This weekend we remember the heroes who gave their lives for ideals our country was built on – and that the Trump/Project 2025 regime is trashing.
Since he rode down his escalator to announce his first run for president, Donald Trump has thrown so much … stuff … at us that his promises to “drain the swamp” are a distant memory.
That catchphrase resonated with Americans who felt the government had left them behind, but once Trump took office in 2017, he stocked the swamp with his own creatures and helped himself, his family and his businesses to whatever he could get out of the wetland he polluted.
Since he returned, he’s stronger than ever. Thanks to his right-wing Supreme Court majority, he’s protected from criminal liability, and he’s surrounded by a cadre of Project 2025ers to help make his dream of ruling the swamp come true.
They seem to be busting norms every day, but a “settlement” announced by their Department of “Justice” sets a new standard for corruption and power grabs.
Trump has continually flouted a post-Watergate norm for presidents and presidential nominees to release their tax returns, but the media got hold of some of his anyway. In January, he filed a $10 billion lawsuit against his own IRS for the leaks.
It seemed more like political theater than a slam-dunk case because, as U.S. president, he was both plaintiff and defendant. But he and the DOJ fixed that by agreeing to drop the lawsuit and create a patriotic-sounding $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” for “victims of lawfare and weaponization.”
Four of the five commission members overseeing the payouts will be appointed by the attorney general, a job held for now by Todd Blanche, who had been Trump’s personal lawyer. Congressional leaders will have input on the fifth member, but Trump can fire any of the quintet at will.
So you can bet the funds will flow to “victims” who’ve shown sufficient loyalty to him, from wealthy sympatico lawbreakers to MAGA goons who trashed the Capitol and attacked police in hopes of overturning his 2020 defeat.
Equally outrageous is the one-page addition that “forever” prevents the U.S. government from holding Trump, his family and his businesses accountable in “any matters currently pending or could be pending (including tax returns filed before the effective date [of the “settlement]) before Defendants or other agencies or departments.”
Talk about royal treatment, although the DOJ says this immunity doesn’t apply to future matters.
Meanwhile, Trump continues his waste, fraud and abuse.
He himself has weaponized the DOJ, which has filed frivolous cases against his perceived enemies. His regime has turned ICE and the Border Patrol into paramilitary forces that have invaded city after city. More and more media and entertainment companies are under the thumbs of Trump’s tech broligarch allies.
He’s squandered more than $100 million in taxpayer-funded jaunts to his properties since retaking office.
And his recent Office of Government Ethics filings show thousands of stock trades in the first quarter of this year alone, including in Boeing, Nividia and other companies that do business with or are regulated by the federal government.
The Trump Organization says a third party handles Trump’s portfolio. But in more norm-busting, he promoted AI developer/defense contractor Palantir’s shares, which he’d been buying, with a social media post that conveniently included their ticker symbol, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch reported.
Meanwhile, Trump is micromanaging our nation’s capital like one of his properties, embarking on a slew of costly vanity projects like the gargantuan White House ballroom/bunker and the 250-foot “triumphal arch” as well as renovations to the Reflecting Pool and what he calls the Trump-Kennedy Center.
That alone should make anyone worry that he won’t budge from the White House after January 2029, regardless of the two-term limit imposed by the Constitution he swore to uphold. (But he did keep his hand off the Bible.)
The military parade he demanded last year for his 79th birthday drew comparisons with extravaganzas in foreign dictatorships. But while the DOJ “settlement” seems like an early gift for his 80th, it’s already triggered significant blowback.
The Trump friends-and-family slush fund is already facing legal challenges, and the Trump & Co. immunity provision may, too.
And even among generally slavish GOP members of Congress, support for Trump’s war powers and funding for his aforementioned paramilitary corps appears less certain.
If these lawmakers cave to Trump, their Memorial Day speeches and social media posts will mean nothing. After all, our troops fought for freedom and democracy – not for oppression, monarchy and grift.
Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.
Want to be a columnist with Coal Region Canary? Contact us at newscanary@gmail.com.
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