth. The BBC is asking a Florida court to toss the case for lack of jurisdiction, improper venue, and failure to state a claim, while also begging the judge to put discovery on ice so they don’t have to hand over internal editorial documents before the dismissal is decided. Trump, meanwhile, is effectively arguing: "My global empire is so yuge that one edited TV segment cost me billions"—which opens the door for the BBC to say: "Cool story, now show us the books." For a man who fought like hell to hide his tax returns, only to have them eventually reveal business losses and creative accounting, this is a bold new chapter in suing himself into transparency. The broadcaster has already apologized for the edit, calling it an "error of judgment," but insists that’s not the same thing as defamation, and also notes a fun detail: Trump’s claim that the documentary was on BritBox in the US is apparently just made up. Their court filing basically says, "you could have clicked the link yourself, Mr. President," which is a nice way of saying "we checked the internet; you should try it sometime." They also argue he hasn’t plausibly alleged "actual malice," a requirement for public officials who want to sue the press instead of reading the First Amendment. So to recap: Trump is demanding $5bn per count because a British broadcaster aired a bad edit of the speech he gave before a mob he spent weeks riling up attacked the US Capitol. The BBC wants the whole thing thrown out, but if it survives long enough to reach discovery, Trump may finally have to cough up detailed info about his "brand" and business empire. In other words, in his quest to punish the media and rewrite 6 January, he might accidentally do the one thing he’s avoided for decades: let the world see what’s really behind the gold-plated curtain—but sure, this is all about protecting his reputation.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#money

Monday, January 12, 2026

forever grifting

affordability is a hoax, says man who made everything more expensive

Trump explains that the affordability crisis is a hoax while standing in front of a $10 carton of eggs and a tax bill labeled 'Working Families Tax Cut.'

Trump explains that the affordability crisis is a hoax while standing in front of a $10 carton of eggs and a tax bill labeled 'Working Families Tax Cut.'

Democrats have finally discovered a magic word that isn’t "bipartisanship" or "please stop": affordability. While Trump tours the country declaring the cost-of-living crisis a "hoax", Americans are apparently failing to notice how blessed they are by 2.7% inflation on top of already jacked-up prices, gutted healthcare subsidies, and a president whose main economic policy is yelling "DAY ONE" at grocery receipts. In other words, the White House line is: if you can’t afford your meds, just try believing harder. On Capitol Hill, things are going so well that 17 House Republicans had to mutiny against their own leadership to reinstate Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for three years, after Speaker Mike Johnson bravely refused to allow any vote that might make health insurance less ruinously expensive. Moderates then used a discharge petition to drag the bill onto the floor, because nothing says "fiscally conservative" like forcing your own speaker to stop deliberately raising people’s premiums. Democrats, naturally, are thrilled to discover that "not making people poorer on purpose" is a winning message. Meanwhile, the GOP is betting that their One Big Beautiful Bill Act — now rebranded as the "Working Families Tax Cut" because focus groups didn’t love "Massive Handout to Donors" — will shower Americans with such huge refunds that they’ll forget about higher prices, healthcare cuts, and Trump’s little Venezuela adventure. Johnson promises "all boats begin to rise," which is a bold claim for a party that keeps drilling holes in the bottom of the lifeboat and calling it structural reform. And when that doesn’t work, Republicans will go back to the classics: blame Biden for everything, scream about fraud in childcare spending, and hope voters don’t notice who’s been methodically making life more expensive for them this whole time.
theguardian.comSource ArticleAlso: nbcnews.comAlso: nbcnews.com
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy

Saturday, January 10, 2026

forever grifting

trump bans high interest rates, forgets to invent laws first

Trump bravely regulates credit card companies using the most powerful tool in American governance: a late-night social media post with zero legal authority.

Trump bravely regulates credit card companies using the most powerful tool in American governance: a late-night social media post with zero legal authority.

Donald Trump hopped on Truth Social to announce that, starting 20 January, credit card interest rates will be capped at 10% for one year — by sheer force of vibes, apparently. No legislation, no regulatory framework, no explanation of how the government will enforce any of this. Just a late-night post declaring that he will no longer let the American public be "ripped off" by credit card companies, which is bold coming from the guy who spent his term trying to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This sudden populist cosplay arrived hours after Bernie Sanders called him out for breaking his campaign promise and instead deregulating big banks so they could happily charge close to 30% interest. Like clockwork, Trump responded not with policy, but with a press-release tweet-thread that pretends executive wishful thinking is the same thing as law. Elizabeth Warren politely pointed out that "begging credit card companies to play nice is a joke" and noted that if Trump were serious, he’d have supported an actual bill — like the Sanders–Hawley proposal that would cap rates at 10% for five years. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s feelings got briefly hurt. Trump ally and billionaire hedge fund guy Bill Ackman initially called the move a "mistake" before editing himself into a more donor-friendly concern-troll about "credit availability" and "subprime risk" — because nothing says "we care about working families" like warning that if you stop us from charging 28% APR, we’ll just cancel poor people’s cards. The banking lobby rolled out the standard hostage note about how any cap would be "devastating" for the very people it’s currently gouging, and promised that if forced to be slightly less predatory, they’ll just shove everyone toward even worse, less regulated products. In other words, Trump is trying to launder a year of pro-bank deregulation into a one-year, likely-to-be-ignored, maybe-not-even-legal rate "cap" that exists mainly as a social media stunt. He weakened the cops, handed the banks a crowbar, and now wants credit for taping a "please don’t rob us" sign on the door. But sure, tell us again how this is the historic triumph of the "very successful Trump Administration."
theguardian.comSource ArticleAlso: nbcnews.comAlso: nbcnews.com
#forever-grifting#money

