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It's A Money Machine -- Digby
https://digbysblog.net/2026/07/10/its-a-money-machine/
Stephen Rattner on Morning Joe:
It's not enough that they're using the presidency to boost their crypto empire, and it's not enough that they're leveraging their influence with companies across the nation for their own gain. All those foreign projects undertaken to curry favor with Trump aren't bringing quite enough profit for the Trump family. All the "emoluments" which Trump plans to keep, including Qatar Force One and gold baubles from kings and potentates all over the world don't satisfy them. Now, they're actually just giving themselves federal contracts. Why should their buddies get all the money?
I keep hearing that people don't care about this and that we need to focus exclusively on groceries, or we'll lose. If that's true, we have bigger problems than are currently recognized. It means our democracy is already gone. If people don't care about this level of rank corruption, then what's the point?
I don't believe it. I think people do care, and they especially care when they're feeling the squeeze and the president is prancing around like an orange Marie Antoinette. These issues go together. I hope I'm right and that Democratic politicians understand that.
The Trumps aren't just using their family name to make money. Their companies have received almost a billion $$ in federal contracts - a shocking and unprecedented display of corruption..
Almost a billion dollars in federal contracts
It's not enough that they're using the presidency to boost their crypto empire, and it's not enough that they're leveraging their influence with companies across the nation for their own gain. All those foreign projects undertaken to curry favor with Trump aren't bringing quite enough profit for the Trump family. All the "emoluments" which Trump plans to keep, including Qatar Force One and gold baubles from kings and potentates all over the world don't satisfy them. Now, they're actually just giving themselves federal contracts. Why should their buddies get all the money?
I keep hearing that people don't care about this and that we need to focus exclusively on groceries, or we'll lose. If that's true, we have bigger problems than are currently recognized. It means our democracy is already gone. If people don't care about this level of rank corruption, then what's the point?
I don't believe it. I think people do care, and they especially care when they're feeling the squeeze and the president is prancing around like an orange Marie Antoinette. These issues go together. I hope I'm right and that Democratic politicians understand that.