Stop The Steal

This issue is brought to you by the letter C.

(Anyone else remember Sesame Street’s special way of using a few engaging seconds to teach the alphabet?)

Our letter C is, lamentably, a little different than Sesame Street’s.  Educational, yes – but not near as enriching.

Though our letter C today IS enriching for one person.  That’d be President Trump.

But first, let's acknowledge the spark of flame that led us to today’s emphasis on our alphabet’s third letter.

I recently read an article by Pulitzer Prize winner M. Gessen on how the Hungary’s longtime autocrat fascist leader Viktor Orban was likely brought down in that country’s recent election not because of a poor economy – not because of human rights violations – not because of politics generally – but because of Corruption with a capital C. 

M. Gessen posits the same formula can be used to bring down King Trump. So, tiny little pulpit that I have, I thought I’d focus on his financial corruption and use the letter C as a creative device to convey the crassness of it all.

Call it my Trump Corruption Bundle, pulling much (though certainly not all) of it together in a handy compendium to make your memory clearer and your disgust heightened.

I’ll sprinkle in a pinch of corrupted morals here and there for a little more flavoring of this crooked financial stew.

Let’s go!

Cheap(skate) – Yes, he’s long been a cheat and a cheapskate, stiffing lots of small businesses for money he owes them.  A real standup business guy!

Constitution – This one centers on the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which "prohibits federal officeholders from receiving gifts, offices, or titles from foreign states without congressional consent, aiming to prevent corruption and external influence." Well now! It's documented that Trump has accepted, at a minimum, $7.8 million from foreign governments for favors and specific policy outcomes.  And how about a private jet, anyone?

Coward – We’ll just consider his cowardice as corruption of character, as he sidestepped (bad heels and all) the draft for Vietnam five times.  Oh, and let’s not forget his comments about fallen soldiers being “losers and suckers.”  Our courageous leader!

Creepy #1 – Has the President grabbed your genitals lately?

Convict – Convicted, yes!  Hush money payments to buy a stripper’s silence and then lying about it, which means he is, yes, another C word: Criminal.

Creepy #2 – Has the President wedged his way inside your dressing room at a clothing store?  If he has, you might be in line to win a $83 million settlement just as E. Jean Carroll did in a civil trial where our President was found liable for sexual abuse. 

Crony Capitalism – Ding, ding, ding – you just hit the Daily Double, giving you the opportunity to combine two letter C’s.  I hardly know where to start with this one, so we’ll just let NPR do it for us.

Caterpillar – No, not the insect larva, but the industrial titan and maker of construction equipment from Deerfield, Illinois.  Piggybacking on our crony capitalism here, Caterpillar makes the list as it's part of a cohort of companies that constitute more than half of the publicly named donors to Trump’s new ballroom at the White House. Oh, and because said companies have reaped more than $50 billion in expanded or new federal contracts since plans for the project were first released.

Con man – Where do I even start here?  The Oxford dictionary defines the term as “a man who cheats or tricks someone by gaining their trust and persuading them to believe something that is not true.”  To which I say:  See the millions of American voters in the United States Presidential Elections 2016 and 2024.

Carny – Huckster doesn’t begin with a C, so we’re going with Carny because of the distinct feeling you get as you're walking down the carnival of life's midway and he’s pitching you on games you can’t win and where he'll wind up with your tax dollars in his pockets.  Suckas!

Creepy #3 – Let’s also remember that he had a penchant for going into the dressing rooms of beauty pageant contestants, uninvited.

Crypto –  Hello!  Have you forgotten the millions he gained from the $Trump meme coin?  Or as Steven Levitsky of Harvard University says, “I have never seen such open corruption in any modern government anywhere.”

Clan – Not too many C words that work for family, so we’re going with “clan” here and jumping into the family tree. 

• Daddy just got the U.S. government to pledge $10 billion to the Board of Peace, a private entity he controls. Donations apparently go into a fund at J.P. Morgan that has zero oversight. Check out this video of Sen. Jacky Rosen grilling Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the fund. 
• Meanwhile, son Eric is helping an Israeli drone company go public, and a startup backed by Donald Jr. just received a $620 billion loan from the Pentagon. 
• While he’s only a son-in-law, Jarrod Kushner won’t be outdone as he’s started investment funds that draw upon Saudi, UAE, and Qatar money to participate in consolidating American media entities, while compensating himself a minimum of $157 million for the effort. 
• Let’s not forget the Justice Department's anti-weaponization (slush) fund of $1.776 billion (that I don’t believe has gone away despite pronouncements to the otherwise), or the attendant agreement that the IRS can’t audit Trump or his family, which remains in place (and creates opportunities for lucrative tax benefits). I could go on and on and on here...

Cad – No, not computer-aided design, nor an abbreviation for a Cadillac; rather, we’ll end with a throwback term you don’t often get the chance to use as it’s exceptionally dated, right up there with “rake.”  Perhaps this post will bring it back!  As for definition, it’s a “man who behaves dishonorably, especially towards a woman.”  See Creepy 1, Creepy 2, Creepy 3, Creepy Ad Infinitum, Creepy Ad Nauseum.

Stop the Steal

This Trump Corruption Bundle isn't complete, no far from it. Tastes a little bitter, doesn't it? The bottom line, regardless of your politics, is here’s a guy who is stealing from all of us – to make himself, his family, and a select group of toadies wealthier.  Isn’t it time we co-opted the crooks and stopped this steal?

Godspeed, friends.

Russ

P.S.  As a reminder that there’s also much that’s good with the letter C:  chivalry, camaraderie, caramel apples, courage, cooperative (the organizational type). Oh, and cathartic, too – which in a weird way is how it felt to write this post.

P.S.S.  Here’s Sesame Street’s Letter C episode from back in the day.

🤔 Think About It

"When I was a boy I was told anyone could become President. I'm beginning to believe it." Clarence Darrow, American trial lawyer and Congressman, 1857 - 1938.

Time For Some Sweet

Well, the newsletter's been all bitter up to this point, so let's try to balance it out with some "sweet." Nothing like a little art and creativity to do that.

First, here's a cool app by Finnish designer Joonas Virtanen that matches your location's current weather to the mood of a Mark Rothko painting. I especially love the domain he selected for the web address: .wtf

Next up: Some of you know I'm a big fan of tribute murals, which are wrapped around my building here in Boise. Here's one in Dublin that utterly mesmerizes me, honoring Irish musical icons Dolores O'Riordan, Sinéad O'Connor, and Dolores Keane - by the artist Aches.

 There – now did those bits of sweetness and creativity cleanse your palette?

See you next week.