Thursday, January 8, 2026

forever grifting

trumprx: now with 90% more press release than savings

Trump announcing his TrumpRx ‘savings’ program, flanked by drug executives who somehow don’t look terrified of losing any actual money.

Trump announcing his TrumpRx ‘savings’ program, flanked by drug executives who somehow don’t look terrified of losing any actual money.

Trump has discovered a bold new way to fix America’s drug pricing crisis: announce a bunch of secret deals, slap his name on a website, and hope nobody notices that almost no one will actually save money. Since Sept. 30, the White House says it’s struck deals with 14 drugmakers, trading tariff relief for "most favored nation" pricing on a mystery list of drugs and some cash discounts through a new self-pay platform called TrumpRx—because nothing says serious health policy like a QVC-sounding brand extension. Experts point out that the deals mostly help people on Medicaid (who already pay next to nothing at the counter) and the uninsured, while doing basically nothing for the vast majority of Americans with private insurance or Medicare. Even then, the headline-grabbing cuts—like taking Epclusa from about $25,000 to $2,425 cash—still leave people paying thousands out of pocket. Those “cheaper” weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Zepbound? We’re still talking $250–$350 a month, i.e., unaffordable for a lot of the people Trump claims to be rescuing. There’s also the tiny problem that almost none of this exists on paper. Brookings’ Richard Frank notes there are "virtually nothing" but press releases, no full drug list, no real contracts we can see, and a decent chance these are just old discounts rebranded as Trump’s historic victory over Big Pharma. Meanwhile, drugmakers quietly hiked prices on more than 350 brand-name medicines, health insurance premiums are spiking as ACA subsidies expire, and millions can’t afford coverage at all. In other words: Trump gets the photo ops, pharma keeps the profits, and Americans get a Trump-branded coupon site that still leaves them choosing between insulin and rent—but sure, tell us again how the deals are "the largest developments" in drug pricing reform.
nbcnews.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#healthcare

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

forever grifting

people live in homes, not corporations, says guy who is a corporation

Trump, America’s most famous landlord, bravely defending regular homeowners from the scourge of… other landlords.

Trump, America’s most famous landlord, bravely defending regular homeowners from the scourge of… other landlords.

Donald Trump has discovered that housing is expensive and, in a stunning break with the last 40 years of Republican orthodoxy, has decided that maybe Wall Street shouldn't own the entire starter-home market. On Truth Social, the president announced he is "immediately" taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes and will be asking Congress to codify it — because nothing says "serious policy" like a vague threat posted on your failing social network before a photo op in Davos.

Trump blamed "Record High Inflation" on Joe Biden, naturally, while ignoring that institutional investors hoovering up whole neighborhoods was a bipartisan, private-equity fever dream years in the making. Now, the guy whose entire life has been one long real estate shell game is rebranding himself as the defender of the American Dream: people live in homes, not corporations, says the walking LLC. Whether this turns into actual legislation or just another campaign-style stunt to yell about in the Swiss Alps remains to be seen — but sure, the man who turned the federal government into a family business is suddenly drawing a hard line on corporate ownership of housing.

In other words: Wall Street might get lightly scolded on social media while lobbyists and donors quietly carve out loopholes in the background. But for now, Trump gets to posture as a populist housing warrior at the World Economic Forum, the annual retreat where billionaires gather to discuss how best to save the world from problems they created, over canapés.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#trumps-america

Tuesday, January 6, 2026

forever grifting

trump wins big for america’s neediest: apple, nike, and bermuda

Mathias Cormann and Scott Bessent smile for the cameras after agreeing that everyone will fight tax havens—except the companies that actually use them.

Mathias Cormann and Scott Bessent smile for the cameras after agreeing that everyone will fight tax havens—except the companies that actually use them.

Nearly 150 countries just signed on to a landmark global tax deal to stop giant corporations from hiding profits in tax havens. The Trump administration’s response? Negotiate an exemption so the biggest US multinationals don’t actually have to follow it. Because nothing says “international cooperation” like telling the rest of the world to crack down on tax dodging while Washington carves out a giant golden escape hatch for Apple and Nike. The OECD is out here calling it a “landmark decision in international tax cooperation” that “protects tax bases,” while Trump’s Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is bragging it’s a “historic victory in preserving US sovereignty.” Translation: everyone else agreed to a 15% global minimum tax, and the US insisted its own megacorps can keep funneling profits to Bermuda and the Caymans like it’s 2013 forever. The original 2021 deal—pushed by Janet Yellen and hated by Republicans for daring to ask corporations to pay taxes anywhere—has now been watered down into a bespoke loophole for American champions of creative accounting. This didn’t happen by accident. Trump first trashed the Biden-era deal as not applicable in the US, then threatened retaliatory taxes on countries that dared to tax US firms. Congressional Republicans helpfully rolled back a “revenge tax” provision in Trump’s own big tax-and-spending bill, clearing the way for the June re-negotiation that produced this corporate love letter. Tax transparency groups are pointing out that this move risks “nearly a decade of global progress” on corporate taxation so that the most profitable companies on earth can keep pretending their real headquarters is a beach in the Caribbean. In other words, the rest of the world is trying—however weakly—to stop the race to the bottom on corporate taxes, and the Trump administration just showed up with a shovel and said, “No worries, we’ll keep digging.” But sure, tell us more about how this is about protecting American workers, and not about protecting the right of multinationals to never meet a tax bill they can’t outrun on paper.
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#corruption#oligarchy

Sunday, January 4, 2026

forever grifting

trump invents the tax refund as a campaign ad

Scott Bessent explaining that if you ignore the deficits, the service cuts, and the chaos at the IRS, this is actually a huge win because you might get your own money back slightly later than you should have.

Scott Bessent explaining that if you ignore the deficits, the service cuts, and the chaos at the IRS, this is actually a huge win because you might get your own money back slightly later than you should have.

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is out promising a “gigantic refund year” in 2026, because nothing says responsible governance like bragging that the government accidentally over-withheld your paycheck all year and will now heroically give you back your own money. The magic comes from Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (yes, that’s really what they called it), which showers new deductions on tipped workers, overtime earners, and seniors—just don’t look too hard at the exploding deficit, shredded social spending, or the part where almost nobody updated their withholdings because the IRS and employers were left in the dark.

Under OBBBA, tipped workers can deduct up to $25,000, overtime pay gets its own deduction, and older adults pick up an extra $6,000 on top of the standard deduction. Small businesses get juiced with bigger depreciation and R&D write-offs, and there’s even a branded “Trump savings account” for babies, because of course the tax code now includes a MAGA 529 knockoff. Meanwhile, thanks to the shutdown, the IRS didn’t have time to fix W‑2s, employers got almost no guidance, and any screwups are—naturally—your problem. In other words: the administration broke the machinery, slapped Trump’s name on a few tax perks, and is now selling your over-withholding as proof of their economic genius.

Critics point out that the bill blows up deficits and guts needed programs, but hey, you might get a few extra bucks back in April while the safety net quietly dissolves. This is the Trump model in a nutshell: short-term sugar high for workers, long-term structural giveaway for the rich, and a big shiny “refund” headline to wave around on Fox while the bill comes due later. But sure, gigantic refund year—what could possibly go wrong?
theguardian.comSource Article
#forever-grifting#money

Thursday, January 1, 2026

forever grifting

trump slaps his name on the kennedy center, immediately starts looting

Protesters look up at the newly christened Trump-Kennedy Center, wondering when exactly the national arts budget got converted into a loyalty-points program for MAGA cronies.

Protesters look up at the newly christened Trump-Kennedy Center, wondering when exactly the national arts budget got converted into a loyalty-points program for MAGA cronies.

The Kennedy Center was supposed to be a national monument to the arts. Instead, it’s become a live-action case study in how fast the Trump crowd can turn a cultural institution into a MAGA yacht club with better chandeliers. After Trump purged Biden appointees from the board, installed himself as chairman, and handed the presidency to professional yes-man Richard Grenell, the place allegedly pivoted from supporting artists to supporting Trump’s friends’ minibar tabs at the Watergate. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s investigation into the center’s finances describes it as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies”, with millions in losses and a mission that now seems to be less about ballet and more about grift. In other words, the arts are canceled; the grifting is sold out for a multi-year run. Grenell, naturally, responded by screaming “partisan witch hunt” on X and blaming “financial chaos” on the previous leadership, because nothing says fiscal responsibility like allegedly handing out free access and luxury rooms to your buddies. And just when you think the tackiness has peaked, Karoline Leavitt proudly announces that the board has “voted unanimously” to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center—despite that tiny constitutional-ish snag where Congress actually has to do that. Within 24 hours, workmen are bolting Trump’s name onto the facade while the Kennedy family points out that this is, legally speaking, not how any of this works. But sure, who needs statutes when you’ve got a tarp, some metal letters, and a personality cult?

So the ‘secular temple to the arts’ is now a Trump-branded loot crate, and the only performance being perfected is public corruption.
theguardian.comSource ArticleAlso: theguardian.comAlso: nbcnews.com
#corruption#forever-grifting#killing-democracy